[TriLUG] More on Laptops

[Steve Litt]

On Thu, 15 May 2014 16:54:31 -0400
matt at noway2.thruhere.net wrote:

> The time has come for me to purchase a new laptop.  After reading the
> couple of very long threads on the subject, I am narrowing the
> decision to the Asus Zenbook (e.g. UX301LA-DH71T) versus the Samsung
> Ultrabook (e.g. NP940X3G-S01US).
> 
> Does anyone have experience with these that you could share?  How
> well do they run Linux and how good is the driver support for these
> newer types of machines?

Hi Matt,

This isn't responsive to your question, but may be of value anyway.

A big part of buying a laptop destined for Linux isn't only who made
it, but where you buy it. I buy my laptops at Costco because they have
a 90 day return policy. So, if I can't install Linux and get all major
components working within a week on a laptop bought at Costco, I can
restore Windows using the restore partition, bring it back, and get my
money back.

I've never actually had to do this: Every laptop I bought at Costco ran
Linux except one (couldn't turn off secure boot), and that one was
bought as a Windows machine for my daughter.

Speaking of sons and daughters, Costco offers a reasonable extra
warranty that gives free repair for just about anything. Kids use
laptops 24/7 on beds, so of course stuff burns out.

Costco isn't the cheapest in the land, but compared to thinkpenguin.com
and system76 it's cheap as hell.

HTH,

SteveT


Thanks,

SteveT

Steve Litt                *  http://www.troubleshooters.com/
Troubleshooting Training  *  Human Performance