Laptop recommendations?

[whatthefunk]

I know this has been asked a thousand times, but I'll ask again to get updated info. Can anybody recommend a laptop that works flawlessly with Linux, specifically Ubuntu/Kubuntu? It would be awesome if it came without Windows pre-installed because I'm going to wipe it clean anyways. I'm looking for mid range, able to do some light gaming, but mostly used for general computing and programming. HDMI support is a must as is wifi that works perfectly. Under $1,000 US would be great. Anybody have a suggestion?

[claydoh]

System76 of course.
It'll come with Ubuntu already so the hardware will work with Kubuntu. You should be able to spec one out that should fit your budget and needs I think.

sent from my LG V10 using Tapatalk

[GreyGeek]

Just about any Acer Aspire with an i5 or 97 cpu, 8GB RAM and a 17" display (for the gaming) and an Intel HD 4000 graphics chip or better. It will give you about 50-100 fps on Minecraft if you use Optifine. If you can find one with a primary GPU using Nvidia that is even better.

I've been using Acer's since 2004 and have never had a single distro fail to install on any of them.

[oshunluvr]

I have no experience with one, but if I was buying a laptop right now: http://kde.slimbook.es

i5, 8GB RAM, 120GB m.2 SSD, Dual band AC wifi, for 818,00 € (about $870) and it has a mini HDMI port.

If you stick with the base unit - 4GB RAM and N wifi it's only 729,00 €

Comes with KDEneon.

[whatthefunk]

System76 of course.
It'll come with Ubuntu already so the hardware will work with Kubuntu. You should be able to spec one out that should fit your budget and needs I think.

I looked at System76 first. The Gazelle seems to be a perfect fit, but its currently unavailable! Maybe they ran out of stock or are currently upgrading it?

Just about any Acer Aspire with an i5 or 97 cpu, 8GB RAM and a 17" display (for the gaming) and an Intel HD 4000 graphics chip or better. It will give you about 50-100 fps on Minecraft if you use Optifine. If you can find one with a primary GPU using Nvidia that is even better.

I've been using Acer's since 2004 and have never had a single distro fail to install on any of them.

Thanks for the tip. I'll have a look at Acer's tonight.

I have no experience with one, but if I was buying a laptop right now: http://kde.slimbook.es

i5, 8GB RAM, 120GB m.2 SSD, Dual band AC wifi, for 818,00 € (about $870) and it has a mini HDMI port.

If you stick with the base unit - 4GB RAM and N wifi it's only 729,00 €

Comes with KDEneon.

Hmm. Interesting. Screen is a bit on the small side, but it looks nice. Is it a new company?

[oshunluvr]

Seems so. They have 3-4 products. I agree the screen is small. Since you mentioned HDMI output I assumed you'd be using it attached to an external monitor part of the time. If you wanted a light weight unit it seems just right. They also offer a dock for 135 €

[MoonRise]

I have not had issues with ASUS. My laptop listed below seems to run rather well.

[dibl]

I have a high opinion of HP products, in general, and I have had no reason to regret buying this one a couple years ago:

System:    Host: hp-350g Kernel: 4.10.1-towo.1-siduction-amd64 x86_64 (64 bit)
          Desktop: KDE Plasma 5.8.4
          Distro: siduction 14.1.0 Indian Summer - kde - (201411230337)
Machine:   Device: laptop System: Hewlett-Packard product: HP 350 G1 v: 0992100000400010000634101
          Mobo: Hewlett-Packard model: 21B7 v: KBC Version 46.0B
          UEFI [Legacy]: Insyde v: F.12 date: 06/12/2014

[whatthefunk]

I think Ill pass on HP. My wife bought an HP about 6 months ago and its complete garbage. Constant video driver problems, crashes, freezes, unexpected shutdowns. We're an HP free household for life after this experience.

[oshunluvr]

Aren't video driver problems a software problem? Computers, like Air Conditioners, don't work well with Windows open...

[dibl]

Right, oshunluvr. @whatthefunk, it would be MOST interesting to see how a booted Live Linux distro runs on that HP, if you still have it. If it still freezes and crashes, then it is indeed a hardware problem. But if it miraculously runs trouble free with Linux -- well, there's your answer.

[oshunluvr]

For fun, I dug out an old Dell my mom had forever that's been in a closet for 3 years. A Latitude D830 circa 2008 - core 2 duo, 80GB HDD. I removed all the bloat from XP, Gparted live shrink the partition, booted to Lubuntu Live USB and installed it to the free space. Grub found XP and Lubuntu booted up flawlessly. XP still boots too. Whole operation took less than 30 minutes excluding wait time for defrag to run after de-bloating the XP install. Seems to work just fine. I have an economically challenged friend that comes over when she needs internet so I'm going to hand it to her. Has no appreciable battery life but still runs. That was back when Dell made good machines.

[Snowhog]

Has no appreciable battery life but still runs.

Should one be so inclined, you can obtain a replacement battery for this model for $24.95 at BatteriesFacotryOutletStore.com

[GreyGeek]

For fun, I dug out an old Dell my mom had forever that's been in a closet for 3 years. A Latitude D830 circa 2008 - core 2 duo, 80GB HDD. ....

That was the laptop I was using when I retired. It was docked to port to which was also connected a 21" external display, mouse, keyboard and networking. The laptop itself lay with the lid closed and the external display sitting on top, or just behind, I don't remember which. I had it set for dual booting with XP and ran mostly on my Mandriva 2008 (IIRCC) side.

Nice machine. Two years later, at the State Surplus Sale they were going for $125 @ with broken parts and $175-250 @ if they worked.

[oshunluvr]

They're about $100-125 in good shape on Amazon and Ebay