Aloha HN!<p>I'm looking for the "best" linux compatible laptop you know about (business). Here are some specs:
- min. 8GB RAM
- SSD
- VGA (for beamer support)
- HDMI / DVI
- MUST work with Ubuntu Linux 14.04 without poking around for weeks just to get the damn W-LAN running or jokes like that
- Shouldn't cost more than 1.3k €urons<p>I came up with a custom configured Schenker, but maybe you know something better :D!<p>It'd be awesome to get some recommendations! Thanks in advance for sharing your experience!<p>./sz0ka
<a href="http://www.ubuntu.com/certification/desktop/" rel="nofollow">http://www.ubuntu.com/certification/desktop/</a><p><a href="http://www.ubuntu.com/certification/" rel="nofollow">http://www.ubuntu.com/certification/</a><p>In my experience Dells usually work well and if you're willing to spend the money they have some pretty decent end developer laptops that come with ubuntu (xps I think).<p>Edit: seeing as Ubuntu 14.04 has only been out for a couple weeks the links provided may not be <i>as</i> relevant because they're so far only certified to run on 12.04, but it still gives you some inference as to what manufactures have the best support.
I have Asus Zennbook UX31A (I got only 4 GB of ram, newer version have 8GB) and it works almost perfectly with Ubuntu 14.04 (and older, only thing that does not work is ambient light detector).<p>At least here in Finland they cost about 1100 euros (<a href="http://www.verkkokauppa.com/fi/product/36916/dnqkg/Asus-Zenbook-UX31A-13-3-FHD-i7-3537U-8-GB-128-GB-SSD-Windows" rel="nofollow">http://www.verkkokauppa.com/fi/product/36916/dnqkg/Asus-Zenb...</a>). While it does not have VGA output, it comes with HDMI->VGA adapter.<p>See <a href="https://help.ubuntu.com/community/AsusZenbookPrime" rel="nofollow">https://help.ubuntu.com/community/AsusZenbookPrime</a>
I'm definitely skewed towards Thinkpads, having carried one with me since '03 when I bought the first. My current laptop is an X1 carbon, and I can only say nice things about it. The only nitpick is that they messed the home/insert/end/Del key island.<p>No problems whatsoever running Linux on it.
I've used 2 System76 laptops in 5 years. I would buy again and would recommend them. They're not as fancy looking as the more mainstream brands, but they do the job quite well for their price tag (approx 700-800$ for a Gazelle). They come in various size and weight.<p>The first one I bought was a Pangolin that I used everyday for work and play, in an average of 12hrs/day, and lasted 4 years, before the display started to have problems, at which point I bought another one.<p>Most things work as expected on delivery, usb ports, camera, mic, audio jacks, hdmi, etc. The laptop itself feels pretty solid.<p>The low points: speakers are crap (I use headphones), touchpad is crap (I use a mouse), not the most innovative design (I once had someone commenting to me that my laptop must be pretty old, it was only 2 years old).
Most lenovo ThinkPads are certified to work with Ubuntu.<p>And (for me at least) there are no better laptops out there. They should have all of your needs covered. I would suggest going for the T540. It's awesome.
I've used several ThinkPad x-series laptops in the past.<p>My current machine is a Dell XPS 13 Developer Edition, which ships with Ubuntu pre-installed.<p>Good battery life, excellent performance and nice size/weight - comparable to a 13" Macbook Air.<p>You'll ned a mini-DP to HDMI/DVI converter cable though.
Ctrl+F ThinkPad.<p>I guess the search count should show you something.<p>I'm on a W530. It's a beast and everything works. And I'm talking Debian!
> I'm looking for the "best" linux compatible laptop you know about (business) [...] Shouldn't cost more than 1.3k €urons<p>Pick one. Personally I find HPs ZBook15 interesting, but Linux models begin from $2500.<p>> VGA (for beamer support)<p>get an external dongle, otherwise you are limiting your options needlessly.
Have been using the 2nd gen Dell XPS 13 developer edition that comes pre-installed with Ubuntu and I'm loving it. Wasn't all smooth sailing though: <a href="http://www.sandeep.io/157" rel="nofollow">http://www.sandeep.io/157</a><p>The latest edition is even better.<p>At the time I also looked at the ultrabook from System 76 but decided to skip it because of keyboard issue reports and lack of support in my country.<p>Edit 1: The keyboard on the Dell XPS is nowhere as good as a Thinkpad, but it beats them on form factor, price and support (at least in my country).<p>Edit 2: The X1 carbon has a slightly flexible carbon-fiber chassis which I didn't like but it's a great option if you want a bigger display than the XPS 13 and don't mind the price.
<a href="http://shop.gluglug.org.uk/product/ibm-lenovo-thinkpad-x60-coreboot/" rel="nofollow">http://shop.gluglug.org.uk/product/ibm-lenovo-thinkpad-x60-c...</a><p>Doesn't require any binary blobs and comes with Trisquil GNU/Linux pre-installed.
I'm very happy with the Asus UX31A (from the Zenbook series).<p>It works fine on Ubuntu 14.04 here, including wlan, suspend-to-RAM (I haven't tried suspend-to-disc, since I have no swap partition), function keys (backlight, keyboard backlist, switch off trackpad etc.).<p>Battery lifetime is -- in typical office workload, including wlan -- between 3.5 and 5H, mostly depending on backlight setting.<p>And I guess that's common to most SSD-equipped notebooks, but bootup is really fast (haven't measured it, but probably ~8s).<p>(Just a small note: to install linux, you first must remove all "secure boot" keys in the bios, then disable secure boot; windows 8 still worked fine afterwards).
Take a look at System 76:
<a href="https://www.system76.com/laptops/model/galu1" rel="nofollow">https://www.system76.com/laptops/model/galu1</a><p>The specs are very well chosen for most developer users at a very reasonable price. From your requirements, I believe the only thing missing is native VGA support, which I'm sure you can easily fix with a simple adapter.
I currently use a Thinkpad T530 with Ubuntu 14.04 and TLP power management and it works great. I modded mine by replacing the 900P screen with a 1080P IPS screen and putting a bigger SSD (128GB vs 500GB). Highly recomended.<p>Specs:<p>Intel Core i5-3320M 2.6Ghz (Dual-Core)
Intel HD4000 Integrated Graphics
8GB DDR3 RAM
500GB Samsung 840 Evo SSD
15.6" 1080p IPS Screen
Blacklit keyboard<p>Price: About 1200€ after replacing the screen and SSD.<p>Forgot to tell that with TLP and a 9-cell battery I get about 7.5 hours of battery life using the ondemand profile.
Until recently I was using a Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E530 for sysadmin work. It was ridiculously cheap for a ThinkPad, everything worked under Arch Linux and best of all it had a numpad, which I needed. It was mostly sitting on a desk and not moving around much, so the weight and size weren't a big deal.<p>I just took a look and the newer model E540 can be ordered with a full HD screen (15") which weren't available on the older ones.
I have a Dell Inspiron laptop that's about 1.5 years old. It runs 14.04 LTS just fine. With one exception: The external USB CD/DVD drive is not supported. The built-in CD/DVD drive works like a champ, so it's okay.<p>Sometimes I boot the Windows-7 partition.<p>My spinning rust is a 500 GB drive.<p>How you should buy your machine also depends on what country you are in. Local suppliers often give much better support than mail-order.
The Lenovo Ideapad series has (almost) always worked out of the box for me. You can even buy them without Windows.<p>Tested and true:<p>* Ideapad G780 (17 inch)
* Ideapad Y560
* Ideapad G560<p>The casing quality isn't that great so if you're always on the go you might want to get a ThinkPad instead, but they're really great for something you occasionaly take with you and mostly just move around the home/office.
This might not be what you're actually looking for, but I just set up a new laptop, and after a week of trying to get it to dual boot (UEFI, eh?) decided to run Linux in VMWare under Windows instead. I've got to say, Windows+VMWare makes a darn good hardware abstraction layer, which means I don't need to worry nearly so much about crappy driver stuff.
I really love my HP Chromebook 14. It comes with 4GB of RAM and the RAM is upgradeable.
I've installed an Ubuntu chroot which had no issues with wifi/trackpad/etc. I'm on 13.10 but the new version is supported too.
Everybody comments on its looks - I got the white one - and it was only ~£280.
ASUS N56 for me. Everything except the sub-woofer worked immediately and that was an easy fix. Awesome sound, great keyboard, pretty good to look at, good screen and touchpad. Downside is that it's a little heavier but that doesn't bother me at all. Had the N72 17" version too and it was also great.
I'm currently very happy with ThinkPad T440s. It covers all your requirements, comes with a FullHD panel (optional touchscreen) and double batteries. The only downside is the new Lenovo touch/clickpad. I got used to it, but it took me a while to figure out the settings which worked for me.
NOT AN ANSWER TO YOUR QUESTION, but the chromebooks seem the best <i>value-for-money</i> laptops - and already have a linux distribution installed (ChromeOS). The Acer C720 has a Haswell dual-core and 2GB RAM - lower speced than your needs. There's the Pixel, I guess... (much higher speced).
I currently use ThinkPad T520. Its a bit heavy. But works smoothly with Fedora. I am looking to buy a T440s which looks awesome and is incredibly light for a thinkpad. I also run dual boot macbook pro. Both suit my needs well and have no problems getting them working.
Wow a big thanks to everyone commenting here!! Great recommendations so far (apart from the mac :P </troll> just joking, but for our special case is apple no option, thanks anyway!), I'll check them all! :D<p>PS: the link to the ubuntu page with certified hardware is great!<p>./sz0ka
The answer's been the same for many years - Dell Latitude E6xxx, Lenovo Thinkpad T-series.<p>MacBooks are good buy if you live in the US, but here in Europe their prices/service/support are a joke.<p>Fujitsu is my favourite laptop brand, but their Linux support is iffy at best.
I'm currently using a Dell M3800 with Ubuntu 14.04. It works great for software development and 14.04 improved support for high DPI screens.<p>Dell's Sputnik project seems to have worked out the kinks as I haven't had any problems with hardware support.
Hah! I was thinking of posting the exact same question. Though I don't care about an SSD for an otherwise good machine, as I'm happy enough to put one in myself.<p>Recommendations at different prices points would also be appreciated!
if somebody is looking for a cheap one, i can recommend lenovo e330. the laptop costs less than 500 euro, comes with no OS installed but an HDD which should be replaced with an SSD. linux compatibility is top, performance is sufficient for office work, youtube, development. Battery life of about 5-6 hours when using WLAN and maximum display brightness all the time.<p>been using it for months now without any issues.<p>edit: for more power i can recommend the lenovo T440, a friend of mine bought one and he is completely satisfied with it)
As of now, I use a mac for the hw but the linux experience on this box is shitty.<p>I installed archlinux, and still havent got the fonts right. Its so much strain on the eyes and I had to go back to mac.
Try to avoid dual GPU setup laptops like Dell Inspirion 5521 I'm using with Linux Mint.<p>It's hard to get external monitors / projectors etc to work with this setup.
I'm looking for the same thing, but with yet another most important requirement - 4K screen. Doesn't have to be out now, sometime this year is fine.
seen this review of Dell XPS 13 on hn a while back. Not 14.04 but may be of interest:<p><a href="http://www.jx0.org/2013/12/dell-xps-13-developer-edition-review.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.jx0.org/2013/12/dell-xps-13-developer-edition-rev...</a>