Laptops

In Search of Linux Laptops? Check these 6 Places to Get Your Laptop in 2021

Suparna Ganguly — Wed, 08 Sep 2021 16:00:00 +0000

Are you in search of Linux laptops? This article takes you through 6 different places that offer the best Linux laptops. So get prepared to choose your Linux laptop in 2021.

Dell

When it comes to laptops, the first name that comes to my mind is Dell. For over 20 years Dell has been selling high-end Linux laptops. In a Dell store, you can get Ubuntu and Redhat Enterprise Linux laptops. These laptops are built to meet the needs of developers, businesses, and sysadmins.

For developers, who travel a lot, XPS 13 Developer Edition would be the confirmed best choice. Dell XPS comes at an expensive cost of around $1,000. So, if you’re in search of something less expensive, you can check Dell Inspiron laptops. Dell’s Precision workstations with RHEL or Ubuntu are designed for small business owners or CG professionals.

Side Note: Dell doesn’t have a separate section for Linux laptops. Type Ubuntu in the search to get a view of all its laptops with Linux preinstalled.

Slimbook

Slimbook is well known for its thin, rigid, and light durable laptops starting at a reasonable price of €930 (approx $1,075). These come with a nice screen, solid battery life, powerful CPU, and very good speakers.

This brand is from Spain. Slimbook came ahead of its competitors launching the first KDE laptops.

Slimbook brings laptops with a good variety of popular Linux distros, such as KDE Neon, Ubuntu, Ubuntu MATE, Linux Mint, Kubuntu. Additionally, their laptops have two Spanish Linux distros – Max and Lliurex. You can choose Windows OS as well with their laptops, but for that, additional costs are there.

Slimbook offers desktop systems too. So, if you ever need desktops, check it here.

System76

System76’s Linux laptops are very well built, powerful, and extremely portable. If you are a software developer, you travel a lot, and you’re in search of a laptop with 32G RAM and 1T SSD, then go for System76.

System76 laptops used to be Ubuntu-powered, initially. Later on, in 2017, this US-based company released their own Linux distro, called the Pop! OS. Pop OS is designed using Ubuntu. After that, Pop became the default OS with Ubuntu being still available.

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Linux Laptop Buyer's Guide

Carlie Fairchild — Sat, 01 Dec 2018 12:56:46 +0000

by Carlie Fairchild

We've tested the most promising laptops pre-installed with Linux, and featured reviews of them in our 2018 Linux Laptop Buyer's Guide. Download your copy now to read what you need to know when shopping for your next Linux laptop.

In this special issue we review the:

Chromebook
Dell XPS 13 Developer Edition
Librem 13v2
System76 Oryx

We hope you enjoy!

PDF Download Link: https://www.linuxjournal.com/2018-buyers-guide

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Travel Laptop Tips in Practice

Kyle Rankin — Wed, 21 Nov 2018 13:00:00 +0000

by Kyle Rankin

It's one thing to give travel advice; it's another to follow it.

In past articles, I've written about how to prepare for a vacation or other travel when you're on call. And, I just got back from a vacation where I put some of those ideas into practice, so I thought I'd write a follow-up and give some specifics on what I recommended, what I actually did and how it all worked.

Planning for the Vacation

The first thing to point out is that this was one of the first vacations in a long time where I was not on call, directly or indirectly. In my long career as a sysadmin responsible for production infrastructure, I've almost always been on call (usually indirectly) when on vacation. Even if someone else was officially taking over on-call duties while I was away, there always was the risk that a problem would crop up where they would need to escalate up to me. Often on my vacations something did blow up to the point that I needed to get involved. I've now transitioned into more of a management position, so the kinds of emergencies I face are much different.

I bring up the fact that I wasn't on an on-call rotation not because it factored into how I prepared for the trip, but because, generally speaking, it didn't factor in except that I didn't have to go to as extreme lengths to make sure everyone knew how to contact me in an emergency. Even though I wasn't on call, there still was a chance, however remote, that some emergency could pop up where I needed to help. And, an emergency might require that I access company resources, which meant I needed to have company credentials with me at a minimum. I imagine for most people in senior-enough positions that this would also be true. I could have handled this in a few ways:

Hope that I could access all the work resources I might need from my phone.
Carry a copy of my password manager database with me.
Put a few select work VMs on my travel laptop.

I chose option number 3, just to be safe. Although I'm not superstitious, I still figured that if I were prepared for an emergency, there was a better chance one wouldn't show up (and I was right). At the very least, if I were well prepared for a work emergency, if even a minor problem arose, I could respond to it without a major inconvenience instead of scrambling to build some kind of MacGyver-style work environment out of duct tape and hotel computers.

Selecting the Travel Computer

As I've mentioned in previous articles, I recommend buying a cheap, used computer for travel. That way, if you lose it or it gets damaged, confiscated or stolen, you're not out much money. I personally bought a used Acer Parrot C710 for use as a travel computer, because it's small, cheap and runs QubesOS pretty well once you give it enough RAM.

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Review: the Dell XPS 13 Developer Edition Laptop

Petros Koutoupis — Mon, 12 Nov 2018 13:00:00 +0000

by Petros Koutoupis

A look at Dell's thin and sleek XPS 13 Developer Edition laptop that now ships with Ubuntu 18.04 LTS pre-installed.

Canonical recently made an official announcement on its company blog stating that the Dell XPS 13 Developer Edition laptop (that is, Project Sputnik) now ships with Ubuntu 18.04 LTS (Bionic Beaver) pre-installed. Upon reading this, I quickly reached out to Dell asking to review the laptop. I'm a Linux developer, and when a developer edition laptop is marketed with Linux pre-installed, I need to experience it for myself. The laptop eventually arrived, and like a child on Christmas morning, I excitedly pulled the device out of the box and powered it up for the first time.

This is a pretty rock-solid notebook. The device is very light and easy to carry—meaning, it's mobile (which is very important in my book), thin and sleek. Not only does the device look good, but it also performs very well.

General Specifications

In my possession is the 7th generation of the Dell XPS 13 Developer Edition laptop. This generation ships with an Intel Core i7 8th Gen microprocessor. It is a four-core, eight-threaded (hyperthreaded) i7-8550U CPU operating at a 1.8GHz frequency. With this configuration, the system itself reports eight CPUs. The system is installed with 16GB of RAM.

First Impressions

Upon first boot, you're greeted with a Dell welcome screen followed by a generic set of Ubuntu-related questions (such as license agreement, keyboard layouts, timezone and so on). Toward the end, you are given an option to create a recovery USB image, which could be very handy one day. If you opt out of creating one, no worries, you can go back and create one at a later time.

Figure 1. The Dell Recovery Media Menu

The first thing I did, after logging in to my user session for the very first time, was run a software update.

Although this does not at all relate to the quality of the device, I did find it a bit strange that the operating system was pre-installed with both Chrome and Chromium web browsers. I'm not sure why anyone would need both, but they both were there. If you're a Firefox user, you'll need to install it from the Ubuntu Software center.

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The Asus Eee: How Close Did the World Come to a Linux Desktop?

Jeff Siegel — Fri, 02 Nov 2018 13:30:00 +0000

by Jeff Siegel

It was white, not much bigger than my hands held side by side, weighed about as much as a bottle of wine, and it came in a shiny, faux-leather case. It was the $199 Asus Eee 901, and I couldn't believe that a computer could be that powerful, that light and that much fun.

This is the story of the brief, shining history of the Asus Eee, the first netbook—a small, cheap and mostly well-made laptop that dominated the computer industry for two or three years about a decade go. It's not so much that the Eee was ahead of its time, which wasn't that difficult in an industry then dominated by pricey and bulky laptops that didn't always have a hard drive and by desktop design hadn't evolved much past the first IBM 8086 box.

Rather, the Eee was ahead of everyone's time. It ran a Linux operating system with a tabbed interface and splashy icons, and the hardware included wireless, Bluetooth, a webcam and an SSD hard drive—all in a machine that weighed just 2.5 pounds. In this, it teased many of the concepts that tech writer Mark Wilson says we take for granted in today's cloud, smartphone and Chromebook universe.

The Eee was so impressive that even Microsoft, whose death grip on the PC world seemed as if it would never end, took notice. As everyone from Dell to HP to Samsung to Toshiba to Sony to Acer to one-offs and "never-weres" raced netbooks into production, Microsoft offered manufacturers a version of Windows XP (and later a truncated Windows 7) to cram onto the machines. Because we can't have the masses running a Linux OS, can we?

"The Eee gave regular people something they couldn't have before", says Dan Ackerman, a longtime section editor at CNET who wrote some of the website's original Eee and netbook reviews. "Laptops had always been ridiculously expensive. The Eee wasn't, and it gave regular people a chance to buy a laptop that was smaller and more portable and that they could be productive with. I always gave Asus credit—they understood the role of form and function."

Netbook History

The computer world never had really seen anything like the first Eee, which didn't even have a name when it was launched in 2007 (although it later would be called both the 701 and the 4G). In fact, say those who reviewed the 701, it wasn't so much a product but a proof of concept—that Asus could make something that small and that cheap that worked.

There had been small laptops before, of course, like the Intel Classmate PC and the OLPC X0-1, each part of the One Laptop per Child project. But those were specialized machines designed to bring computing and the internet to students throughout the world, and not necessarily consumer products.

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Review: System76 Oryx Pro Laptop

Robert J. Hansen — Mon, 22 Oct 2018 11:30:00 +0000

by Robert J. Hansen

Can "by hackers, for hackers" sell laptops? System76 sold an Oryx Pro to Rob, and he's here to tell you about it.

I should start by saying that although I'm definitely no newbie to Linux, I'm new to the world of dedicated Linux laptops. I started with Linux in 1996, when Red Hat 4.0 had just adopted the 2.0 kernel and Debian 1.3 hadn't yet been released. I've run a variety of distros with varying degrees of satisfaction ever since, always looking for the Holy Grail of a desktop UNIX that just plain worked.

About 15 years ago after becoming frustrated with the state of Linux on laptop hardware (in a phrase, "nonexistent hardware support"), I switched my laptops over to Macs and didn't look back. It was a true-blue UNIX that just plain worked, and I was happy. But I increasingly found myself frustrated by things I expected from Linux that weren't available on macOS, and which things like Homebrew and MacPorts and Fink could only partly address.

My last MacBook Pro is now four years old, so it was time to shop around again. After being underwhelmed by this generation of MacBooks, I decided to take the risk on a Linux laptop again.

Oh my, an awful lot has changed in 15 years!

System76

System76 is a Denver-based firm with a "by hackers, for hackers" ethos. It's not the first outfit to have tried to deliver on this promise, nor will it be the last. It follows in a long line pioneered by Red Hat and VA Research, and it will continue in the future with businesses yet to be founded. At this moment in history though, System76 seems to be doing a pretty good job of maintaining that standard.

Inquiries

My initial contact with System76 came by visiting the website and requesting a quote for one of its third-generation Oryx Pro models. The sales staff were responsive, polite and didn't seem to have their personalities obliterated into uniform perfection like the Stepford Salesforce of Lenovo or Dell. I also never caught a whiff of a hard sell from any of them. On three occasions just before being able to put down my hard-earned dinero on an Oryx Pro, my life went sideways, and my laptop fund went to pay for strange emergencies that arose out of nowhere, but the System76 sales staff were cheerfully uncaring about this. The impression I got was they believed they knew were going to miss a sale right then, but whether they missed it forever depended on how they behaved in that instant. It's an enlightened view from which more vendors could stand to learn.

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Chrome OS Stable Channel Gets Linux Apps

Philip Raymond — Mon, 15 Oct 2018 11:30:00 +0000

by Philip Raymond

How to get started with Linux Apps for Chromebooks.

After months of user testing in developer and beta channels, the Crostini project at Google finally delivered the goods: Linux apps for most users of Chromebooks in the stable channel—definitely worth the wait. While this still is aimed primarily at developers using Chromebooks, I think there's a good chance these Linux apps will be used and enjoyed by the general public using Chromebooks as well. There's still a bit of a learning curve to overcome before that possibility is realized, but if you already are a user of any Linux distro, it will feel very familiar. Here's an overview of how to install it and what to expect afterward.

After getting the update to version 69, go to Settings and scroll down a bit, and you'll see the option to turn on Linux apps. Figure 1 shows this first step. Note that this isn't available on all Chromebooks; if you're using an older one, you'll have to wait a while before this function is available. If you don't see the option to turn on Linux apps, your Chromebook currently lacks that functionality. But, if you have a Chromebook produced in the past two years, you probably will see the option.

Figure 1. Linux Apps Option

Figure 2. Installing Linux Apps

After it's done installing, you'll see the terminal appear. From here, you can do as you would with any terminal. I chose to sudo apt-get install the GIMP, Open Shot, Handbrake, Firefox and the GNOME Software Center, which I used to download and install Audacity. The GNOME Software Center provides an easy-to-manage GUI method of finding the more popular Linux apps, but if you prefer the terminal method of using apt-get install, that works just as well and provides more app choices than the GNOME Software Center.

One more thing to note about the GNOME Software Center is that you likely will not see any apps in it after first installing it. You need to reboot first before the apps appear.

If you want to run Firefox on a Chromebook, there are actually two ways to do it. One way is to download and install Firefox from the Google Play Store as an Android app. Now with Linux apps via Crostini, you also can download and install it from the terminal using apt-get install, but it needs to be the extended support release version, Firefox-ESR.

Figures 3–5 show some of my installed apps up and running.

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The Chromebook Grows Up

Philip Raymond — Fri, 17 Aug 2018 11:30:00 +0000

by Philip Raymond

Android apps meet the desktop in the Chromebook.

What started out as a project to provide a cheap, functional, secure and fast laptop experience has become so much more. Chromebooks in general have suffered from a lack of street-cred acceptance. Yes, they did a great job of doing the everyday basics—web browsing and...well, that was about it. Today, with the integration of Android apps, all new and recently built Chrome OS devices do much more offline—nearly as much as a conventional laptop or desktop, be it video editing, photo editing or a way to switch to a Linux desktop for developers or those who just like to do that sort of thing.

Figure 1. Pixelbook in the Dark

Before I go further, let me briefly describe the Linux road I've traveled, driven by my curiosity to learn and see for myself how much could be done in an Open Source world. I've used Linux and have been a Linux enthusiast ever since I first loaded SUSE in 2003. About three years later, I switched to Ubuntu, then Xubuntu, then Lubuntu, then back to Ubuntu (I actually liked Unity, even though I was fine with GNOME too). I have dual-booted Linux on several Gateway desktops and Dell laptops, with Windows on the other partition. I also have owned a Zareason laptop and most recently, a System 76 laptop—both exclusively Ubuntu, and both very sound, well-built laptops.

Then, since I was due for a new laptop, I decided to try a Chromebook, now that Android apps would greatly increase the chances of having a good experience, and I was right. Chrome OS is wicked fast, and it's never crashed in my first six months of using it. I mention this only to provide some background as to why I think Chrome OS is, in my opinion, the Linux desktop for the masses that's been predicted for as long as I've used Linux. Granted, it has a huge corporate behemoth in the form of Google behind it, but that's also why it has advanced in public acceptance as far as it has. This article's main purpose is to report on how far it has come along and what to expect in the future—it's a bright one!

Chromebooks now have access to Microsoft Office tools, which is a must for those whose employers run only MS Office products. Although Google Docs does a good job with basic document creation and conversion, and although you can create a slide presentation with it, it won't do things like watch or create a PowerPoint presentation. That's where the Microsoft PowerPoint Android app comes in handy. If you need to watch one, simply download the PowerPoint file and open it with PowerPoint (you can do this without paying for Microsoft office). However, if you want to create or edit one, you'll have to pay for a yearly subscription or use your company's subscription.

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Review: the Librem 13v2

Shawn Powers — Thu, 03 May 2018 12:00:00 +0000

by Shawn Powers

The Librem 13—"the first 13-inch ultraportable designed to protect your digital life"—ticks all the boxes, but is it as good in real life as it is on paper?

I don't think we're supposed to call portable computers "laptops" anymore. There's something about them getting too hot to use safely on your lap, so now they're officially called "notebooks" instead. I must be a thrill-seeker though, because I'm writing this review with the Librem 13v2 directly on my lap. I'm wearing pants, but apart from that, I'm risking it all for the collective. The first thing I noticed about the Librem 13? The company refers to it as a laptop. Way to be brave, Purism!

Why the Librem?

I have always been a fan of companies who sell laptops (er, notebooks) pre-installed with Linux, and I've been considering buying a Purism laptop for years. When our very own Kyle Rankin started working for the company, I figured a company smart enough to hire Kyle deserved my business, so I ordered the Librem 13 (Figure 1). And when I ordered it, I discovered I could pay with Bitcoin, which made me even happier!

Figure 1. The 13" Librem 13v2 is the perfect size for taking on the road (photo from Purism)

There are other reasons to choose Purism computers too. The company is extremely focused on privacy, and it goes so far as to have hardware switches that turn off the webcam and WiFi/Bluetooth radios. And because they're designed for open-source operating systems, there's no "Windows" key; instead there's a meta key with a big white rectangle on it, which is called the Purism Key (Figure 2). On top of all those things, the computer itself is rumored to be extremely well built, with all the bells and whistles usually available only on high-end top-tier brands.

Figure 2. No Windows key here! This beats a sticker-covered Windows logo any day (photo from Purism).

My Test Unit

Normally when I review a product, I get whatever standard model the company sends around to reviewers. Since this was going to be my actual daily driver, I ordered what I wanted on it. That meant the following:

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Advice for Buying and Setting Up Laptops When You're Traveling or On-Call

Kyle Rankin — Sun, 28 Jan 2018 14:08:02 +0000

by Kyle Rankin

Why stress over losing that expensive personal or work laptop? Buy a cheap one for risky situations.

In a previous article, I wrote about how to prepare for a vacation so you aren't disturbed by a work emergency. As part of that article, I described how to prepare your computer:

Even better than taking a backup, leave your expensive work computer behind and use a cheaper more disposable machine for travel, and just restore your important files and settings for work on it before you leave and wipe it when you return. If you decide to go the disposable computer route, I recommend working one or two full work days on this computer before the vacation to make sure all of your files and settings are in place.

It turns out that this advice works not just for travel but also for a laptop you take with you while on call. So in this article, I elaborate on the above advice and describe some strategies for choosing and setting up an appropriate laptop to take with you while on call or traveling.

Why Choose a Different Laptop?

I was faced with the dilemma of choosing a travel laptop when I went on vacation a few months ago. I needed to be reachable while on vacation, just in case, but I knew I didn't want to lug around and cross borders with an expensive company laptop. There are a number of reasons why this is a good idea, and most of the reasons you would want to use a separate, cheap laptop for travel also apply for an on-call laptop.

Less Concern over Loss, Damage or Theft

Although it's true that your laptop might get lost, stolen or damaged while you commute to work, it's much more likely to happen outside your normal work routine. While you are on call, you might take your laptop to restaurants, bars, events or a friend's house, and because you are outside your normal routine, it's more likely that it will be stolen or that you might accidentally leave it behind. Also when you are commuting to work, you likely have some kind of backpack or case for your laptop, but outside work, you may be more likely just to throw your laptop in the trunk of your car.

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