[sf-lug] what is a good laptop to buy for Linux

[Rick Moen]

Quoting Jim Stockford (jim at well.com):

> I know someone who wants to buy a new laptop
> to use for Linux. It's okay if it will have
> Windows on it. The primary criterion is that
> it supports Linux with no problems. Other
> considerations (e.g. price) are secondary.

Do _not_ buy a new laptop.  Find someone offloading an approximately
two/three-year-old Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon.  So, maybe a 4th or 5th
Generation X1 Carbon.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ThinkPad_X1_Carbon

Avoiding the error of buying new means you avoid driver problems, as the
chipsets have been available long enough for open-source coders to
develop good drivers even if they need to resort to reverse-engineering,
plus long enough for those debugged drivers to be fully incorporated in 
Linux distribution releases.

I've been giving the same 'don't buy new laptops for Linux; buy very
slightly outdated laptops' for thirty-plus years, and it remains good
advice.