Looking for A new Laptop

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The Doctor · Post by **The Doctor** » Wed Apr 15, 2020 10:21 pm

MY Lenovo G780 doesn't seem to appreciate being a frequent flyer. I pulled it out of the bag and was welcomed with a weird spot on the screen that is clearly damage, but not 100% catastrophic.

As this is literally my job to fly it seems I need to go shopping in the very near future. It needs to be able to run Gentoo, take a lot of abuse, and fit in a carry on in that order. I haven't been really in tune with the hardware market for about four or five years so I'm not sure who is putting out the best machines these days. Oh, and video editing is a consideration.

Thoughts?

Jaglover · Post by **Jaglover** » Wed Apr 15, 2020 10:33 pm

Why not replace the screen if it otherwise works well?

The Doctor · Post by **The Doctor** » Wed Apr 15, 2020 10:49 pm

Its getting old and its a bit unwieldy. At this point I think its almost 8 years old. A new laptop has been part of my thinking for a while but this is extra motivation.

Jaglover · Post by **Jaglover** » Wed Apr 15, 2020 11:31 pm

Well, times have changed, last time when I searched for "Linux laptop" I had a few hits only. But look now, there's plenty.
https://www.techradar.com/best/linux-laptops
^ This was the first hit.

Ant P. · Post by **Ant P.** » Thu Apr 16, 2020 12:25 am

Look for one of the new Zen2-based laptops released in the past month. The reviews and benchmarks so far have been extremely unflattering to Intel.

The customary warnings about running Linux on new laptops apply but everything in the CPU/GPU should be well supported.

Makersmarx · Post by **Makersmarx** » Thu Apr 16, 2020 12:33 am

I am, and have been a fan of Lenovo Thinkpads. They just seem to work for the most part, but in all honesty (I am prob an outlier, and I dont mean minor bugs etc...) I have not had an issue sticking Linux on any laptop/desktop in recent times. I put Gentoo on a turd of an Asus the other day for fun that was sporting a quad core celeron. Granted it took a hundred years, but works lol. I have had my eye on this one for a bit, just waiting to take a trip to visit family in the States where electronics are much cheaper and this drops in price a bit more.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Lenovo-Th ... 716.0.html

https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Lenovo_Thi ... stallation

Edit: Acer not Asus

Post by **fedeliallalinea** » Thu Apr 16, 2020 6:12 am

There is also tuxedo computers as linux like notebook.

geki · Post by **geki** » Thu Apr 16, 2020 6:32 am

I like Schenker notebooks. I use an older Schenker Slim 15 with Devuan. Just wondered about the video editing and they got a desktop-like notebook Schenker DTR 15. Is it overkill for your usage, isn't it?

And I wonder how much abuse that can take. See https://bestware.com/en/schenker-dtr-15.html

I like Schenker notebooks, since they have a normal network plug for normal network cables. Surely others have that, too?!

C5ace · Post by **C5ace** » Thu Apr 16, 2020 10:20 am

I currently have 2 HP's and one 12 yo Toshiba used by my wife. One of the HP's is used as server with buils in UPS. The Toshiba as a better display quality and is better build. Price today would 3 times the HP's.

The HP's are cheap but work well with Gentoo. The last one was purchased a year ago. AMD Ryzen 5 2500U with Radeon Vega Mobile Gfx 2,8 GHz, 128GB SSD, 1TB 2.5" HDD, 8GB RAM. 15", 1920x 1024, non reflective screen. qenlop: libreoffice: 2:18:31. Price was AUD 800.00 (today about EUR 460.00) with 1 year plus 3 year warranty.

Post by **Banana** » Thu Apr 16, 2020 9:02 pm

I can recomend schenker and fujitsu lifebook e series.

The Doctor · Post by **The Doctor** » Fri Apr 17, 2020 11:22 pm

Excellent, thanks guys this is really helpful. I'm currently doing some rather stressful job training and this helps a lot. Of course, right now I'm much happier to have a stressful job than the alternative.

paulj · Post by **paulj** » Sat Apr 18, 2020 7:26 am

I am using a Lenovo X270, and find it excellent for use with Gentoo. For work I use (sadly) windows 10, and recently bought an X390. Quite pricy, but an excellent machine. I am looking forward to putting linux on it at some point in the future!

szatox · Post by **szatox** » Sat Apr 18, 2020 9:01 am

I wanted to get T495, but eventually got virused into T490s. I've been handling it very gently so far, but the case feels sturdy enough for traveling, so my original pick _may_ be good for you too.
If you opt to go for T4xx, definitely don't take "s" (mobility) version, possibly consider "p" (performance) one. Mobility's cooling is not nearly good enough, you won't be able to spin any modern CPU up to it's full speed even in a cold room (like 16°C cold).
There are a lot of customization options, so if you're not desperate to have it right now, go to the "build your own" tab on Lenovo's website and order the stuff you actually want instead of what the retailer offers you.

Oh, and I don't recommend Carbon line. Not much personal experience there, I had one in my hands, they are very thin, very lightweight, seem tough and look really stylish, but I bet being so thin means their cooling sucks even more and AFAIK they only have a single RAM chip soldered on the mobo, so welcome thermal throttling and wave good bye to dual-channel.

Post by **pjp** » Thu May 07, 2020 4:29 am

Came across this, and as it was recent, thought I'd pass it on.

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2020/04 ... ptop-club/

Red Hat and Lenovo are announcing pre-installed and factory-supported Fedora Workstation on several models of ThinkPad laptops
Lenovo is planning a significantly broader Linux footprint in its lineup [compared to Dell].
Fedora Workstation will be a selectable option during purchase for the Thinkpad P1 Gen2, Thinkpad P53, and Thinkpad X1 Gen8 laptops
Unfortunately, the upcoming Yoga Slim 7—powered with a Ryzen 7 4800U or Ryzen 5 4600U Zen laptop CPU—isn't on Lenovo's initial list of supported models.
the dual-GPU Zephyrus G14 didn't fare too well with Ubuntu, but I'm still hopeful that the more simply designed Slim 7 will do better.