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.
this post was submitted on 21 Feb 2025
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I have not had many issues in the past 15 or more years myself running Linux exclusively aside from a shorter Macbook period. Perhaps I have just been lucky.
We sported (in guessed cronological order of first buy): Dell, HP, Lenovo, Slimbook, Tuxedo, Starlabs, BTO all running Linux at our company. We have not had big issues with any except for keyboard on a Dell, Tuxedo, Slimbook and cooling on a Lenovo. Since I chose the Slimbook many have followed on the path of smaller suppliers and I think we rarely buy from the big makes now.
I have been very happy with slimbook. I came from a macbook (bad idea) with the bad butterfly keyboard and the slimbook was a big upgrade on that front. It's still not the greatest keyboard for some but I do like it. I have been wanting to buy a new one but whenever something broke or was insufficient I could either upgrade (2 x nvmeSSD slots and RAM can be replaced) or they still supplied spare parts when I sent them an email (keyboard replacement after 4 years). I wanted a framework but Slimbook has offered me spare parts as needed for longerbtham could buy a framework and the slimbook still works well. Plus it's less expensive. Replacement of the keyboard was not toolless requiring glue to be heated but I did manage to quickly do it with a sleepy head at night. I'd buy their new 13" if this one would be out of service. I'd buy one now but it feels such a waste.
Things I did not like 6 years ago: webcam and microphone of lesser quality, display nice and matte with good color rendition but lower resolution than I'd prefer, no USBC charging on USBC port. Display and USBC are resolved on the new models, no clue about webcam and microphone.
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.
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.
Alternatively, maybe you could look for a used Thinkpad X1 Carbon. I've purchased several of those in the past and have had really good experiences with them. The hardware is great and the software support is excellent.
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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minisforum v3
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.
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.
I have an all amd alienware m17 r5 I got $2000 off at around 1200$ pretty fire, 6850mxt = 3080 laptop, ive had no issues running most things, msfs needs hella tweaking on windows but past that even vr stuff mostly works fine
I recentlly swapped to cachyos, works way better than windows, had hella driver issues on windows, I forgot and reinstalled my windows os (shrunken partition, just in case I need it) had the same issues.
All I've had to download is like two extensions in the package manager for the amd gpu to work in blender, everywhere else it workd well instantly (because of cachyos and all it installs)
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NovaCustom: Coreboot, Linux support, customizable, spare parts.
I have no personal experience, but their products seem nice, though expensive.
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.
https://kfocus.org/spec/spec-ir16.html this is an absolute gem, built just for linux. It comes with KUbuntu preinstalled but can be wiped and replaced with any flavor of linux, and all of the hardware and laptop functionality is fully supported by linux.
Framework is way overhyped and even more overpriced. Its "upgradeability" is totally unrealistic at best, scam at worst. Sure you can pop in a new USB port or display output, but that's about it before you're replacing the entire guts to upgrade it and keeping just the worn out case and screen...? Gee sounds great... Repairability is a real point for framework though. Can you still not update the BIOS on linux? Its linux support is historically not great but may have improved
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