Advice for a Linux Laptop in 2025
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I personally buy refurbished. Lately I got a Lenovo X280 thinkpad, for $160 with 8 GB of RAM, 1080p screen. Worked fine, Linux flies on it.
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Framework hasn't done that yet. They have an event in 3 days and a lot of people seem to be thirsting for a Strix Halo main board, though.
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I had a galago pro and it was not well built. It fell apart faster than any other laptop I've used.
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If you have budget, Thinkpads can't go wrong. You can also find refurbished.
Tuxedo and Framework are also excellent choices.
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I have had a Tuxedo InfinityBook 14 Gen7, and I've been happy with it. They focus on hardware that has a good compatibility with Linux, so it works well out of the box without any tinkering. You say you don't have a high budget though, so these might be too expensive (I believe you can get similar specs at a lower price), but I've also been very satisfied with the after sales service they have provided - I've had some issues with it since I got it, but if it was Tuxedo specific (or appeared to me to be Tuxedo specific), and thus not easy to find general troubleshooting help online, I contacted them and I was helped out promptly, both via e-mail and the phone.
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I bought the Asus Tuf A16 AMD Advantage laptop. I installed Arch on it and it's been great. Got it for $600 on eBay. Put 32gb of RAM in it and a 2tb nvme drive into the second slot. Left the 512gb drive it came with.
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Maybe not what you're looking for, but I use Asahi Linux on an old M1 MacBook Air and it's quite nice. I bought it used for $480 last year.
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Does everything work on it? Sleep/hibernate too?
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I think hibernate is a missing function - I've never tried it though. Here's a good write-up on the pros/cons and potential issue depending on your use case :
https://www.anuragrao.site/blog/05-asahi-linux -
especially in the Apple space
Offtopic, we are discussing linux laptops.
With Framework its 5 screws
Aw gee, then Framework wins! With Focus IR16 its nine phillips screws...
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Whether a Thinkpad has soldered RAM or not is model-by-model thing. When I was laptop shopping I tried to stick to the only non-soldered ones, but they are definitely more expensive, as they are the higher-end models. I absolutely cannot wait for CAMM to, if it ever does, become a normal thing for RAM modules.
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Pretty sure the mic does not work if you need to have video meetings.
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Do you want mainstream brands that work well with Linux? Lenovo or Dell
Do you want smaller brands that are specialised and support Linux? Tuxedo, System76, Slimbook, Purism...
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Tuxedo is a bit hit or miss. Used one for 2 years and wasn't happy with the case quality. The plastic basically broke at some edges and screw holes
The hardware also wasn't as Linux compatible as they claim. 5Ghz wifi just didn't work reliably. With their support page saying the fix is to disable 5Ghz
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Been happy with my Purism Librem 14, and soon they'll have a 16". I think today, I'd probably buy their 11" tablet. Perfect travel size and you don't need to put it away during takeoff and landing of flights.
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They're a bit expensive up front, but I'm really enjoying my Framework.
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I want to support tuxedo, as an European brand, but the last one I bought had such a shitty screen that got worse and worse over the years. They seem to have improved the hardware somewhat but the experience left a bad taste in my mouth.
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I had system76 and now on tuxedo. I will buy tuxedo again...
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Currently in the process of fixing up my old Asus TUF FX505DU with Debian & KDE Plasma.
Setting up Nvidia Optimus would be a pain if it weren’t for Envy Control, run one command and boom GPU’s speak nicely to one another.
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StarLabs
