You can save buckets of money looking for used hardware. I got a crazy nice laptop from Craigslist for <$300.
If you can, bring a live USB stick with you and test it out before you purchase. Check peripherals like wifi, audio, camera, bluetooth, etc.
Make sure the ram is upgradable. A lot of them are soldered on these days and you're stuck with that amount forever.
you don't have to use or like Ubuntu, but they do have a certified hardware list that might be helpful
Lenovo ThinkPads work very nicely with Linux, and there's a large second-hand market. The T and X series are especially great I find.
The usual advice about avoiding soldered RAM holds in general, but right now used laptops are being bought just for stripping RAM. So I think putting up with soldered RAM in second hand devices (I'd go for at least 32G) can be a smart move because it may be a better deal (and often a smaller form factor).
If you want a compatible laptop, you get one that has a version that comes with Linux, without major kernel changes. For example, the DELL laptops. The DELL laptops get hate, but they are tested against Linux. I personally got the 5640: https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/115/129/776/310/532/073/original/ffe65da00bfd0b39.jpg It now runs Mint and Debian-Testing.
I paid just $900 euros with 32GB of RAM, and my husband got the same with 64GB of RAM for $1000 here in Greece. Everything works 100%, except touchpad's palm rejection (I made a bug report about it).
Are you looking for a gaming laptop with a dedicated gpu or just a newer one with a faster cpu/igpu?
If you wanna game Asus Zephyrus with AMD GPU (6000 series or higher) has an excellent Linux support and community support, dare I say it's better than Framework or Systems76 in term of replacement parts if you live outside EU or US
Amazon renewed I find dell Inspiron or xps work well. Used to be Lenovo think pads but not so sure about the newer ones.
Fingerprint readers and touchscreens can be hit or miss for Linux support.
I think this is a list of supported readers. When you get a shortlist of devices you want to purchase, compare its fingerprint reader with this list: https://fprint.freedesktop.org/supported-devices.html
I'm using a 10 years old Razer Blade Stealth 13 on Debian and so far no only minor problems with it.
Consequently my advice is :
Usually wifi cards are the biggest potential issue. If you're buying something brand new that hasn't been out yet for that long, your best bet is to probably use something arch-based as a distro so that you get the latest kernel versions. When i bought my ideapad years ago i tried installing void on it, but the kernel on the iso was too old and my wifi card wasn't recognized. I had to use usb tethering on my phone to update the system. After that everything was working.
A used ThinkPad?
Definitely look for a 2nd hand one, you'll have less issues.
Don't go toooo old as some had wifi issues back in the day (no / partial drivers)
There's a lot of refurbs by major brands (ie Dell) that are ex-corp lease models with some kind of warranty (which won't cover the battery) because of the Win10 purge.
I think the GPU is the main issue if you're wanting to play games... and as others have said, gimmicks like touchscreens and fingerprint readers can be hit & miss.
I've installed Mint on Lenovo, Dell and HP laptops with no major issues.
See if anyone has reviewed how the model of interest performs under Linux or check if there's a report for it on linux-hardware.org
Around 2020, I had purchased a new laptop and desktop. It took about two years until everything worked on the laptop under Arch, main issue being the microphone and speakers. About another year and a half until the same on Debian. On the desktop, the wireless card didn't work with Linux on day one and still doesn't work that well on Linux to this day. Swapped that thing out with an Intel wireless card.
Depends. Sometimes you'll get a PC magazine or blog cover an upcoming laptop and test Linux compatibility. Or someone writes a long Reddit post after they got it, or updates the Arch Wiki. There definitely are ways to learn about Linux-compatibility with new models. We used to have Amazon comments and reviews...Just be super cautious with all the AI bots and fake comparison sites out there.
And it's a bit more complicated with gaming stuff. Sometimes they'll add a weird webcam, or unsupported RGB LED controller, or have weird quirks in the firmware. Some other model lines like a business laptop from Dell or Lenovo tend to be just fine and you'll get 100% Linux compatibility. There's no guarantee, but any way, after a few Linux nerds blogged about it you should be fine.
People say you should buy hardware that explicitly supports Linux, but I disagree. See if it works. If it doesn't, then return it.
I've never had an issue with Linux compatibility on a laptop, and I use gaming laptops.
What is this game? And depending on your needs the T480 should be more than good enough
I don't know if this is a Mint limitation or my lack of experience with Linux, but I couldn't get Mint to switch between the integrated graphics and dedicated GPU without manually selecting what I want and restarting. However, I switched to PopOS and everything works fine. This is on an older MSI laptop.
Maybe you can make a live CD, buy it, test it, keep it or give it back?
Some newer laptops use MIPI cameras which aren't as consistently supported on Linux yet. The situation has improved a lot in the last couple years, but if you can, check compatibility for the specific laptop and distribution/kernel version you plan to use.
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