Choosing a Laptop for Linux

Just sharing some experience I've had using various laptops with the latest Linux builds over the past 5 years.

In 2018 I started using Linux 100% of the time - literally no Windows or MacOS (never used it in the first place). I had a desktop, which I still have and still runs Linux, but I needed a laptop for work. 

I bought a then really cheap Acer S1 which had like a Pentium or Celeron processor and hard 4GB of RAM all soldered on. I thought it was fine as I could just use it for a customer presentation or typing up some things in a coffee shop. After a year, my wife wanted a PC so I gave that to her, and bought something new. Eventually she just didn't use it - preferring her iPad - so that got sold. It was okay up to like 8 browser tabs, but if I didn't have a desktop, I would have gone insane using it. 

As much as I love AMD, I've had issues. I had a Lenovo Ideapad for over a year and normally was great. Started with Linux Mint XFCE and really liked it. After a certain kernel update it didn't work - the screen was rendered completely unusable going from Kernel 5.0 to 5.3. Basically after reporting the issue and just booting to the old kernel each time, I got frustrated and abandoned ship to Fedora. That was great, but suddenly after about a year it started suddenly freezing randomly. After 6 weeks of this, I was writing an important email to a customer []7+complaining about something, and it froze. The laptop and the laptop stand suffered severe dents (punching laptops is not good for their health), and eventually I realized the second RAM slot (the only RAM slot that was removable and upgradeable) was rendered unusable - so only 4GB of onboard RAM to use.

That was donated to a school later....

I tried the Microsoft Surface Laptop Go for a while and it worked pretty well. The battery life on that is poor, but the heat management is bad on Linux, likely worse on Windows. I got a good deal so moved to it, but the performance was always hampered due to heat issues. This has turned into a Windows 11 PC for my wife who claims she needs it, I've not noticed using it.

A few months ago I bought a used Thinkpad X280 with an 8th gen Core i7, 16GB RAM, and and removable M.2 SSD. I messed up the screen - it's a poor 1360x768 px - but I normally connect to a larger monitor that's 1080P. This is the best laptop I've had. Build quality, keyboard, and just reliability. With PopOS it runs great, and Pop will even help show firmware updates for the system and install them with a reboot from the UI <-- something I never thought was possible in Linux. It cost less than USD300, and while it's maybe not the latest and greatest, it makes up for it by being reliable, good build quality, and strong Linux support.

Lessons learned. Older hardware is where Linux is developed, and is the better choice. Intel seems to be the better option long term - though this is not an absolute truth. Focus more on the build quality than the specs - unless you are building kernels, build quality will be more worthwhile than the exact Geekbench score for most use cases. Also consider heat management - make sure the model has vents, etc. Finally remember that Lenovo Ideapads are not Thinkpads <-- build quality, and general use by the Linux community (IBM invented Thinkpads and owns RedHat.....).