What’s up, it’s me, a guy that was here celebrating my transition to Linux about a month ago. And I’ve got bad news. I ended up removing my Linux partition and going back to Windows full time again :(
It’s because I daily drive a Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio, so I had to use a custom kernel, and there were just some compatibility issues with my hardware, mostly around the GPU and touch support. I tried a lot of things, made sure everything was up to date and followed many different guides, but nothing I was trying could work. So, for the time being, I think I just have to stick with Windows. I’m super disappointed with this, because for the most part I vastly preferred my time with Fedora, and once I got used to it, I vastly preferred it to Windows. But because of the work that I do and the things I depend on my laptop for, it just wasn’t really an option.
So, I’m looking for laptop recommendations. Something with similar or improved specs to what I’m currently using, potentially something with touch and pen support which I do really enjoy and often use but isn’t necessarily a must, and most importantly something that will support Linux well without issue. I’m not super concerned about a budget (although I do expect it to be somewhere around the $1500-ish range), I’m not really in a place to be purchasing a new laptop at the moment, so this is definitely like a long term thing I’d be saving up for.
I’ve done some looking myself, mostly at the Dell XPS line and some MSI machines, but since I’m not super knowledgeable in the Linux world especially when it comes to compatibility and stuff like that, I figured getting some recommendations directly from the community would be the best call.
My laptop is a first generation Surface Laptop Studio with an 11th gen i7, an RTX 3050 Ti, and 32 gigs of ram, but I’m not too picky I’d be willing to downgrade and tradeoff on some things. Battery life isn’t a huge factor, 90% of my time working at my laptop is at my desk or on the couch, or somewhere else where it’s plugged in anyways. When I do take it with me somewhere, it’s usually for something like taking notes during a dnd session, or just browsing the internet, and random little tasks like that.
If anyone here has experience with running Linux on Surface devices and just has suggestions for making it run better on my current laptop, then I’m all ears as well, I’d be willing to give it another shot.
Thank you in advance :)
Long story short, look at system76 and tixedo computers. I used to use s76 bit now I use tux, couldn’t be happier. (I come from a long era of thinkpads…)
I am looking into the slimbook creative one. Maybe those guys have a laptop that suits you
I just got a new MacBook pro. I last bought a laptop at the beginning of 2017, a MacBook pro then too. 8 years per lap top.
Another vote for Framework from me. I was one of the early pre-orders of the 16 with the eGPU and, while it took a couple cycles to iron out early adopter issues in the first few months, everything has since been solid. I started out with Ubuntu 22.04, then 24.04 and now Fedora 41 and am happy with my purchase and looking forward to an upgradable future.
Beside fingerprint not working, you can’t go wrong with any simi-old and modern Lenovo laptops
Framework for sure. Built for Linux and upgradeable.
I agree, however if the price is making your nervous try a Factory Seconds Framework. We noticed no issues with on our end and it’s cheaper.
Sure you get a 11th gen Intel, but the performance is still good enough for indi games and more than enough for surfing the web
And since it’s modular you can always upgrade!
I thirden this
I second this.
As much as I hate ‘the other site’, I recommend checking out /r/laptopdeals daily until you see something that fits your needs and budget.
I’ve been very pleased with my factory-seconds Framework 13 (11th gen i7, 64 gigs of RAM and 2TB storage acquired through other channels). Linux support has been basically perfect for me, although there were some kinks earlier on. The Framework 16 might work for you if you need something with a discrete GPU.
If you want something more mainstream, ThinkPads are often great for running Linux. Not every model is perfect, so I’d recommend doing some research there. The Arch Linux wiki often has laptop specific web pages that show how well supported the laptop is. For example, here’s the page for the Framework 13.
I second this. I’m into gaming and dev, so I went with the Framework 16 amd got the extender for the graphics card. These are amazing machines and work with linux out of the box. Also modular, which was a requirement for me. Good luck searching!
I third this vote. Owner of a Framework 16. Amazing machines.
Fourth it. Got a framework 13 running fedora and its great.
I fifth it. I want a framework.
I am surprised that Thinkpad isn’t the top recommendation. It is pricey, but built to last even after multiple hardware upgradations.
Minisforum V3
I’d suggest you go with companies that offer Linux laptops, e.g. System76, Tuxedo, Framework, and a couple more. Failing that, get a Thinkpad of 1-2 years ago. Failing that, get a DELL from 5 years ago (before the new intel webcams). Just make sure the screen has enough resolution, and you get 16 GB of RAM. Anything else (e.g. cpu, gpu) is enough for Linux to work adequately. Just give it RAM.
I wouldn’t suggest you buy a random new laptop, because even if they might “mostly” work, there will be parts that probably don’t, e.g. the fan controls, the webcams etc. Linux can’t support the latest and greatest, unless the manufacturer made sure of it.
Though if you’re good with using Ubuntu then new ThinkPads and Dells and some others generally work well as you get the enablement patches before they’ve rippled through to the mainline kennel. However you still often have a happier time waiting for others to iron out the kinks, not to mention better hardware prices by getting clear out deals for outgoing generations.
After years of ThinkPads I joined a company that gave me a Dell Inspiron and I am unimpressed in various minor ways. Crap keyboard is the big one.
Framework was too expensive for me so I went with Minisforum V3
It’s a nice bang for the buck and most of the stuff works for me on arch.
I’ve had a good time with my Thinkpad E16 Gen 1 over the past few months (definitely lower spec than your machine - pretty much all of them have only an iGPU). A lot of them are still upgradable - I upgraded mine from 8GB of RAM to 24GB, and the thing had dual drive bays, so I just left the stock 256GB Windows drive and put in a 2TB alongside it for Linux stuff.
As long as you have a recent kernel, hardware support is decent, so long as you avoid the models with Realtek (my E16 does have Realtek, but I managed to smooth out issues).
I just got a Thinkpad P14s Gen 5 with ryzen 7 8840HS/Radeon 780M, 32GB of ram and 1TB nvme ssd. I haven’t even installed the os yet(tried live boot Mint, but I’m going with custom Arch Hyprland setup). I choose it for linux use, because all (enterprise?) Lenovo laptops have linux support, afaik. I was close to going with framework but it’s a bit pricy for me personally.
Wow. Just looked it up… What an nice machine!
