Buy Computer with Linux Mint installed

[castalia1946]

I've used Windows for 20 years mostly on Dell Desktops and it's more and more difficult to deal with their OS. I like to buy a Desktop from a vendor with Mint installed. Any suggestions as how best to proceed? Thanks.

[JeremyB]

https://linuxmint.com/store_mintbox.php

[turtlebay]

When I bought a Dell laptop, within three minutes of starting it I was into the BIOS settings, changed them to boot from a CD first, then booted off a Mint DVD and removed Windows completely.

[AndyMH]

There's a lot to be said for the second hand corporate market - get an older business desktop without UEFI and the odds are that mint will be easy to install. Save money as well! I'm a laptop man and all my laptops have been second hand Thinkpads.

[Captain Brillo]

HP machines can be difficult with Linux if you're going to re-purpose a Windows PC.
(bad experiences here.)

[whm1974]

There's a lot to be said for the second hand corporate market - get an older business desktop without UEFI and the odds are that mint will be easy to install. Save money as well! I'm a laptop man and all my laptops have been second hand Thinkpads.

I have refurb Thinkpad T430 and it runs Mint flawlessly.

[michael louwe]

LM desktops from US$499 ... https://linuxmint.com/store_computers.php

Alternatively, cheaply buy one that is without any OS and hire a tech-shop guy to install LM for you. Labor cost should be about US$30. ...
https://www.novatech.co.uk/pc/everydayuse/

If you ask on this forum for assistance to install LM, you should be welcomed and it's free of charge.

[Tomgin5]

I picked up a used ASUS x500 yesterday with 500GB HDD and 4 GB Ram the windows was all ready removed or trashed but it booted OK. It took a couple of minutes to find the toggle to let it boot from a live LM 18.3 64 flashdrive. It installed but a lot of the writing was not by the icons. back to the bios again and UEFI was still active. I toggled it "OFF"and rebooted. Everything fine. Everything was done online via WIFI. After all of the updates it only took a total of 2 and a half hours. Price $24 US.
BTW I have recycles over 200 bricked laptops in the last 2 years. All work and the users are happy. I have only charged Corporate users. Those I did on site and trained the users in Linux.

[Black Swordsman]

Not pre-installed with mint but...https://system76.com/ sells laptops and desktops made just for Linux (pre-installed with POP_OS or Ubuntu 18.04). You can also select the hardware that you want in the computer (most of the ones I have looked at use 8th gen intel cpu and nvidia 1060-1080 gpu's.

[Snafu]

Any smaller computer store, not a chain that just sells whats on the shelf, but a smallish business will provide much better customer service. Find one near you and go in and ask. They will most likely be willing to install any OS you choose if you buy a computer from them. It isn't the cheapest way to buy though, customer service comes at a cost

[jimallyn]

These days Linux runs on pretty much everything. You can probably just pick whatever hardware you like, and Linux will run on it just fine.

[octathlon]

My brother got one from Eight Virtues several years ago and was quite happy with it.

[lmuserx4849]

When I bought a Dell laptop, within three minutes of starting it I was into the BIOS settings, changed them to boot from a CD first, then booted off a Mint DVD and removed Windows completely.

Did you have any problems with UEFI w/Secure boot? It wasn't quite as easy with Dell & the newer BIOS's.

Dell sells pre-installed Ubuntu or Redhat on some machines. Since LM is based on Ubuntu, I would think installing LM would be fine (i.e., hardware supported, etc). We have a local shop in town that will install any distro on a machine they sell. system76.com seems to install its' own distro or Ubuntu. I wonder if you called, if they would install LM. In association with ThinkPenguin, Linux Mint features the following computers.

[chiefjim]

I recommend you consider a slightly different option - assemble your own. Anyone who has replaced an optical drive, added memory, or swapped out a power supply knows the inside of a desktop case is not scary.

Start with a case that allows your hands to move around, I like the mid tower atx size. Select a motherboard/cpu combination that fits your needs. Most relatively basic motherboards already incorporate video, audio, and ethernet so what remains are things like how many sata ports do you want? Or usb ports?

Assembling your own means you decide if you want the case to hold multiple hard drives. Or if you wish to have a front panel card reader, etc.

The most difficult part, for me at least, was connecting the various wires from the case. Aging eyes needing different glasses and on occasion a magnifying glass.

In the end your new machine will truly be your new machine

[oxygenfarm]

'HP machines can be difficult with Linux'.....I've had several recycled HP Elitebooks (heavy business laptop) and had no problem installing/using Mint Mate...but was confused at all the (important) gadgets on the machine which an ordinary guy didn't need: docking, fingerprint, firewire, etc.

[Pierre]

some of those older HP PCs were an issue, as they "used all partitions"
and thus it was tricky to install another system - - but not impossible.

the machines that do seem to work well are those Lenovo's - - which all of mine are.

it's worth noting, that most older PCs do work well with any Linux conversion,
- - anything that had win-6 / win-7 will work quite well indeed.

[GS3]

HP machines can be difficult with Linux if you're going to re-purpose a Windows PC.
(bad experiences here.)

I got an HP Compaq Elite 8300 running Linux Mint just fine.

[ScotchMist]

HP machines can be difficult with Linux if you're going to re-purpose a Windows PC.
(bad experiences here.)

Tell me about it...

[whm1974]

I recommend you consider a slightly different option - assemble your own. Anyone who has replaced an optical drive, added memory, or swapped out a power supply knows the inside of a desktop case is not scary.

Start with a case that allows your hands to move around, I like the mid tower atx size. Select a motherboard/cpu combination that fits your needs. Most relatively basic motherboards already incorporate video, audio, and ethernet so what remains are things like how many sata ports do you want? Or usb ports?

Assembling your own means you decide if you want the case to hold multiple hard drives. Or if you wish to have a front panel card reader, etc.

The most difficult part, for me at least, was connecting the various wires from the case. Aging eyes needing different glasses and on occasion a magnifying glass.

In the end your new machine will truly be your new machine

This in my view is the best way to go, but always do your research before buying a bunch of parts.

[turtlebay]

When I bought a Dell laptop, within three minutes of starting it I was into the BIOS settings, changed them to boot from a CD first, then booted off a Mint DVD and removed Windows completely.

Did you have any problems with UEFI w/Secure boot? It wasn't quite as easy with Dell & the newer BIOS's.

It didn't have UEFI/secure boot in the days of Win 7.