Other than disappointing 720p camera and one USB 2.0 port (why not USB3???), everything else looks ok:
* 14" 1080p IPS (is an option, which should be checked off)
* Upgradable RAM (Up to 32GB)
* 2.5" bay
* Upgradable NVME (128GB standard option)
* Weight 1.75Kg -- I can deal with that. Ultrabooks are ~1 kg. This seems reasonable.
The HP Envy x360 Ryzen 2500U laptop I got was $699 for 1080 IPS and... a very, very, very good service manual. http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c06001791 (EDIT: linked the wrong laptop a few times... this is the one I got)
HP's and Dell's stuff usually have manuals of this caliber. As such, I usually buy a cheap HP or Dell and then service some upgrades myself (replace the hard drive, get an NVMe, upgrade the RAM, etc. etc.)
HP has been pushing "pen" compute, so it has a capacitive touch-screen and active digitizer, for anyone who likes Microsoft OneNote. Microsoft created the new universal pen standard, so its now possible to mix-and-match stylus across different laptops now (at least... any stylus that follows the universal pen protocol). Its still a relatively new protocol, but I got a Wacom active-stylus working with my HP laptop, so I'm pretty happy.
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Its more expensive than what I listed, but I'm personally willing to pay a bit more for slightly better quality than the bottom-tier stuff. The only real downside to the HP Envy x360 is the terrible 6-bit screen: yeah its IPS but its got subpar brightness and poor color accuracy. Good enough for my purposes, but any artist will want to spend on a more accurate color-calibrated laptop screen.
But yeah, just visit a store (Best Buy, Fry's, Microcenter), pick a Dell or HP you like the screen / keyboard / touchpad of... double-check online to ensure that the service manual has all the features you expect (M.2 slot, SATA, etc. etc.)... and just buy the bog-standard mass-production model there and then. Order a few parts online (new M.2 SSD) and you'll be set.
A laptop is a "client" system. Windows license came free, so there's no real $$ problem using Windows from my eyes. And now that Ubuntu on Windows works well, I got all the SSH / command line tools needed to interact with my servers quite well.
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I'd bet on Dell for Linux support. Specifically their Ubuntu Linux line of laptops. They're expensive, but they are high end and seem like they're worth it to anyone who needs a real Linux environment.
https://www.dell.com/learn/us/en/555/campaigns/xps-linux-lap...
I've heard good things about this line, but I've never used it before. Basically, its a laptop with every device driver optimized to work with Linux well. You gotta pay up for it, but I've never heard any issues come out of any user of the Dell Linux line.
Battery life is also pretty weak; it's just over 3 hours under semi-heavy load, altho you can push it to around 5 with low brightness and RyzenAdj to downclock the processor
Although some of this might be teething problem of Ryzen CPU. I have 2500 on a desktop machine and it was a bit unstable until I upgraded BIOS. It's seems to work fine with 4.20 kernel. I'm hoping that any hardware bugs in your system would be worked out within 6 months.
What kind of WiFi card do you have installed?
I remember in the years past when buying T-series I needed to pay extra to get Intel wifi instead of a card branded IBM. I'm not sure if that option is even available with this model. At least wifi card seem to be replacable (but I did not look at the documentation closely).
Yea, that's definitely possible. I'm running the latest BIOS (at least last I checked, maybe a month ago). The HDMI port basically didn't work until I upgraded to a 5.0 kernel, so they're definitely still working out the kinks. (On 4.x it only worked after a fresh boot; any hotplugging or suspending/waking completely froze the machine)
WiFi is a Realtek 8822BE chip. That was the only option available when I purchased the machine, but yes it is user-replaceable (the machine is quite serviceable, if a bit tricky to open the first time around). Definitely considering getting an Intel or Qualcomm chip - the Realtek mostly works, but I have noticed a few coffee shops around town where it drops the 5GHz connection after a few minutes. Works with my router at home though, so I'm not really sure what's going on there.
I've read better things about Linux on the A485 variant, but I've no first-hand experience with one (high level at least, it looks to be an E485 with two batteries and a $200ish higher price tag).
Sure, it's no T/X-series but you are not paying for that either. I can't think of a better machine around the price point it's at.
In Hong Kong the 1080p model was on sale for ~400USD (with mechanical 500GB drive and 8GB RAM), well worth the money!