Ultimate portable Ubuntu gaming laptop

[eric_r2]

Hi all,

I am looking for an extremely high quality laptop to put Ubuntu on. I want to find a laptop with:

A high-quality, portable form factor (not System76's Clevo stuff), closer to Apple (but without Apple's driver problems)
Good touch-pad support
No significant driver/compatibility issues
Awesome specs

Price is irrelevant for this discussion. Thoughts?

[eric_r2]

No takers?

[snatchell]

Don't know if im supposed to validate this with a response, but I feeleverything your looking for is embodied in the Razer Blade.

-Thinner than a US dime's height
-macbook-like form factor (looks like its evil twin, imo)
-Awesome specs, and awesome price tag to boot at TWO-POINT-SEVEN GRAND AMERICAN

Specs

• Intel Core i7-4720HQ 2.6/3.66 GHz(Base/Turbo) (has intell hd 4600)
• 16 GB DDR3L SDRAM
• 512 GB Solid-State Drive
• 14-Inch Screen, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970M (1280 unified pipe lines, 3GB GDDR5, 1GHz-ish clock speed, features optimus,)
• 4.5 pounds

Here's a youtube commercial going in-depth
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mac0a_4C8eE

[mastablasta]

there is a dell PC that might have what you need.: http://www.dell.com/us/business/p/pr...workstation/pd

it can be Ubuntu preloaded.http://www.zdnet.com/article/dell-of...tation-laptop/

[eric_r2]

Snatchell, I'm not sure why you mention you concern about "validating" me?

Do you have an information on Ubuntu compatibility with the Razer Blade? From what I've heard compatibility with that hardware is not good?

And thanks mastablasta, I saw that laptop, but I'm not sure how the Quadro graphics would perform on that one, I don't think there are gaming drivers for it.

[eric_r2]

Found this.. https://insider.razerzone.com/index....de.4115/page-4

It looks like the Razer Blade has some critical unresolved issues with video failing on boot up, crackling sound, and a trackpad issue. I am looking for something more stable than that, although if these were resolved that laptop would be a dream..

[PropabiltyKromataT]

My understanding from the thread you posted is that almost everything is working (even the touchpad). Only thing that makes troubles is the black screen when switching to GPU and that seems to be easily resolved by putting it in standby for a second. Correct me if I got it wrong .

Anyway, I am looking for something like you as well so the Razer is still on my list. Also the Asus Zenbook Pro UX501 looks interesting
http://www.anandtech.com/show/9195/a...book-pro-ux501
Battery life may be a little short compared to MBP (claimed 6h compared to over 8h).

Another one I found is the Asus NX500. A little bit more expensive but if the Razer is an option, this one is as well .
http://www.amazon.com/Zenbook-Quantu.../dp/B00NV9M6HC

[eric_r2]

Thanks PropabiltyKromataT! I see the Razer also has some pretty intense battery drain issues on Ubuntu (~1.5 hours, ouch).

Any idea why the Asus UX 501 is cheaper than the NX500 but has a better graphics card? Seen any documentation on how well these work on Ubuntu? (Googling around).

[PropabiltyKromataT]

Oh, yea... 1.5h battery life .. well, I hope I can find more data on that. Posts about battery life of the Razer are rare and posts about installing Linux and battery life are even more rare. 1.5h sound way too low for normal usage to me. Maybe the GPU was enabled (instead of the integrated one) and that is what drained all the current.

No, I have no clue. All I could find is that the NX500 seems to have a ridiculous good build quality.
http://www.laptopmag.com/reviews/lap...-zenbook-nx500

I have not found any documentation on it.

And now that I think about it a little longer it feels kind of weird to that I cannot find any laptop out there that actually beats the Macbook Pro in build quality AND power AND screen AND battery life AND price tag. ^^

Edit1: typos fixed

[PropabiltyKromataT]

You might also want to try the Dell Precision M3800 Developer Edition. It comes with Ubuntu preinstalled and should give you around 6h according to http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2015/...w-rough-edges/.
Also currently Dell is offering free shipping and returns, so you can just try it out without paying restocking fee.