How to choose a laptop for Linux?

Question

linux

Good afternoon, users of Habr!

I want to get advice on choosing a laptop.

It's worth starting with your tasks... I'm an Apple developer with experience, but I've already managed to use Ubuntu, Linux Mint and Manjaro in VirtualBox. In addition to the fact that I have been sitting on MacOS for 5 years, I am engaged in programming and from time to time I edit videos (not some serious projects, just for myself).

I need mobility, so a desktop PC just won't do. I also really want to switch to Linux. Of course, I could put Manjaro or Ubuntu as the main OS on the iMac, but, sorry, I think this is a perversion.

I looked at the Huawei Matebook X and Honor MagicBook, however, the Internet is full of reviews about their terrible compatibility with Linux: the fingerprint (which did not give up at all) is not supported due to the lack of drivers, the speakers do not want to work on Linux at all.

My parameters for choosing a laptop:
1) support for at least the most popular Linux distributions (Manjaro, Fedora, Arch Linux);
2) compactness (about 14 inches screen, weight no more than 1.76 kg);
3) the absence of nafig who did not give up to me Touch ID and similar crap;
4) the touchpad is closer to the middle, I don't want a left-handed IdeaPad;
5) the presence of an HDMI connector for connecting to a monitor.

Do you think it is worth deleting some points or adding new ones? And how do you choose a laptop? I would be very glad to get at least some advice, otherwise after a long search I already want to forget about mobility and just assemble a PC (((

UPD: Thanks to everyone for the advice! Thank you immensely!

I managed to use the Huawei Matebook D15 for a couple of hours along with Ubuntu (Live CD) Sound Problem - Dummy Output.

Answer 1

View models with pre-installed Linux. It will work for them for sure.
Offhand: Dell .

Answer 2

I have an HP ProBook 445G7 1F3L0EA 14", it's Fedora 33, everything is ok. Before that, I sat on HP Envy and several ThinkPads - they even had a little finger scanner. In general, as mentioned above, see models sold with pre-installed linux, and look at the reviews.

Answer 3

ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14
The fingerprint scanner is built into the power button and is invisible, and yes it does not work in Linux.
I have Ubuntu 20.04 on it, almost everything works out of the box (several keys and keyboard backlight did not work, a year ago on the old kernel, but this was solved by installing the software from here: https://gitlab.com/asus-linux ).
The nvidia video card works in general as normal, but when updating the kernel, problems with video drivers may begin.
In the 5.17 kernel, patches are announced to support ...

Fan curve control on laptops with this feature require this patch which has been merged for 5.17 upstream.

According to requirements:

1. Ubuntu - works great (didn't try other distros)
   
2. 14'' weight ok
   
3. The scanner is built into the power button and is invisible (I found out about it when I needed to run Windows on it, after six months of use)
   
4. Touch in the middle
   
5. There is HDMI, + there is DP via Type C, you can charge through it (I charge with a 45-watt charger from Samsung, it is much smaller than the native power supply
   

This series is declared as gaming, but the design is quite suitable for work, nothing more.
NVME SSD can be changed, there are two RAM sticks - but only one can be replaced (one is soldered)
In new versions, something may have changed, it's better to look at the review with disassembly.
There are options both with pre-installed Windows and without OS.
In terms of prices, the spread is quite large depending on the configuration, for those who say that it is expensive: all productive and compact laptops are not cheap.

Answer 4

HP 14-cf2003ur (product number 22Z36EA). 14", an ordinary working machine, no bells and whistles. 8G RAM, 256 G SSD, Pentium Gold 6405U 2.4GHz, Intel UHD integration. Touch in the middle, HDMI, 2 USB, Ethernet, card reader, wifi, BT. Weight and a half kg.
Preinstalled FreeDOS :)
Ghent started all the "sparks" - both wifi, and touch, and a normal video
UPD: I forgot to mention that Windows is also without problems.

Answer 5

Approach one:
1. Find a laptop that you like
2. Google "linux laptop model" and see what they write / ask on the forums. It is better to search on the English-speaking Internet, you will get more results. Messages like "I just can't start wifi / bluetooth / touchpad" - a red flag.
3. If upset, then look for another laptop and google.
Approach two:
1. Google laptops with Linux pre-installed.
2. ???
3. PROFIT

I looked at Huawei Matebook X and Honor MagicBook

I myself have a Huawei Matebook D14 on AMD, Arch Linux (I also drove it on elementaryOS). I don’t complain about anything, except for the fingerprint sensor, which seems to still be turned on (the system sees it), but I don’t need it. This is a MagicBook clone, by the way.
UPD: It's still strange that you had problems with sound on the Matebook D15, there is also a pop Realtek, with which Linux is good friends.

Answer 6

come to the store with a flash drive and check.