Laptop Recommendations?

[SteveRiley]

I forgot to mention that while setting the clock, after creating the DWORD as instructed, when I went to firmware settings menu, I could not find "Clock" any where in the menu, I Looked under every sub menus no Clock at all.
Now, my local time which was showing the correct time zone and time before, shows 7 hours ahead.
Do I need to go back and delete the created DWORD?

On both my ThinkPads -- a T520 and an X1 -- the third item in the firmware's top menu allows you to set the date and time:



I'd be surprised if yours is significantly different here.

Well, I am pretty much stuck in the same situation as I last posted above (post #53). That is, accessing kubunta from within the Windows. I have researched and read many related and applicable posts in this forum and else where on the internet to no avail.
I have followed some suggestions I found by googling which caused me to bork the access to my Windows OS two times and was compelled to use "Recovery" system to restore the Windows 8.0 OS and yet had to go through upgrading it to 8.1 version each time ( a 2-3 hrs process).

I'd like to encourage you to try the steps as I outlined in my post on dual-booting Windows and Kubuntu. Your sequence will be slightly different. First, start once again with a full system recovery process, so that you have only Windows on the machine.

Then go to Part 2. Installing Windows but obviously you'll be omitting the first step in that part. Don't overlook step 6, which is what you need to do to avoid signing on with a Microsoft account. The remainder of Part 2 is an analysis of how the hard drive partitions were laid out after I installed Windows 8 from a USB. Yours will be slightly different, because you have an OEM recovery partition at the end of the drive. This won't matter here.

Follow Part 3. Necessary Windows configuration procedures exactly as written. Disabling fast startup is a requirement so that the system will always load GRUB when the system is booted. As for the clock shenanigans, I can confirm that the steps will work, because I just double-checked my X1.

When you follow Part 4. Installing Kubuntu, you can choose to use the "auto" partitioning like I did or you can do it manually. Either way, you should end up with the same results I described. Booting the computer launches GRUB, and you'll see the three items in the list I provided. The remainder of Part 4 and all of Part 5 are more analysis of my installation results.

[Feathers McGraw]

Isn't Steve using a T540p without problems?

[Chopstick]

The bottom line, this Thinkpad model (t540p) is not as linux friendly as I read and assumed it to be. So, anyone contemplating of buying one, be careful and google "Linux on Thinkpad t540p" and read many issues encountered by many with no suggested effective solution.

So, this is somewhat unsettling, as I am (finally) also commited to buying a T540p. The important question for me though is, are these problems really related to your dual-boot setup, or are these really kubuntu problems? Because I do not intend to leave Windows on that machine... (maybe getting rid of Windows would solve your problems?)

[marco07]

That's a sad state you're in with this otherwise great machine.

I've never seen or followed a suggestion to 'auto select' the place where Grub goes, that would be me first attempt, get Grub on the partition that is set to boot Windows.
I even don't know UEFI would allow such..

Installer's default location for Grub is set to sda. I understood that with UEFI grub was irrelvant. So, I did'nt bother to change it.

What about installing Kubuntu as you did but with one little change, install grub on a Flash drive.
This should allow you to boot in Windows like usual and in Kubuntu only when the Flash drive is in place.

I may try this later on after I try all aspects of installed kubuntu to see if all is functiong allright.
Thanks!

[marco07]

Hello folks;
just an update as to where I stand on dealing with my newly purchsed Thinkpad T540p as of now:
Well, I am pretty much stuck in the same situation as I last posted above (post #53). That is, accessing kubunta from within the Windows. I have researched and read many related and applicable posts in this forum and else where on the internet to no avail.
I have followed some suggestions I found by googling which caused me to bork the access to my Windows OS two times and was compelled to use "Recovery" system to restore the Windows 8.0 OS and yet had to go through upgrading it to 8.1 version each time ( a 2-3 hrs process).

The bottom line, this Thinkpad model (t540p) is not as linux friendly as I read and assumed it to be. So, anyone contemplating of buying one, be careful and google "Linux on Thinkpad t540p" and read many issues encountered by many with no suggested effective solution.
As for me, I have, for now, accepted the awkward way of accessin Grub by either, from within the Windows restarting it while pressing the shift key, or at power-on, just before start of Windows boot-up, pressing the "Enter" key, which brings up a device start-up menu, and selecting the (HDD0) which evidently grub is installed on (auto selected during install) and clicking on ubuntu.
Any thoughts and suggestions will be appreciated.

[millusions]

Indeed. In post #26 of this thread, I compared Lenovo's prices to those from NewEgg. The markup is about 100% at Lenovo.

somehow missed your very thorough post,

pay 1/2 AND keep the old bits, thats an offer nobody can refuse!

[SteveRiley]

Getting really screwed here, for 320$ you can buy 2 x 256GB ssds, same goes for ram.
huge rip off

Indeed. In post #26 of this thread, I compared Lenovo's prices to those from NewEgg. The markup is about 100% at Lenovo.

[millusions]

he he re: junk. i love my sony since the first i3 i had, comes with practially no bloatware, great battery time, awesome lcd..

the problem with Lenovo, in Australia, is the customer support, its terrible. At one stage, and this might not be the case at present, Lenovo had the best battery time out of all laptops.


wow, check in a laptop? not in this region, even on international flights the laptop goes in carry onboard bag and beats the inflight movie players

[millusions]

Sony Vaio's have a little problem, they are fragile.
Me and my colleagues travel a lot and I've never seen (the hinges of) a Vaio live for more than ~10 flights...

But if you are mainly stationary, yes they are usually compatible.

That's a pretty broad statment,
it reminds me of people saying how fragile iphones are, when they are dropped they shatter,
i think im on my 4th of 5th iphone and yet to shatter one.


when you say sony vaio is fragile, it means as opposed to what?
what beastie laptop survives 10 flights with you?

[millusions]

Yet another reason for favoring ThinkPads is Lenovo's custom ordering capability. You can start with a base model and alter its specs to your liking. For example, right now on the Lenovo web site I'm tweaking a T540p to the way I'd like. The base system price is $899. My modifications:

* Memory: from 4 GB to 16 GB -- add $340
* Storage: from 500 GB hard drive to 256 GB solid state drive -- add $320

Getting really screwed here, for 320$ you can buy 2 x 256GB ssds, same goes for ram.
huge rip off

[millusions]

Sony Vaio,

have used a lot of hardware / software through the years and really liking Sony Vaio laptops,
this being my 2nd after a few dells and few toshibas

thats just my 5 cents.

[marco07]

The firmware's boot order is set to boot from the hard drive first. You can probably change this in the firmware's settings..

I did this, which BTW, I thought it was already set as default by Lenovo. Anyhow, after
changing the order of boot-up device in firmware settings, I plugged in the live USB and started up the
laptop. It booted into live kubuntu with wireless detected and screen set to the deault
resolution (maximum.) I then proceeded with system installation on a 55 GB partition
in the free space of the hard drive already detected by the installer. The partition
was manually set up through the installer's partition manager.
The installation went smooth with no problem at all. Upon completion of the process, I
restarted the laptop. However, it booted into Windows system. Again here, I restarted the
system while holding down the shift key. This got me into a menu followed by a submenu with no
indication of kubuntu at all. Amongst the submenu line items, I, logically, selected a
so called HDD0... line item, which fortunately led me to the grub menu with kubuntu &
Windows being listed. Clicking on kubuntu, the system was booted up correctly.

Now I am wondering what more needs to be done to get properly into the grub (or is it
Windows boot manager) menu right when the laptop is turned on.
Thanks!

Edited later:
I forgot to mention that while setting the clock, after creating the DWORD as instructed, when I went to firmware settings menu, I could not find "Clock" any where in the menu, I Looked under every sub menus no Clock at all.
Now, my local time which was showing the correct time zone and time before, shows 7 hours ahead.
Do I need to go back and delete the created DWORD?

[SteveRiley]

I now have the fast boot disabled too. But with USB live inserted, the box still boots into Windows at start-up. I still must press shift key and restart the laptop in order to get into boot menu.

The firmware's boot order is set to boot from the hard drive first. You can probably change this in the firmware's settings.

The only item remaining to be done from SR list (his last post) is the clock set up. I have no idea what DWORD is and how to create it.

Once you navigate to the TimeZoneInformation registry key, go to the menu and choose Edit -> New -> DWORD (32-bit) Value.

And elevated command??

To perform system level commands at the command prompt, you have to open it with Administrator privileges. The instructions for doing that are right there in the sentence.

[marco07]

I now have the fast boot disabled too. But with USB live inserted, the box still boots into Windows at start-up. I still must press shift key and restart the laptop in order to get into boot menu. The only item remaining to be done from SR list (his last post) is the clock set up. I have no idea what DWORD is and how to create it. And elevated command??

[marco07]

@Qqmike
Thank you! My goal right now is to have kubuntu installed. Then I will pay attention to this issue. I may decide to keep it as well.