[LAPTOP] Good Linux Laptops in the Sub-500 category?

[megosdog]

Okay, I'm looking for a new laptop for someone, hopefully in the sub-$500 category, with good out of the box driver support. Especially the wireless card. The last one we got them had a real nasty surprise in that the wireless nic had rather feeble wireless support at the time (that was my fault for not checking it against the linux driver database first). So basically I'm just after a good "surfing" computer that can easily handle just basic web browsing, no email, some facebook games, basic low end user stuff, etc. I intend to wipe it when I get it and install Linux on it and take Win10, or whatever is already on it when it arrives, off the system. Since I'm not much of a hardware guy, can you guys suggest a good laptop in that price range? Or if not, maybe something in the $650 and below range? I've already looked at some systems, but most were starting in the $1100 range and higher, and believe me, she doesn't need anything THAT fancy. Anyhow, ideas and suggestions are welcome.

EDIT: It looks like the Lenovo 320's may be a good choice in this area, but I'm not finding anything solid on wireless support for them, so I'm not totally sure. Can anyone verify that?

[GreyGeek]

I have had very good luck with Linux on Acer laptops since 2004.
https://www.amazon.com/s/gp/search/r...rnid=676578011

[megosdog]

Nice!! Yeah, that one has both a good price, and it seems to be rated much higher than any of the other choices I've found so far. The biggest issue I seem to be having finding a good laptop to do what I need is the horrible level of support that exists for wireless cards these days. Ugh. That was really a greatly frustrating struggle. But if you're not seeing any real issues with this one, then I'll definitely grab it.

[claydoh]

As for the 320, it looks like it can have one of 3. Lenovo put them into one installer

Realtek RTL8821AE seems supported but some have disconnect problems across a few laptop brands

Atheros NFA435A or NFA344A I think

Intel8265 should be fine in latest Ubuntus
I think I have one of these, don't recall any issues.

But which one will you get??


https:///us/en/products/laptops-and-...5isk/downloads

I just this morning ordered an Ideapad 520s 14" but I purposely skip checking hardware compatibility on stuff I buy. I've mostly been lucky. I went with the i5 as it was $550 after a company discount/sale price. I looked at the 320 but discovered the 520s has the new 8th generation quad core i5 over the dual core 7th gen i5 and i7 cpus in most models.

Now that it is on the way I might check out some specific specs lol.

[GreyGeek]

Nice!! Yeah, that one has both a good price, and it seems to be rated much higher than any of the other choices I've found so far. The biggest issue I seem to be having finding a good laptop to do what I need is the horrible level of support that exists for wireless cards these days. Ugh. That was really a greatly frustrating struggle. But if you're not seeing any real issues with this one, then I'll definitely grab it.

For the particular wifi chip your choice of laptop will contain, most people are not aware that the can do
modinfo <chipdriver>
and they will get a list of "parm"'s that they can change by creating chipdriver.conf in /etc/modprobe.d and adding lines like:
options parm=somevalue

I have an ahteros AR9462 chip and here are my settings.
/etc/modprobe.d/ath9k.conf

options ath9k blink=0 
options ath9k nohwcrypt=1
options ath9k btcoex=1
options ath9k bt_ant_diversity=1
options ath9k ps_enable=0
options ath9k use_chnctx=1

The difference between good and bad performance with a wifi chip often boils down to proper PARM settings.

I have a 100Mbps fiber optic connection and my 5G connection to my router runs at around 245 Mpbs but it will throttle up and down based on the load.

[megosdog]

Thanks everyone for the help. Sorry for being slow getting back to everyone but I've been slammed at work, so free time has been sorta awol lately. But I at least wanted to come back here and than you for the help you offered. I grabbed the Acer laptop that GrayGeek suggested and it turned out to be a perfect replacement for the failing Toshiba she had.