How to choose a computer/laptop/device that is better compatible with linux? Are there certain things to look out for when shopping?

I apologize if this has been asked a ton, still migrating to lemmy. Still stuck on crappy reddit out of habbit, but i’ve found the lemmy universe to be much more helpful.

Basically I’ve had a Dell Xps 13 9310 laptop for 4-5 years maybe? and I’ve put the thing through hell and back. Always (I believe) fixing it though and bringing it back to life. However, it seemed as if any linux distro i ever installed always had some sort of problems. I don’t know Linux well enough yet to be able to trouble shoot because it seems there’s many different routes to do it in Linux.

I’ve gone through so many distros and DEs and have tried everything on this thing. Well I think I finally bricked it after tinkering around with it. So I’m trying to plan a new budget setup.

I’ve always been a laptop guy because I love being able to lay on the couch by the TV and also have my laptop right there in front of me. I suppose im open to a small form or mini form desktop or box and just get a small display and a wireless keyboard/touchpad combo.

I just don’t know how to find what’s better compatible with linux. I see so much talk about “X” computers being great for Linux and to avoid “Y” computers because they dont work well with Linux (which I found out the newer Dells kinda suck. becoming more locked down and proprietary like Apple). I know there’s companys like Tuxedo or Pine or Pop Os that sell their specific Linux friendly devices, but those are all too expensive for me.

I’m looking for a machine that can easily handle Linux but also handle I guess a system or network, basically something strong enough to be a stable link in my entire network; if that makes sense. Because I have many plans for things I want to learn about and add to my network or system down the road. Also something durable and fairly user friendly.

The million dollar question(s)… how am I supposed to know which machines are better or even “compatible” with Linux? like all linux distros or flavors? I ran into a firmware/driver issue with my Dell and linux… they provided only a handful of drivers/firmware for ONLY Ubuntu 20.04. super limited and meant as a windows machine. As far as ram and storage, those are probably not pertinent and more of personal preference. But I guess it boils down to things like the cpu, gpu, ram, idk, whatever is important for Linux? any tips or advice is greatly appreciated. I want to finally take this serious and ensure I have the right equipment for what I want to do instead of falling for the newest, shiny things lol. Thanks

pete_the_cat,

Dell is well known for their proprietary fuckery, both in hardware and software. Pretty much anything other than a Dell or an Ultrabook like the Surface or MacBooks (obviously) should give you very little issue. Look for something that uses Intel NICs and you should be fine, Realtek NICs are poorly supported in Linux.

Macaroni9538,

Perfect, good to know. I hear some of the older model dell laptops are great for linux, but these Xps models have been troubled

pete_the_cat,

One of my coworkers had a Dimension or whatever the “base level” laptops are and absolutely hates it. He said it ran like shit but couldn’t get another one.

stealthnerd,

I’ve had two Dell laptops that ran Ubuntu perfectly. Dell sells laptops with Ubuntu pre-installed and also certifies models for Linux. Their Linux support is top notch in my experience.

pete_the_cat,

Yeah, obviously the ones they sell with Linux pre-installed support Linux perfectly, but that’s like 5 out of their 20 laptops. It would be shitty if they didn’t. People tend to buy a model with Windows preloaded and then install Linux on it though. Even though I used to work for Disney+ as a Linux System Engineer, which runs entirely on Linux, I had to fight with the helldesk to get a laptop that runs Linux, they would only support Windows and MacBooks. I told them straight up that I didn’t need their support and I was able to figure out things on my own. It took me about 5 months to get the Lenovo Carbon X1, granted this was during the end of the first year of COVID.

admin,

Seconding this, Dell has excellent support for Linux on their enterprise laptops (Latitude and Precision). XPS are another breed, and tend to be marketed as a ultrabook or a MacBook competition.

otter,

A key one is batteries

Dell, and other brands, sometimes have it so the device will reject all third party batteries. It has to be one made by Dell.

Meanwhile they stop selling the battery for older devices, which is usually when you need one of those batteries.

zShxck,

My Dell XPS is perfectly compatible with linux

floofloof,

I wiped Windows and have been running Linux without issues on a Dell XPS 13 9360 for some time, so it can be done at least with some of their models. For what it’s worth I’m using OpenSUSE Tumbleweed.

pete_the_cat,

Is that a desktop or laptop? The desktops are generally better supported and they just make the case and motherboard proprietary. My dad had an XPS Gen3 desktop back in 2005. When it finally died I couldn’t reuse the case since it was the BTX form factor and the front panel connector was proprietary 😑

floofloof,

It’s a 13" laptop from late 2017, with an 8th gen Intel i7 in it. With Tumbleweed it feels faster than my other XPS 13, which has an 11th gen i7 but runs Windows. I actually thought the 2017 one was finished because under Windows the fans ran all the time and it overheated so badly it would slow to a crawl. I repasted it twice with no improvement. But once I switched it to Linux the fans hardly come on, and they’re quiet when they do. Linux has been a huge improvement on that machine.

pete_the_cat,

Nice! Yeah there’s so much shit running in the background of Windows that it’s ridiculous. Linux practically has nothing running in the background.

floofloof,

With Windows it always feels like I get the dregs of the CPU cycles after all the corporate interests with software on the computer have taken their share.

Spectacle8011,
@Spectacle8011@lemmy.comfysnug.space avatar

Every Dell laptop I’ve ever owned has had a key repeat issue. Mind you, this was an issue on Windows too. Otherwise, I bought a Dell Latitude last year and it has worked great.

oldGregg,

deleted_by_author

    •
    pete_the_cat,

    Do you also drink Bailey’s from a shoe?

    zaph,

    Do you have neck problems because of your giant brain?

    oldGregg,

    deleted_by_author

    •
    zaph,

    Weird way to take a compliment

    stella,

    Buy it, install Linux, see if it works.

    If it doesn’t, return it and buy something else.

    Computers usually have 30-days no questions asked return policies.

    If you’re listening to people that say to buy specific things, then odds are you going to be paying more for less.

    Don’t let their theory replace your experience.

    Macaroni9538,

    Well that’s the thing, I can’t afford to buy new where you can just return it and all that; I’ll most likely be buying a refurb or used or older but new piece of equipment or possibly piecing together my own, depending on what i can learn about what I need for a smooth and easily fixable linux system

    rollerbang,

    Maybe Slimbook? I haven’t bought one yet but it’s definitely on my close watch.

    slimbook.es/en/

    kanzalibrary,

    something strong enough to be a stable link in my entire network; if that makes sense. Because I have many plans for things I want to learn about and add to my network or system down the road.

    You need to check out Fedora Podcast EP: Getting Fedora with your Lenovo. For the first time they take laptop compatibility with Fedora Linux ecosystem seriously and announce it with such a deep detail on how they do that.

    how am I supposed to know which machines are better or even “compatible” with Linux? like all linux distros or flavors?

    I think Thinkpad line seems to be your right choice. Not for all linux distros, but at least Thinkpad has used by many developers in the world, so probably more compatible than other laptop brand IMO.

    Macaroni9538,

    thanks alot. are there certain thinkpad models to look at or will any thinkpad be ok? i think i’ve heard that after a certain model, lenovo started making changes or something and it affected the linux experience. idk i could be way wrong

    kanzalibrary,

    You can check the hardware compatibility list in here. The level support begin with Ships Fedora, Supports Fedora, and Fedora Friendly.

    Frederic,

    I always had chance installing Linux on Dell Latitude laptops. MX Linux works flawlessly, everything.

    Macaroni9538,

    Ok I have always heard Latitudes and thinkpads up to a certain model or generation are good for Linux

    p_q,

    they pretty much all run linux ootb. Question is: What devices run without binary blobs underneath the OS?

    Macaroni9538,

    Sorry, over my head on what a binary blob is lol does it have anything to do with proprietary stuff?

    HumanPerson,

    IIRC it means a binary large object. Typically a proprietary part of firmware. Commonly needed for WiFi cards but there are other things too.

    Macaroni9538,

    Aha! so im not so stupid after all lol I was pretty much right. so how do you figure which manufacturers or even models are more open source and less proprietary?

    qyron,

    As a general recommendation: whatever you get, try your best to have an AMD core.

    Not a tech guru in any way but any AMD machine is just more friendly for linux

    Macaroni9538,

    Really??? I have always heard the opposite, that Intel is best for Linux? who knows

    qyron,

    My personal experience comes from running several machines over the years and AMD always returned the best results, from laptops to desktops.

    My current desktop is reachin 11 years of service and still reliable.

    Macaroni9538,

    Don’t think I have much experience with AMD, almost always Intel. Are there certain generations that are like cutoff for being too old to be stable, quick, and performant?

    qyron, (edited )

    My first laptop was a MSI AMD+Nvidia, circa 2005. It was a low spec machine yet it outperformed and outlived laptops coworkers had with higher specs. Back then I used Ubuntu and drivers were available out of the box. It managed cpu better and the machine ran smoother than under windows, which would stress the cpu more. Ran it for almost 9 years and I retired it because it made no sense spending the €100+ to have the graphics card repaired.

    From that point forward, all my AMD machines were always responsive and reliable.

    My current desktop is already 10 years (Sempron based) old and it outperforms my laptop, which is 5 years younger (AMD as well).

    I am a bit of a Linux missionary and every single machine I ever managed to bring to the dark side always ran smoother under Linux, regardless the core, but Intel often posed some extra hurdle to install. One particular case I still remember today was a laptop that required to manually install network card drivers, both wired and wireless. The required driver was available in the installer but it always failed to load.

    I’ll risk anything from the last 10 years will be good. I’d personally recommend a minimum of 8GB of ram, DDR3. The technology is really cheap and mature at this point.

    Pantherina,

    Intel integrated graphics and CPU are better imho. I have no GUI way of controlling energy saver on AMD while thats there in intel. Like changing the governor and all. Thats not even remotely there on AMD, there are apps but not on Fedora at least yet.

    stella,

    This is a lie told often enough it’s become true.

    qyron,

    As anecdotal as this may be, out of several machines I owned and installed and reinstalled over the years, AMD centric were always easier to install, while installing Intel based machines from friends and family always got me grinding my teeth out of frustation.

    I vouch for AMD based on my history with working it - and I repeat: I am not a tech guru - even without putting linux support on the table. I’ve ran AMD machines for over a decade, with no hardware problems, while I had Intel based hardware fail me in three or four years.

    nyan,

    More recommendations mean more people using the hardware. More people using the hardware means more testing. More testing means more people learning and documenting how to fix problems. So in that sense, statements like that actually do become true over time regardless of their truth values at the beginning.

    recarsion,

    Avoid Kaby Lake processors. I specifically have i7-7600u in my laptop and must use a kernel parameter otherwise it kernel panics freezes minutes after booting. Sometimes it still freezes when waking up from sleep or hibernate. Something to do with power management or such.

    Macaroni9538,

    Yup my dell xps 13 had kaby lake processors, not all cores though.

    consumptionone,

    Have you considered a steam deck? Might work for you based on mentioning a small display and wireless keyboard.

    WindowsEnjoyer,

    Disclaimer - it might require lots of tinkering depending on what the goal.

    For example, install JRE from Flatpaks. It will “succeed”, but due to some partition mounted in read-only mode, no binaries would be installed. 🙆

    Macaroni9538,

    Nope, i dont even really know what they are; always thought they were purely game related and im not a gamer. is it basically like a mini pc?

    silencioso,

    Buy it from tuxedo

    Macaroni9538,

    man, can’t afford their gear unfortunately. my plan was to get my dell xps 13 9310 fixed (bios stuck in manufacturing mode) then sell that and use whatever I make to purchase my next device. in the mean time I get to use this old old probably decade old asus machine :)

    AlexanderESmith,
    @AlexanderESmith@kbin.social avatar

    @Macaroni9538

    I've been using Clevo laptops for years. Large user base, lots of great Linux support. I just run Ubuntu, haven't had many issues (and no critical issues).

    They usually get rebranded, and I've gotten them through IBuyPower, Origin, and... can't remember the other one. My most recent one was just straight up marketed as a Clevo, got it on Amazon.

    You might have one or two odd issues (like having to install custom code to configure the RGB key backlights), but there are plenty of users to ask for assistance on various forums and repos.

    Smokeydope, (edited )
    @Smokeydope@lemmy.world avatar

    Old thinkpads are the golden standard of Linux compatible laptops, far superior build quality compared to the crap they put out today. Cheap and durable, if a little outdated in specs. TLP is a popular battery management tool that have specific built integration with thinkpads. I managed to snag a couple thinkpads through FB marketplace pre covid for under 200$ each, my daily driver being a t460 made in 2015. i7 quad core processor, 16gb ram, its weakest link is the Intel onboard GPU. The newer thinkpads let you use thunderbolt 3.0 to plug in an external GPU but there’s a trade off between how new a thinkpad is and its build quality. The old ones could be used as body armor plates and probably stop a 50 cal bullet and boot up fine afterwards, the new ones not much

    Macaroni9538,

    so what i’ve been doing is finding various models through the generations and researching their cpu’s and oddly enough, nearly every one i’ve put in has had subpar ratings or rankings… idk if that really matters or not

    Smokeydope,
    @Smokeydope@lemmy.world avatar

    It depends on what you expect your laptop to do. 8gb ram and a 2.4ghz i5 quad core processor is acceptable for almost any computing task out side of playing heavier load video games or specialty IT stuff like LLMs or cryptomining. If your main concern is video games go with the base model steam deck. Also, when you go check out listing for used think pads you will find they contain wildly different specs even if they are the same series. This is because the companies that bought them new X years ago spend some sweet corporate cash on decking them out with the at-the-time highest end options ordered custom from lenovo, and then they throw them in the literal trash a decade later. Some people who dig them out and resell on facebook don’t know a thing about computers and think they are only worth the base options used price.

    Macaroni9538,

    This helps alot actually because tbh, I don’t know what “works” good together as far as ram and cpu specs

    Smokeydope, (edited )
    @Smokeydope@lemmy.world avatar

    Glad to have helped you out. Whatever you decide to get, I highly recommend you give Linux Mint a try next. I started with ubuntu, went to mint and haven’t looked back since. Its been my daily driver for half a decade now and has worked absolutely perfectly with every laptop and desktop ive ever owned. My elderly parents use mint without issue every day.

    A quick cheat sheet for understanding computer spec lingo:

    Ram:

    4gb = bare minimum

    8gb = pretty good

    16gb = awesome

    Intel CPU cores:

    duo/two cores = bare minimum

    quad core/four cores = pretty good, most common

    more = awesome

    Intel CPU processor

    i3 = bare minimum

    i5 = pretty good

    i7 = awesome

    Intel CPU processing speed measured in gigahertz ghz

    2.x ghz = average

    3.x ghz = awesome

    hard drive

    HDD = Slower and more limited lifespan but ok, tends to be higher storage space than SSD for cheaper

    SSD = Faster and much longer lifespan, usually only goes up to 256GB but its possible to find 512GB. More expensive than HHDs

    Harddrive Storage Space

    100GB = bare minimum

    256GB = average

    512GB = pretty good

    1TB = Awesome

    Upgrading

    You can have a computer shop upgrade harddrives to a multi terabyte SSD as well as replace the batteries for you if you do your research and provide it for them.

    Another big win for thinkpads is theres lots of documentation on upgrading, and you can order official parts right from lenovo vendors through their website Which is huge for replacing batteries when they degrade to the point of annoyance. Thinkpads have an external battery and an internal one both you can replace to get supposedly about 10 hours of battery life. I get like 3 at this point so I may be considering this option soon. The Linux command TLP can help you get a good estimate on how degraded your batteries are.

    Anyways Good luck!

    MasterNerd, (edited )

    The arch wiki is a great source for this. Usually I’ll just search the model and it’ll come up.

    I found your laptop there for reference: wiki.archlinux.org/title/Dell_XPS_13_(9310)

    ransomwarelettuce,

    In my experience it comes down to avoid nvdia and check for the network/wifi chipset support on linux.

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