China and need to buy new laptop. How to guess which one is Linux friendly?

[winxpwasgreat]

Need to buy a new laptop in a shop.
They have no idea on whether linux will work on it or not.
What's my best guess?
I was thinking to go for a Dell.

[wallyUSA]

Need to buy a new laptop in a shop.
They have no idea on whether linux will work on it or not.
What's my best guess?
I was thinking to go for a Dell.

Several Dell systems have worked for me. No issues.

[HaveaMint]

I'm running two Dell laptops both on 18.3 XFCE and no problems. Both are AMD based and assembled in China which came with Windows 10 on them which I promptly tossed win10 in the trash. I recommend hard-wiring to the internet during installation and not wireless.

[majpooper]

I have had good luck with refurbished Lenovo T430s I got from Newegg - i7 CPU and 8G of RAM running LM 18.3 Cinnamon. Lenovo is Chinese so I can't tell exactly by your post if that is a concern.

[tenfoot]

I have Sparky Linux v5.3, Linux Mint v18.3 and Windows 7 installed on a Lenovo Thinkpad T450s. Each of these systems run without any problems.

[Pierre]

+1 for anything that is from Lenovo - - they do seem to work well,
as they do covert well with most Linux Systems.

[winxpwasgreat]

I'm running two Dell laptops both on 18.3 XFCE and no problems. Both are AMD based and assembled in China which came with Windows 10 on them which I promptly tossed win10 in the trash. I recommend hard-wiring to the internet during installation and not wireless.

What do you mean by "hard wiring to the internet" as opposed to do that wirelessly - doing that via ethernet cable? And why would you recommend doing so?

Actually, Windows XP is widely used in the facilities of our government (Claim: I am Chinese). As we all know, Windows Xp is no longer supported by MS Inc. for public use, However, MS still develops OS patches every month(or longer) for the Chinese government.

Very interesting to hear. I reckon if those patches were available even for sale to the general public, noone would use win 7 and win 10.

Several Dell systems have worked for me. No issues.

+1 for anything that is from Lenovo - - they do seem to work well,
as they do covert well with most Linux Systems.

Good to hear. So Dell and Lenovo are gonna be my safest bets.

How about if I buy a new internal SSD hard drive? Any brand will do? Or are some brands more linux-friendly than others eg kingston, maxtor etc.

[AndyMH]

I'm running a T430 (mint installs 'out of the box' with no problems). Certainly on a T430 and probably other thinkpads, if you change the SSD (I've just done this) you need to make sure that you get one that is 7mm thick. Some SSDs are 9mm and won't fit. Check the specs on any laptop you buy and on any SSD you are thinking about.

On my T430, original SSD was lenovo but was actually a Samsung, new one is Crucial, no problems.

[kc1di]

I have both a Lenovo Ideapad and Dell 15 series and both work well with Linux.
I have also used a Lenovo T430 without problems.
had an HP that worked after a bit of fussing with the UEFI - But wouldn't recommend it for someone just starting in linux.
good luck in your search.

[HaveaMint]

I'm running two Dell laptops both on 18.3 XFCE and no problems. Both are AMD based and assembled in China which came with Windows 10 on them which I promptly tossed win10 in the trash. I recommend hard-wiring to the internet during installation and not wireless.

What do you mean by "hard wiring to the internet" as opposed to do that wirelessly - doing that via ethernet cable? And why would you recommend doing so?

Yes Ethernet cable, I have seen where wireless drivers aren't setup during installation and when you boot after setup is complete you have no internet. Of course there are ways to work around this potential problem if it occurs. So I suggested as I did to avoid any potential issues like this. If it is your only PC/Source to the internet it is hard to get any help or drivers if you end up with no internet.

[Spearmint2]

I would avoid Lenovo's with the new proprietary RAID system. It's proving a pain even in windows when there's a need for reinstalling that system.

[winxpwasgreat]

I'm running a T430 (mint installs 'out of the box' with no problems). Certainly on a T430 and probably other thinkpads, if you change the SSD (I've just done this) you need to make sure that you get one that is 7mm thick. Some SSDs are 9mm and won't fit. Check the specs on any laptop you buy and on any SSD you are thinking about.

On my T430, original SSD was lenovo but was actually a Samsung, new one is Crucial, no problems.

Good advice, I'll keep that in mind.

I have both a Lenovo Ideapad and Dell 15 series and both work well with Linux.
I have also used a Lenovo T430 without problems.
had an HP that worked after a bit of fussing with the UEFI - But wouldn't recommend it for someone just starting in linux.
good luck in your search.

Thank you. So I am understanding Dell are always a safe bet with linux?

I'm running two Dell laptops both on 18.3 XFCE and no problems. Both are AMD based and assembled in China which came with Windows 10 on them which I promptly tossed win10 in the trash. I recommend hard-wiring to the internet during installation and not wireless.

What do you mean by "hard wiring to the internet" as opposed to do that wirelessly - doing that via ethernet cable? And why would you recommend doing so?

Yes Ethernet cable, I have seen where wireless drivers aren't setup during installation and when you boot after setup is complete you have no internet. Of course there are ways to work around this potential problem if it occurs. So I suggested as I did to avoid any potential issues like this. If it is your only PC/Source to the internet it is hard to get any help or drivers if you end up with no internet.

How about a wifi dongle?

I would avoid Lenovo's with the new proprietary RAID system. It's proving a pain even in windows when there's a need for reinstalling that system.

Good to hear... what year was the proprietary RAID system introduced on Lenovos?




Another question: going in shops with my xfce live usb and booting every laptop with it.. would that be a good way to know which ones are/n't linux compatible?

[Spearmint2]

crap, I was blocked by some Sucuri page and lost the post. So, rather than do the whole thing again, just use these 4 links.

https://lenovopress.com/lp0578-lenovo-raid-introduction

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12821177

https://www.zdnet.com/article/whats-rea ... and-linux/

https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing ... x-enabled/

[kc1di]

Thank you. So I am understanding Dell are always a safe bet with linux?

Most dell models seem to work well with linux but not all. Your Idea of taking a live usb stick with you and trying out before you buy is a good Idea.
this page may give you some ideas also.
https://makeawebsitehub.com/best-laptops-linux/

[winxpwasgreat]

I'm running a T430 (mint installs 'out of the box' with no problems). Certainly on a T430 and probably other thinkpads, if you change the SSD (I've just done this) you need to make sure that you get one that is 7mm thick. Some SSDs are 9mm and won't fit. Check the specs on any laptop you buy and on any SSD you are thinking about.

On my T430, original SSD was lenovo but was actually a Samsung, new one is Crucial, no problems.

So as long as the internal SSD is 7mm thick it should work?
Ok that's good to hear, thought linux had some sort of special compatibility requirements since nothing but Lenovo/Dell seem to fully work.

[AndyMH]

Yes, I would expect any 7mm 2 1/2" SSD to work.

I'm totally biased, been a fan of Thinkpads for well over a decade (long before I moved to linux). Build quality is excellent. Every laptop I've bought was ex corporate and second hand. Excellent value for money, probably had about five now. Think I paid about £350 about 18 mths ago for the current T430. And they are upgradeable. There is the obvious stuff - replace HDD with SSD (mine came with an 256G SSD but just upgraded to 500G - crucial £90, amazon). Upgraded RAM from 4G to 16G (2x8G DDR3). Less obvious stuff - get a caddy for the ultrabay (as standard either blank or DVD writer) and it's now got a 1TB HDD in the ultrabay which is my backup drive. And the CPU is not soldered in, I replaced the i5-3320M with an i7-3632QM - it doesn't get too hot - max I've seen is 85C, normally <50C. There is a version with a separate nvidia graphics chip, mine's the standard integrated intel graphics.

[alexa9]

I've had good luck with Dell Inspiron 3000. Nothing flashy but it has a 7th Gen i3, 8GB RAM and 128GB SSD for under $300 (used on eBay).

[KBD47]

Love my Thinkpads by Lenovo. The T420 is particularly good, and it's little brother the X220. Both work perfectly with Mint out of the box. If you can find a good used or refurbished Thinkpad you will not be sorry.

[AndyMH]

All I would add is that not all Thinkpads are created equal. Dependent on what you want to do, check out specs. I only found out today that the T430s has a soldered not socketed CPU (as the bog standard T430). If I'd bought one, I wouldn't have been able to change the CPU from an i5 to i7. I've just fitted a WWAN card into mine so now have mobile data on the move. Think my T430 is just about pimped out to the max now.

[KBD47]

All I would add is that not all Thinkpads are created equal. Dependent on what you want to do, check out specs. I only found out today that the T430s has a soldered not socketed CPU (as the bog standard T430). If I'd bought one, I wouldn't have been able to change the CPU from an i5 to i7. I've just fitted a WWAN card into mine so now have mobile data on the move. Think my T430 is just about pimped out to the max now.

I need to upgrade the ram and maybe add an MSata to my X220. Changing the cpu is a bit out of my comfort zone, though I may have to paste it down the road. I have X220, T420, and the older T410. Never had such a great experience with linux on any other computer. Thinklight, volume controls, brightness controls all work out of the box on Debian, Fedora, and Ubuntu/Mint. Debian needs iwlwifi, but otherwise good to go.