I’m going with this Dell and returning my Lenovo Slim 7 Pro. In my previous thread saying I switched to Windows I read that Dells offer great compatibility. I ordered this Dell XPS 13 and plan on going with Pop OS. Thoughts on this? Good choice?
Edit: Apparently it’s certified with Ubuntu 20.04 LTS. I assume I should go with This particular Ubuntu version then?
The Lenovo Slim series of the past couple years are absolutely broken for any kind of non-Windows operation. Stay away.
Yep glad I’m able to return it!
I think the XPS 13 is a nice device.
For reference: I think your mistake was buying a Lenovo laptop without the word “ThinkPad” in the name. There are Lenovo Thinkpad something devices. They are (usually) more likely to support Linux. And there are Lenovo comsumer devices and they’re a mixed bag.
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This is what I came here to say. Specifically the T, P, & W series ThinkPads. I’ve never had issues with Ubuntu or Fedora on any of those. Unfortunately, Lenovo’s been “diluting” the brand with things like the ThinkPad Yoga line.
Agree to disagree. My laptop is in fact a ThinkPad Yoga 460. And I’m quite happy with it! What’s the issue with that line? I mean there are also Yogas without the ThinkPad, which makes it confusing. But I just skip past the showcased laptops that don’t have the nipple mouse. And I’ve talked to my dealer a few years after I bought that device and he told me lots of other customers had hardware issues. So I think there are some quality issues, but that is a known problem also for other ThinkPads since after the IBM times.
Not saying there’s a problem with them, just like you said: it’s confusing the product lines. ThinkPad is/was a business laptop that’s expected to be durable and pretty widely compatible. Hence its long history of Linux compatibility. I haven’t messed with any of the Yogas, ThinkPad or otherwise, but I’ve played with quite a few of the series I mentioned. I was just qualifying my statement that I’ve not seen Linux compatibility issues with T, P, & W series.
Ok, I get it. That is my opinion, too. I have some friends who use Linux and in the good old times we had lots of Thinkpad T, L and X2x0 on the desk. I think this is only my second one. I usually use them until they completely break down. Currently I’m waiting for the Yoga to die. The Battery is long gone, the display started to flicker for like 2 months and then it resumed working correctly, I can’t upgrade that damn 8GB of DDR3L RAM without spending $200 and it’s comparatively slow. But it still runs after 7 years. I think I’m getting the a Framework laptop next, the one with the Ryzen processor seems quite nice. Or a refurbished newer Thinkpad or Dell.
I used to love Thinkpad laptops up until Lenovo bought the line - build quality dropped off a cliff after that. I’ve avoided them since then so I can’t comment on their current build qualities except to say they used to be built stronger than those toughbooks with handles.
I had a X61, I think that was shortly after Lenovo started building them and still very much like the models before. But that was a long long time ago.
I’ve had good ones and meh ones. In terms of build quality, the X1 Carbon gen3 I got ages ago was outstanding in most respects (including how easy it is to get the back off), but the memory is unfortunately soldered and the CPU is decidedly mid-field, and it was a refurb so I couldn’t really up-spec it. The T14 gen2 (AMD) I got a couple years ago and use as a personal dev machine these days has WAY better hardware (Ryzen7 5850U; 16g soldered + 16g SODIMM), but the build quality is not as nice and the back is WAY more of a pain to get off (fucking plastic clip sections).
I’ve had no real issues with either in terms of Linux compatibility; I’ve installed various distros on both of them, but generally have settled on to Ubuntu or Fedora for long periods. The old X1 is back to windows now though, simply because I am repairing and modifying a car with an OBD-II port, and it’s way simpler to use pretty much any automotive diagnostic software from a windows platform, and I wasn’t using it for anything else.
Edit: also my old IBM T60p from college - iirc one of the last ones they made before Lenovo bought them. Bloody thing just refuses to die lol
I have great experience with my framework AMD, excellent Linux hardware support and excellent support team. I have never encountered less problem on any system I own, including dell and hp.
Linux specific manufactures like system 76, tuxedo, slimbook, starlab, and nova custom are also great options, but I cannot endorse them since I never used any of them.
With framework, you get:
- assembled in Taiwan, with many components made in Taiwan
- more “cutting-edge” hardware (might require some minor tweaking, like running couple commands; but they have extremely detailed documentations on these tweaks).
- better upgradablity (upgrade CPU, main board and battery)
- 3:2 display with reasonable DPI (but need fractional scaling)
With other linux manufacture, you have
- (some) coreboot, system76 even has intel ME disabled.
- standard screen resolution (1080P is bit grainy for me but you dont need fractional scaling)
- preconfigured and preinstalled linux distro; 100% works out of the box, no tweaking or command.
BTW, I think most of these laptops have great windows support as well (but check before you buy), so you are not locked into linux.
Another vote for the framework. They are the only manufacturer actively supporting Windows and Linux.
I think tuxedo (do not offer to pre-install Windows), nova custom, slim book, starlab also officially supports Windows 11. But framework definitely have much more detailed documentation on configuring Windows.
In general, if they are using common consumer hardware that supports linux, then it is almost guaranteed to have pretty good windows support as well.
Would have sworn yesterday you made a lengthy post saying you switched back to windows? What the hell happened in 14 hours?
Sometimes when people are given suggestions for things to try they actually take them into consideration. I know this is highly usual these days as people only want to constantly argue online, but I legitimately take advice to try new things.
Some people in that thread gave me ideas to have less headaches with Linux, so I’m going to try them out.
This is a great personal quality you’re wielding. Welcome aboard to Linux land!
Probably read more about Windows.
The comments in the other thread convinced OP to try a Dell.
On kbin the thumbnail for this post is a nude woman sucking a lollipop. WTF
Do you have a link to that?
You know… just so I know what it is and don’t click on it by accident.
Look at the link through kbin and you’ll see it
https://kbin.social/m/linux@lemmy.ml/t/727861/I-m-returning-my-Lenovo-laptop-that-gave-me-tons-of
That is hilarious.
Lmao what the heck it’s true! 🤣
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and it directs me to best buy for some reason?
I really wish they’d fix this issue already. I’ve never seen it persistent on any other website before.
You know “they” is one dude, right?
This is well known and Ernest is working on a passel of fixes, and is really spread thin. I’d suggest tagging him for any bug (new or not) vs reporting an issue via bugtracker is counterproductive, and probably just adding to his stress.
There are other contributors (szsz has submitted a PR this week, for example), but its all reviewed by ernest AFAIK.
I prefer to think of it as a feature and would prefer if it didn’t get fixed.
Federverse is different from kbin’s inception is different from reddit or its inception.
I like Kbin, and it’s all because of Ernest’s efforts.
This is the only way I have seen porn on kbin, even after going out of my way to subscribe to the NSFW magazines in kbin. No porn has even shown up in my feed.
It’s a bit like the 80s or 90s when we had to rely on the porn we could scavenge. Kids today do not know the significance of a Sears catalog.
I remember the days of deciphering the scrambled tv channels on cable during the late hours perusing the late night adult programming as it scrolled in its warped and distorted menagerie of shapes and colors, feeling exited to spot an errant boob or something.
But it was enough! Kids these days have access to gigs of HD video… not sure if that’s a good thing.
Sometimes I see the rare post when I sort by Newest but it almost feels like kbin is giving 18+ submissions a low priority or something. Meanwhile when I check through my Beehaw account I see a lot of it, relatively speaking. Definitely far more than on kbin.
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Brand does not matter. You will likely get in trouble with any new laptop model. Install the latest kernel, and probably most of them will be gone. But some can be fixed only after a year or so.
My Dell with preinstalled Ubuntu had a fingerprint scanner not working, wifi chip losing connection and disabled “subwoofer” (lol). After a year or two of upgrading a distro everything works (well, I mapped subwoofer output in config and idk if this still needed or not).
Dell laptops have mostly just worked on Linux quite well, but you may run into issues with the camera, however this hack(?) has worked for me: https://github.com/stefanpartheym/archlinux-ipu6-webcam.
I believe Dell has a catch for the camera saying that it may use more CPU when in use. Whilst the laptop is Ubuntu Certified, the camera only works if you select the Ubuntu option instead of Windows, and use the install they give you.
Some other nice things to have:
- fwupd should also work for firmware updates, hopefully. My speakers sounded worse on Linux than Windows, some tinkering with hdataskretask helped a little, however it’s still worse.
- This should let you change some bios settings, like changing charge limits and thermal profile (cool, performance, balanced etc): https://github.com/dell/libsmbios
- This GNOME shell extension allows you to change charge limits easily: https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/5724/battery-health-charging/
Thank you for mentioning libsmbios, I had tried to change the power mode but given up , turned out that libsmbios was already installed and working!
Get a thinkpad?
Dell > Lenovo most days. Buy the Ubuntu edition to spurn the Windows license, then install whatever.
The Lenovo business models (ThinkPad series) are amazing value. My 11 year old laptop is still going strong.
Just stay far away from any Lenovo non-business models.
I’ve been wondering what the best non-Mac laptop is. Like something that’s premium feeling without being the same price as a Mac.
I have a Lenovo laptop-14 that I really like, but it’s a bit thick and the screen is a bit dim at times. The speakers are also very quiet.
Is an xps what I should be looking at?
I can say that my old XPS 13 felt premium, and the speakers blew me away with how good they were.
But XPS models, just like MacBooks, are far from cheap
I just priced one out and you get about double the ram and 2-4x the storage space of the air.
So, while I agree they are expensive, they are nowhere near MacBook pricing. Mac pricing is insane.
Also there are two different body styles and one is like $400 more but the specs I think are the same otherwise.
Get a proper lenovo thinkpad it’s way better than a Dell. My x1 carbon is amazing.
If you want to use Linux on your laptop, is there any reason not to go for ‘dedicated’ Linux laptops?
FWIW, I haven’t seen these Linux-first vendors being mentioned under your post yet: NovaCustom and Star Labs.
XPS13 has very highly positive reviews from several sources. I’ve had the same dilemma as you 3 years ago and went with the XPS13 9310 and I’m extremely happy with it. So much that I bought an on sale Razer Book 13 for my wife since it’s almost an XPS 13 with a different name.
Note that I don’t have the “developer” version of the XPS but it runs with no issues at all. I can install Linux myself, don’t need someone to do that for me and I’m not using Ubuntu anyway. Also, the delivery delay were insane when I bought it and I was extremely lucky to find a “regular” version in one of my local stores.I’ve tried a lot of laptops over 30 years and no brand was convincing enough to get me returning to them every time. I just go where I can find the hardware I need enclosed in a well-enough robust case and I’m done. All the parts are sold by the same manufacturers anyway. The difference between brands is just which parts are assembled together and how well it’s done.
As a bonus, it’s also nice that the firmware of the XPS 13 (including the bios) can be updated with fwupd.
Don’t know about Pop OS, but I’m running an XPS 13 (9380) with Arch using Wayland without any issues.
Same, I would go to Arch (for me the best distro, it’s clean), and if you want something easier just Linux Mint.
EDIT: I would forget about PopOS, really think this distro suck.
