I am looking to buy a new laptop, and I’d be interested in the Framework laptop. What I like are the replaceability and upgradeability of parts, and the fact it is not (to my knowledge) tied to any large corporation.

However, they are not available for Switzerland, and there is no telling if and when they will be. I’m not dead set on having replaceable parts, but I’d at least like to have something that would not cause issues if I were to install a Linux distrib’ on it (I had a Surface Pro, and had trouble setting up a Mint on it due to missing drivers for the keyboard). And helping smaller companies is a nice plus.

What would your recommendations be?

  • scsi@lemm.eeEnglish
    0·
    3 months ago

    I have been using Linux on laptops as main/only compute since around 1997 (started with an Inspiron 4000, PII-400 IIRC), Dell is generally extremely boring and very Linux/BSD compatible. I have been buying gently used Precision models (typically using local marketplace, Craigslist in USA) as they tend to have better build quality and non-janky custom parts (think “winmodem”). They last forever, pretty much every Linux/BSD distro works. The most important thing is to stay away from Broadcom chips and look for Intel eth/wifi. Stay away from Inspiron to avoid hardware problems, in modern times those are the bottom of the barrel janky hardware.

    The Dell Latitude line used by businesses are even more boring than Precisions and really always have been - their BIOS has a somewhat unique charging profile “always plugged in” to extend battery life - I use two ancient E6330 models tuned to super low power modes as mini-servers (think anything you’d use a raspberry Pi for) that have been chugging away for probably 5+ years just running cron jobs, backups, Syncthing services and whatever I toss on them. Throw an SSD in anything and it just works - power goes out, batteries act as UPS. $100 USD each, “just work”.

    Thinkpads have always been a Linux favorite, at least the old models when IBM owned the brand but not too sure about the Lenovo modern ones. Last Thinkpad I owned was a 32bit one back in like maybe 2010 and it worked just fine. They tend to be more expensive used than Dells (retain their purchase price better, like a nice used auto).