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Plan on getting a Linux laptop: any suggestions?
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this post was submitted on 11 Jul 2023
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If I'd buy a new laptop these days I'd go with a framework. Other than that, buying a refurbished ThinkPad is always a great option and they generally run really good with Linux. As for support I wouldn't be too afraid, almost all hardware is supported these days as long as it's not something really obscure. The main thing worth checking is probably the WiFi card, I heard there are some that are a pain to set up, but I never ran into that. That being said most manufacturers won't officially support Linux and if they do they'll only support fedora or Ubuntu (speaking about big manufacturers, ofc there's system76 and stuff), but as I said I don't think I've encountered a laptop that straight up wasn't able to run Linux. Also if possible avoid Nvidia GPUs, they work, but can be a pain with drivers breaking on the regular
I'm heavily considering just getting a refurbished Thinkpad just because of the low cost, along with the support. And yeah, I've been making a point to avoid Nvdia for that reason, lol. Thanks!
IMO refurbished ThinkPad is the way for almost anything that is not gaming, working on huge code bases (without having a build server) or heavy graphical work like video editing or heavy photo editing. For most other things a decently new and well specced ThinkPad will do the job while still maintaining that feeling of a "new and snappy pc"
Yeah, it seems like the most worth-it option so far. As much as I'd like a newer laptop getting a refurbished ThinkPad is a pretty nice choice too