DIY Laptop, Linux Edition
May 8, 2017 12:56 PM Subscribe
I'm in the market for a cheap Linux laptop. Please assist me with hammering out some details regarding what I should buy that fits my needs.
TLDR: What else haven't I tried? Is there a good mix of open standards, lightweight, and performance in a laptop that will let me run Linux, my favorite apps (including Wine), and cost less than $300?
Thanks in advance for all your help.
Details: I currently have a Dell Vostro 3500, running with Arch Linux. I use it mostly for word processing, web browsing, and some light gaming.
- i3 M370 @ 2.40 GHz -- 3Gb of RAM -- 1366 x 768 screen resolution -- ~15 inch screen -- DVD/CD player -- HDMI out, VGA out, eSATA out, 3x USB 2 -- 802.11bgn wireless; PCI-E ethernet port -- Full US keyboard, no number pad
I want to keep the performance that I already have. In addition, I'd like:
1. Improved battery life: I have 3 hours. Can I get 5?
2. Lightweight. The Vostro is too heavy to carry for several miles. Can I drop this down to the weight of a Chromebook?
- I'm willing to drop screen size (down to maybe 13 in.) and drop the DVD player for an external model.
3. NOT utilize Chrome OS.
4. Keep Arch Linux OS if possible. It's what I'm comfortable with. I'm relatively fine with switching the OS from a stock Chrome to Arch (x86 or ARM) if the model is proven to accept Arch without drawbacks.
5. Keep the whole project under $300.
I've read about DIY and open source products such as the Novena, which seems pricey and more than I need, perhaps heavier. The Librem also looks interesting but is way out of my price range.
Repurposing an older Lenovo Thinkpad, as some have suggested, puts me back into more used hardware and a heavy machine. Litebook looks like a scam or close to one.
The Olimex DIY ARM laptop is attractive in price but compromises some performance and features and also highlights one major concern I have with ARM: I want to run all my favorite applications.
ArchLinux ARM has packages for dwm, surf, tabbed, libreoffice, firefox, mpv, mpd, and vlc. It doesn't appear to have any compatibility for Wine, which would be essential for any Windows apps I want to run. I'm interested to hear any information you may have about semi-simply getting Wine to run on an ARM board, perhaps with Qemu.
I also don't know how easy it would be to increase the RAM in an Olimex or similar.
TLDR: What else haven't I tried? Is there a good mix of open standards, lightweight, and performance in a laptop that will let me run Linux, my favorite apps (including Wine), and cost less than $300?
Thanks in advance for all your help.
Details: I currently have a Dell Vostro 3500, running with Arch Linux. I use it mostly for word processing, web browsing, and some light gaming.
- i3 M370 @ 2.40 GHz -- 3Gb of RAM -- 1366 x 768 screen resolution -- ~15 inch screen -- DVD/CD player -- HDMI out, VGA out, eSATA out, 3x USB 2 -- 802.11bgn wireless; PCI-E ethernet port -- Full US keyboard, no number pad
I want to keep the performance that I already have. In addition, I'd like:
1. Improved battery life: I have 3 hours. Can I get 5?
2. Lightweight. The Vostro is too heavy to carry for several miles. Can I drop this down to the weight of a Chromebook?
- I'm willing to drop screen size (down to maybe 13 in.) and drop the DVD player for an external model.
3. NOT utilize Chrome OS.
4. Keep Arch Linux OS if possible. It's what I'm comfortable with. I'm relatively fine with switching the OS from a stock Chrome to Arch (x86 or ARM) if the model is proven to accept Arch without drawbacks.
5. Keep the whole project under $300.
I've read about DIY and open source products such as the Novena, which seems pricey and more than I need, perhaps heavier. The Librem also looks interesting but is way out of my price range.
Repurposing an older Lenovo Thinkpad, as some have suggested, puts me back into more used hardware and a heavy machine. Litebook looks like a scam or close to one.
The Olimex DIY ARM laptop is attractive in price but compromises some performance and features and also highlights one major concern I have with ARM: I want to run all my favorite applications.
ArchLinux ARM has packages for dwm, surf, tabbed, libreoffice, firefox, mpv, mpd, and vlc. It doesn't appear to have any compatibility for Wine, which would be essential for any Windows apps I want to run. I'm interested to hear any information you may have about semi-simply getting Wine to run on an ARM board, perhaps with Qemu.
I also don't know how easy it would be to increase the RAM in an Olimex or similar.
Wine will never work on ARM, well maybe it would work for an ARM build of windows but that's not going to run many apps.
Your pricepoint makes this pretty tricky. Most intel chromebooks are pretty close, although at that price they usually have only 2gb of ram. You'll also have to find one with a replaceable SSD, since they have very small drives, typically. (Or maybe 16gb is enough).
If you could spend twice that, I'd say go for the HP Chromebook 13 and flash the BIOS.
You say you don't want to go with an older Lenovo, but for <$300 it's hard to beat the Lenovo X230. If you get one for <$200 you can put in more ram and a solid state drive and have a fairly nice machine.
posted by dis_integration at 1:15 PM on May 8, 2017
Your pricepoint makes this pretty tricky. Most intel chromebooks are pretty close, although at that price they usually have only 2gb of ram. You'll also have to find one with a replaceable SSD, since they have very small drives, typically. (Or maybe 16gb is enough).
If you could spend twice that, I'd say go for the HP Chromebook 13 and flash the BIOS.
You say you don't want to go with an older Lenovo, but for <$300 it's hard to beat the Lenovo X230. If you get one for <$200 you can put in more ram and a solid state drive and have a fairly nice machine.
posted by dis_integration at 1:15 PM on May 8, 2017
I guess there is some support for an arm build of wine, but you'll probably want more juice to use the qemu version to run x86 apps, and it sounds like more trouble than it's worth.
posted by dis_integration at 1:17 PM on May 8, 2017
posted by dis_integration at 1:17 PM on May 8, 2017
Get thee to the Dell Outlet. Basically new machines, prices are much easier on the wallet. Check both the Home and the Business side. Set filters by the hardware that you need and sort by lowest price and see what you can suss out. On the Business side, set the filter for Product Category to Latitude. This one in particular checks most of your boxes, just install Arch and buy an external DVD drive.
posted by deezil at 1:28 PM on May 8, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by deezil at 1:28 PM on May 8, 2017 [2 favorites]
HP Elitebook Folio? They're a common business laptop so there's always used models kicking around; they're not spectacular, but neither are they uniquely horrible. Has all your must-haves and clocks in at $230 during Newegg's current sale.
posted by givennamesurname at 1:56 PM on May 8, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by givennamesurname at 1:56 PM on May 8, 2017 [1 favorite]
Have looked at sites that sell refurbished machines? Most of the computers I buy are from these sites most have worked well for me for many years.
posted by tman99 at 2:00 PM on May 8, 2017
posted by tman99 at 2:00 PM on May 8, 2017
If you can live with reduced system storage (you can bump it up with SD or USB memory), a Chromebook that's been configured to run Linux rather than ChromeOS will be faster than your current system, have a ~10 hour battery life, and cost around $200.
Otherwise you can find refurbed/used Dells and Lenovos that fit your description in your pricerange if you shop around.
posted by Candleman at 3:50 PM on May 8, 2017
Otherwise you can find refurbed/used Dells and Lenovos that fit your description in your pricerange if you shop around.
posted by Candleman at 3:50 PM on May 8, 2017
An Intel Chromebook or a used Thinkpad X series are your best options. I'd do the latter if at all possible. I can't count the number of times I've had to reinstall the bootloader on my Chromebook to get it to boot Linux again.
IBM still sells off lease ThinkPads, by the way.
My boss just buys them on eBay right before the warranty expires and springs for an extension, then immediately boxes it up and sends it to the service center to get everything fixed. Last I checked, it was still possible to buy a warranty on an out of warranty machine for an extra $50ish.
posted by wierdo at 4:04 PM on May 8, 2017 [2 favorites]
IBM still sells off lease ThinkPads, by the way.
My boss just buys them on eBay right before the warranty expires and springs for an extension, then immediately boxes it up and sends it to the service center to get everything fixed. Last I checked, it was still possible to buy a warranty on an out of warranty machine for an extra $50ish.
posted by wierdo at 4:04 PM on May 8, 2017 [2 favorites]
Reconsider the ThinkPad repurpose, the X series is not at all heavy. An X220 will get you at least the power you have now and a huge increase in portability (and runtime, with an extended battery) and still fall well within your price range, and it's the last model to have that legendary ThinkPad keyboard. Alternatively, an X1 or X250 can be had, barely, in your price range if you shop around and you're lucky, and will give you something pretty durn modern.
Or, you could go old-school: for $200 I got a 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo X200 for $50 on eBay and added 8Gb RAM (another $50), a 250Gb SSD ($65), and 2x USB 3 via an Expresscard adapter ($30). Its got 1280x800 in a 13" screen, 3x USB 2, and gigabit ethernet. Once I get a $50 extended battery it should get 8 or so hours life. Puts the whole deal at under $250, well within your budget.
I run Ubuntu and have experimented with Fedora and Trisquel, and the only problems I had were the binary blob driver/firmware for the Intel wifi (which is no problem in Ubuntu, and easily enough dealt with in Fedora and presumably Arch) and the dearth of drivers for the 56k modem. Which is such a loss.
This thing is very light and portable without feeling cheap or flimsy. It's even got a couple of free mPCIe slots, though they're not as useful as I'd like with the BIOS whitelist. Which brings up another point...
As it seems free/open software may be important to you, consider that the X200 is the poster child for LibreBoot, which is the free and open source BIOS project which eliminates binary blobs and upgrade card whitelists. On top of that, it completely disables the (much in the news lately) Intel backdoor spy^H^H^Hmanagement engine. Installing it is not for the faint of heart, but might be worth it if you want to run a wifi card with open drivers or suchlike or just value having complete control over your hardware.
posted by MoTLD at 11:39 PM on May 8, 2017 [1 favorite]
Or, you could go old-school: for $200 I got a 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo X200 for $50 on eBay and added 8Gb RAM (another $50), a 250Gb SSD ($65), and 2x USB 3 via an Expresscard adapter ($30). Its got 1280x800 in a 13" screen, 3x USB 2, and gigabit ethernet. Once I get a $50 extended battery it should get 8 or so hours life. Puts the whole deal at under $250, well within your budget.
I run Ubuntu and have experimented with Fedora and Trisquel, and the only problems I had were the binary blob driver/firmware for the Intel wifi (which is no problem in Ubuntu, and easily enough dealt with in Fedora and presumably Arch) and the dearth of drivers for the 56k modem. Which is such a loss.
This thing is very light and portable without feeling cheap or flimsy. It's even got a couple of free mPCIe slots, though they're not as useful as I'd like with the BIOS whitelist. Which brings up another point...
As it seems free/open software may be important to you, consider that the X200 is the poster child for LibreBoot, which is the free and open source BIOS project which eliminates binary blobs and upgrade card whitelists. On top of that, it completely disables the (much in the news lately) Intel backdoor spy^H^H^Hmanagement engine. Installing it is not for the faint of heart, but might be worth it if you want to run a wifi card with open drivers or suchlike or just value having complete control over your hardware.
posted by MoTLD at 11:39 PM on May 8, 2017 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Thanks for your help, everyone: nickggully, dis_integration, deezil, givennamesurname, tman99, Candleman, wierdo, and MoTLD. You've given me a lot to consider.
I'll keep an eye on Ebay for the used Thinkpads to see what deals I can find. There are several models you all seem to gravitate toward for good reason. The allure of LibreBoot is great, and yes a Thinkpad keyboard is desirable, considering I do a lot of typing.
The loss of Wine would be a shame, so with each passing second, ARM-based Chromebooks and similar computers look less appealing.
I'll continue to check here for any further advice. Or feel free to Memail me with anything that comes to mind.
posted by mr_bovis at 8:38 AM on May 9, 2017
I'll keep an eye on Ebay for the used Thinkpads to see what deals I can find. There are several models you all seem to gravitate toward for good reason. The allure of LibreBoot is great, and yes a Thinkpad keyboard is desirable, considering I do a lot of typing.
The loss of Wine would be a shame, so with each passing second, ARM-based Chromebooks and similar computers look less appealing.
I'll continue to check here for any further advice. Or feel free to Memail me with anything that comes to mind.
posted by mr_bovis at 8:38 AM on May 9, 2017
I adore my old ThinkPads! I am typing on an x200 tablet running Linux Mint. This is not the highest end version, 2Ghz processor and 4G of RAM but I have another 4G of memory on order. It has a (rather old fashioned) touchscreen, a Wacom stylus, and a fingerprint reader. The whole thing could fold over backward into a flat tablet if I ever want it to. I paid $35 for it at my old job after it came off lease. Best deal ever. I've seen similar on eBay for around $100.
I've been neglecting a recently-acquired t430 ($175) with Win10, 160 GB SSD, much speedier and with more memory, which is sitting on my desk hooked up to an extra monitor, and using this one on the dining room table, because this one is already set up just how I like it, and setting up my Cisco IpSec VPN on the new machine is going to be a big PITA.
posted by mneekadon at 2:19 PM on May 9, 2017
I've been neglecting a recently-acquired t430 ($175) with Win10, 160 GB SSD, much speedier and with more memory, which is sitting on my desk hooked up to an extra monitor, and using this one on the dining room table, because this one is already set up just how I like it, and setting up my Cisco IpSec VPN on the new machine is going to be a big PITA.
posted by mneekadon at 2:19 PM on May 9, 2017
« Older How durable is vinyl plank flooring? | Can I make a website with multitrack, multicamera... Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by nickggully at 1:08 PM on May 8, 2017 [2 favorites]