Advice for a Linux Laptop in 2025
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Whats your use case?
Was somewhat recently considering a linux laptop myself and ended up deciding the steamdeck fit my needs well.
A dock + portable keyboard & mouse for when i need to do typing or w/e, and a fun handheld console for when i want fun.
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I'm hearing good things about Framework, provided you get the hinge upgrade.
If you need something beefier, personally I'm using a Lenovo Legion 7 (2024 version... that white one, bought it a few months ago), and I'm loving it. Linux Mint worked out of the box, but I chose to replace the stock wifi driver with a better one.
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Well, OP only specified that they'd been using Linux for about a decade; no mention of their laptops not being from the early 90s.
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An almost exact question was asked here about 3 days ago, maybe begin there.
Almost any Windows machine with an Intel sticker on it will work so it really depends on your priorities:
- ethics - buy from a Linux specialist like Tuxedo to avoid paying Microsoft
- safety (no surprises) - buy whatever your big-box retailer is selling at your budget
- bang for buck - buy a Lenovo ThinkPad second-hand
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https://kfocus.org/spec/spec-ir16.html this is an absolute gem. Framework is way overhyped and its "upgradeability" is totally unrealistic at best, scam at worst.
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Lenovo Thinkpads are always a great choice. You can get N.O.S (new old stock) models at deep discounts directly from their website.
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This is the route I'll probably go when it's time for me to replace my laptop. The 14" Lemur Pro looks perfect for my use case (ultra portable) although the Pangolin looks more powerful.
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not to be a downer but you could very likely buy a higher performing laptop than even the top framework laptop for less money than even a minimal build
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Yes, but that's not the point of framework
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My top pick for a Linux laptop would be the Dell XPS 13 9310. It's old I guess, from 2020. But the build quality and Linux support is excellent. You could get a used one from eBay for around 400USD.
If you want to spend money on brand new hardware, I'd probably get an Thinkpad X1 Carbon. I've purchased several of those in the past and have had good experiences with the hardware and Linux software support.
I would avoid Framework. I actually just switched back to the Dell XPS 13 9310 after a year of using the Framework. Linux support on the Framework is just not as good as some other laptops. The biggest con of Framework is the HiDPI display. You will never get the display to look good. You'll have to do a ton of tweaking and debugging—and you'll still have some apps that are blurry or have weirdly sized icons or text. See: https://lemmy.today/post/22761155/13770242
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What's the deal with the hinge upgrade?
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minisforum v3
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The touch screen in my 2013 laptop has been working fine since... 2013, running only Debian and Debian-derivatives.
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I have no first hand experience, but I read about it here recently:
https://www.projectgus.com/2024/09/18-months-with-framework-laptop/He has another post named "20 months...etc", where he has done something tweaks and upgrades, and it's all good.
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DELL Latitude laptops. They're designed for work, come with repair guides from DELL, and have upgradeability. The 5310 is one of the longest-lasting laptops for battery life you can get for $200-300 on ebay (over 8 hours battery video streaming, I've done this)
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replacing the entire guts
That's not how it works at all though... What? The RAM and SSD are individually replaceable, and the screen, speaker system, and chassis all have individual upgrades that have been released with time too (for the 13, at least). The only "replacing the entire guts" you would do is if you replaced the mainboard for a CPU upgrade, and even then that's just the mainboard, not the RAM, SSD, etc., which is pretty on-par with, say, a desktop anyway as often a meaningful CPU upgrade will include switching to a newer platform and therefore a new motherboard.
Not saying the Framework has no issues at all whatsoever, but that's sure not one of them.
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So, I saw that lot of you are agreeing that basically just a standard CPU is needed. The problem is that in some cases its not enough. Some years ago I bought a very small Lenovo Miix 320 (not a thinkpad) and it was not compactible with free software at all. The audio and webcam crashed all the time with any distro that I tried. For this reason I asked this question, I had the impression that in the last years it became more difficult to make a laptop work with free software but I cannot judge it just with this experience.
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New thinkpads are trash unfortunately. Lenovo really cheaper out on their build quality. I've had to fix multiple lenovo laptops and one of their all-in-ones and the corners they cut made the repairs either impossible or extremely difficult.
One new ideapad had to go back to them twice with motherboard issues.
Replacing the keyboard is impossible, you need to replace the whole front panel of the case becuase the keyboard is plastic rivited in place.
The all-in-one started as a simple ram and storage upgrade, but in order to do that the whole back panel needs to come off. Its snapped on but the LCD panel itself doesn't have any subframe around it, so when opening the back panel theres a very high chance of you cracking the display.
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Framework is a great concept, a great idea for places technology could go, but even its newest offerings are janky. I’ve seen the reviews from people who want to love them. I too want to love them. The modular tech they’re build around is cool as hell but in terms of daily use laptop that moves with, it just ain’t it, imho. I’ve run
Linux on multiple think pads, a razer laptop, and an asus gaming laptop, and they all work fine. Buy the hardware that works for you, and put Linux on it. It’s that simple.
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New thinkpads are trash unfortunately. Lenovo really cheaped out on their build quality. I've had to fix multiple lenovo laptops and one of their all-in-ones and the corners they cut made the repairs either impossible or extremely difficult.
One new ideapad had to go back to them twice with motherboard issues.
Replacing the keyboard is impossible, you need to replace the whole front panel of the case becuase the keyboard is plastic rivited in place.
The all-in-one started as a simple ram and storage upgrade, but in order to do that the whole back panel needs to come off. Its snapped on but the LCD panel itself doesn't have any subframe around it, so when opening the back panel theres a very high chance of you cracking the display.
