From fd13570a30e33848c7949a9a8e98779f14f8a5c8 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Hyperling Date: Mon, 8 Dec 2025 07:09:11 -0700 Subject: [PATCH] Add draft with exerpt from a recent conversation about Linux laptops. --- content/posts/tech/linux-laptop.md | 41 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 41 insertions(+) create mode 100644 content/posts/tech/linux-laptop.md diff --git a/content/posts/tech/linux-laptop.md b/content/posts/tech/linux-laptop.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f33ded3 --- /dev/null +++ b/content/posts/tech/linux-laptop.md @@ -0,0 +1,41 @@ +--- +draft: true +pinned: false +title: "Linux Laptop" +subtitle: "Buying a device with Linux already installed." +author: Hyperling +date: "2025-12-08T07:00:00-07:00" +started: +edited: +toc: true +images: +tags: + - TBD # food, craft, poem, blog +series: + - TBD +categories: + - TBD # recipes, musings +aliases: +--- + +I was recently contacted regarding advice for buying a laptop with Linux pre-installed. Below is my response as well as some thoughts on the subject. + +> Howdy!! Thanks for reaching out about this! From my experience the preinstalled Linux sphere is usually expensive gaming, developer, or other specialty type systems for enthusiasts. (NovaCustom, System76, Purism) +> +> The Pinebook Pro is the only budget device for daily driving that I can think of, and you may be able to buy an SD card with an OS preinstalled. It has an ARM processor rather than a normal desktop type processor, but depending on what you're doing it may not matter, like for web browsing. +> +> It looks like both Lenovo and Dell allow choosing Ubuntu and maybe other Linux distributions when configuring some of their laptops. It knocks down the price some too since they don't have to license out a proprietary OS. This option would probably be ideal for someone with no tech background. There may be other companies too. +> +> https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/d/deals/custom/?visibleDatas=1014%3ALaptops%3B699%3ALinux&sortBy=priceUp +> +> https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/dell-laptops/scr/laptops/appref=ubuntu-linux-os?sortBy=price-ascending +> +> Otherwise I've always bought the device which fits my needs best and then wiped it and installed the OS of my choosing. Used laptops are great for that if you don't want big tech companies getting kickbacks from places like Best Buy which sell laptops with licensed OS's. +> +> Linux can run on most hardware, and can give life back to devices over 10 years old which people thought were too slow to be useful anymore. I'd avoid Apple since they can be a pain to set up. Otherwise anything with a working battery, screen, and keyboard would be fine. If it has 8GB of RAM or more then it will have plenty of power for today's needs. +> +> Also, I recommend keeping backups of important documents on an external flash or hard drive in case of drive failure. Especially if going the used device route. Private cloud storage can be okay too if you trust the owner. Most drives last a long time but I've been burned by one going out early, it's not fun. 🙃 +> +> I'd love to hear what you end up doing! Let me know if you have any other questions. :) + +TBD