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keith.prickett
March 14th, 2017, 08:32 PM
I'm not sure if this is the right forum or not, but it's the best I could find after looking through the list.

I'd like some help selecting the best laptop for me and my family. I've searched the internet, compatibility lists, CNET lists, blogger lists and came up more confused than clarified. What do I really need? I'd like to run the latest Ubuntu LTS.

We currently own a Macbook from 2012. Paid about $1,100 for it. I've upgraded it twice myself so it now has 16GB RAM and 2TB drive. It works great and I would keep using it except the motherboard seems to have some kind of electrical issue and the system hangs and beeps at us if we move it around too much. Apparently it's a RAM circuit issue and is a known issue with this generation of Macbooks.

The current Macbook selection does not have enough RAM or hard drive storage for us unless you pay over $2,000. This just seems ridiculous and even more so that you can't upgrade them yourselves anymore. So I've decided to switch to Ubuntu. [Edit: I use Ubuntu daily at work and have for years. This is not the problem.]

What I use my laptop for:
- Web browsing (95% of the use case)
- Word processing (resumes, spreadsheets, small amount of company work)
- Storing and viewing photos from our two iPhones. (Photos and Videos from about 2003)
- Backup iPhones
- Storing and syncing Music collection since about 2001. Mix of purchased iTunes & ripped from my CD collection
- Small coding projects (web pages, etc.)
- Would like to use the machine to begin to teach children coding within a couple years (daughter is turning 3 soon).

Use example: opening Photos app and the HUGE photo library is significantly faster with 16GB RAM vs 8 or 4. I'm just not quite sure how a modern CPU and RAM quantity will affect this type of operation using Ubuntu and Shotwell. This is where I'm looking for specific advice on the huge collections I have and potential needs.

Thanks in advance!

Perfect Storm
March 14th, 2017, 08:42 PM
Moved to The Cafe.

oldfred
March 14th, 2017, 08:45 PM
Do you really need laptop?

I am one of the few who is anti-laptop.
But those who must take system when traveling and cannot afford two systems, may need a laptop.
I am now retired and only have desktops. When traveling, my wife's iPad and my iPhone is all we need.

Laptops have small screens, often not best keyboards, are not ergonomic. While some expensive one's may say desktop replacement, they always are lower powered or otherwise limited to a desktop.
Laptops have terrible ergonomics, beside limited screen size, screen is too low and keyboard too high when on any table. They actually work best on laptop, if not so hot as to burn your lap.

I do not have Music on iPhone, but have only been able to access photos from Ubuntu on phone.

With desktop, you can get more performance for same price.
oldfred's new SFF system Skylake with 16.04
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2315007&p=13449024#post13449024

With new UEFI systems, some brands of laptops work better than others.
Dells just seem to work, but very new hardware may require some effort/drivers/boot options.
Acers require a Supervisory password and enabling "trust" on Ubuntu/grub .efi boot files. Actually better than most HP, Toshiba, Sony and others that require workarounds to boot fallback or hard drive boot entry, not ubuntu UEFI boot entry.
But just about every brand can be made to work ok.

keith.prickett
March 14th, 2017, 10:33 PM
@oldfred, I actually asked my wife if she would be okay with a desktop. It may work for us. I'll keep poking at that. So far Dell and Lenovo seem to be the top two laptop brands for best price/performance point.

SeijiSensei
March 15th, 2017, 02:04 AM
My daughter bought a Lenovo Yoga 900 about a year ago. It's a nice machine that has since been replaced with the 910. I don't know how well it works with Linux though, particularly when it comes to supporting the touchscreen features.

Maybe you would be happy with one of these "all-in-one" machines which put the electronics and screen together in a single package. NewEgg has a good deal on one today: https://www.newegg.com/Special/ShellShocker.aspx?cm_sp=Homepage_SS-_-P7_83-101-250-_-03142017&Index=7

I recommend browsing the "Shell Shockers" and "Daily Deals" at NewEgg. You can often find some excellent bargains there.

mastablasta
March 15th, 2017, 04:30 PM
i don't know much about the latest laptops, but as a general advice go for "business models" rather than "home models". aside from being built better, they also often have Linux support out of the box.

you may also want to look at System 76 or zaReason.

i would second the use of desktop for the tasks you mentioned and preferably one with large screen. if you have money add as much RAM as you can and add an SSD drive at least for the OS. i am not sure how Linux performs in particular tasks that involve the mentioned proprietary software. but i guess you can test that at work (itunes etc.)?!



Use example: opening Photos app and the HUGE photo library is significantly faster with 16GB RAM vs 8 or 4. I'm just not quite sure how a modern CPU and RAM quantity will affect this type of operation using Ubuntu and Shotwell. This is where I'm looking for specific advice on the huge collections I have and potential needs.


what you need is a photo managing app such as for example digiKam. if we are talking about lot's of large RAW files crammed into 1 folder, then ofcoruse it will take long to open it. photo manager should organise it all into albums and such.

with good photo management you have file indexing. and once that is done, the ram shouldn't matter that much unless you are opening massive amount of photos at the same time. furthermore, disk speed might have more to do with it than RAM.

saiyon
March 16th, 2017, 12:06 AM
I recently bought a 2nd hand Lenovo x230 specifically to run Linux and be my laptop on the go. The x230 (and the x series in general) are business laptops with very sturdy construction. This laptop will be thrown in a backpack and taken everywhere, generally via public transport in a major city. So I needed something that can handle a bit of rough treatment.

It is about three years old but the performance is very strong. I can happily run Ubuntu 16.10 and another distro in Virtualbox at the same time with good performance.

It cost me £190 (approx, $233 USD) on ebay. Ubuntu runs a dream on it, to the point you would think it was designed for Linux. The web cam, on board mic, bluetooth, wireless and all additional media keys etc worked out of the box. I am not sure if the fingerprint reader did but I am not interested in that. I also find that the built in wireless is pretty strong on the Lenovo's and I can use it comfortably in parts of the house I struggled before.

I have been so impressed by my bargain basement buy I think I will stick to the Lenovo X series even for more expensive purchases e.g. an x260.

I would recommend you check this site to see how the laptop you choose will take to ubuntu: https://certification.ubuntu.com/

(https://certification.ubuntu.com/)

Delvien
March 16th, 2017, 07:59 AM
Thinkpad t430 or x220. I have a t430 myself, you can get them cheap on ebay/craigslist.

For the t430, Im running the OS on an msata ssd, I have another slot for a slim HDD or SSD and a hard drive caddy where the dvd rw used to be, enabling me to have a ton of storage, if I wanted.

My t430 gets around 6-7 hours of battery life (6 at full brightness and around 7 at lowest brightness). More too if I turn off the TearFree option.

A caveat: make sure you don't get the models with the NVidia GPUs, they are pretty garbage, and optimus (the gpu switching) runs like crap. You will only run into problems, and have worse battery life because of it.

keith.prickett
March 22nd, 2017, 05:20 PM
All, Thanks for the info. I hope others find this useful too. We've decided to wait on a purchase until our current laptop actually bites the bullet. Once that's done, I'll try to return and let folks know what I chose.

sp40140
March 27th, 2017, 04:06 PM
Two of the uses you mention are problem. 1] Iphone / anything with iOS. You will keep pulling your hair until you are bald to get it working.(some really small number of people who got lucky have got it working, but it's hopeless). 2]Resume. Most everyone wants the resume in MS word format. Now, you can save libre / open office / google docs file in that format but rendering/layouts get messed up (personal experience). And so, I don't use any other software for resume. Only MS word. I don't like it though.
So, First you need to decide which OS you want to use.Sure, you can run windows in virtual environment, but that's a topic in it's own. So, this forum will help you pick a machine but you need to know what you are getting into with Linux / Ubuntu.

oldfred
March 27th, 2017, 09:59 PM
If you write Resume out in PDF, it will not get reformatted. But companies may want MS word so they can auto process it.

I can only get Photos from iPhone to my Ubuntu system. Nothing else has worked.

keith.prickett
April 12th, 2017, 12:17 AM
>Do you really need laptop?


Turns out, @oldfred was right. I don't need a laptop. We ended up getting a 27-inch 5k iMac, to keep the Apple ecosystem going, and an iPad. All together total price was ~$1700 -- much less expensive than a new Macbook of any variety with similar specs to what I already have. We'll do pictures, iPhone syncing, etc. on the iMac and browse the web and do apps on the iPad on the couch in the evening. I'll have to stick with Ubuntu for work ;-)

Thanks for all the tips.

keith.prickett
April 12th, 2017, 12:19 AM
P.S. The iMac was refurbished from Amazon for $1,400. A good deal.

oldfred
April 12th, 2017, 02:38 PM
Glad you found a solution.

I think it would have been a bit difficult to fit a 27" screen in a laptop. :)