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> You can call me too incompetent or whatever but I’ve been running into stupidly obscure bugs that even stumped some of my Linux guru friends.

No, you're not incompetent. As usual, manufacturers are putting weird features into their laptops that the Linux drivers and userspace can't keep up with - e.g. the debacle that is the Nvidia Prime gpu switching tech for low power vs high performance modes. Simply doesn't work most of the time, leaving you scratching your head. UEFI related woes are also common as we finally deal with having to give up on a decent experience with legacy boot.

At this point the wise person buys a laptop with official Linux support out of the box. It helps you and it helps the community (vote with your dollars!).

Yes, weird features such as "802.11n wifi", "suspending the system when lid closed" etc. Had a well supported older thinkpad (even supports open source bioses etc), and issues cropped up in those areas

For sure, but usually this comes down to "manufacturer picked a slightly cheaper wifi chip with no linux support", "manufacturer is doing weird shit with ACPI they shouldn't", etc.

No. For me, in 16.04 everything was perfect, 18.04 started breaking things

Unfortunately I’ve had similar issues with “official” Linux supported hardware. Linux on desktop still requires forum diving.

Who is declaring that hardware "official" and if they're calling it "supported" shouldn't they be supporting it?

It was a Dell XPS 13 Developer Edition with Ubuntu, far and away the most recommended distro/hardware combination. Everything else seems to be less supported.

If someone doesn't know how to dig into terminal commands and google stuff on your phone to troubleshoot, you shouldn't even attempt linux on a desktop.

Oh yeah, Dell XPS Dev edition is usually a decent choice, although you're right that not everything works perfectly (at least it didn't a few years ago when I bought one). It is a little annoying to have bugs in a factory-installed OS, but I'm glad to at least have the option.

I actually prefer Thinkpads these days because everything "just works" when I install Fedora on it.

If you're an Ubuntu person and want it from the factory, I have heard that System76 build quality has gotten pretty good.

https://certification.ubuntu.com/

"Ubuntu Certified hardware has passed our extensive testing and review process to make sure Ubuntu runs well out of the box and it is ready for your business. We work closely with OEMs to jointly make Ubuntu available on a wide range of devices."

So in this case it is a collaboration between Ubuntu and OEMs

I have been using popOS and have no problems really. The docking/connecting to Monitors/webcams have been really smooth.

I am not a power user of other peripherals though.

Only thing you need to look out for when buying components is what the Linux support looks like. I've built 3 desktops in the last couple of years and all of them work out of the box. It really doesn't "require" forum diving.

A Dell XPS 13 developer edition with ubuntu preinstalled hasn't worked "out of the box" for simple multi monitor usecases for me. Invariably something requires an update for support that invalidates some assumption and then whoops the only guide that describes your problem has a solution that involves pulling and compiling X.org in a terminal and dealing with tarballs.

And someone can go gosh, you must be doing it wrong, and they're almost certainly correct! However I'm a pretty big power user and can actually get things to work and dig into forums, so I realize that the average user has absolutely no chance.

How do you handle video card selection?

I got the ASUS 1215B netbook with Ubuntu and got my share of issues with wlan and GPU support.

Linux laptops are a mixed bag, to say the least. One-off "precision tuned" (vs commodity) hardware is often to blame. In general, if you want a stable linux laptop experience, you should be buying old. It's not very attractive, but it is sustainable -- which is it's own kind of attractive! :)

In general, my experience using debian-based distros as a laptop driver have been more or less frictionless. I use an older lenovo thinkpad (x1 carbon, 1st generation, purchased for like $200 secondhand a year and a half ago).

In general, thinkpads have a reputation for having a plug+play linux experience, once you boot for the first time. I'd recommend giving them a try before throwing in the towel, if you have any patience in reserve.

You can get pre-owned (older=more stable linux support) t-series thinkpads with very nice specs, especially if you're willing to trade off display resolution. Plus the parts that die (batteries, ram) are all commodity and replaceable, you could presumably run with the same laptop for a decade, if you're in to that sort of thing.

Hi, i have a Thinkpad L450 and when i was looking at switching to Ubuntu on my laptop, i saw that it had worse batery life than windows,i don't remember how much,maybe 10-15%?Do you have any experience on that?Battery life is pretty important for when i take my laptop on courses(not anymore eh)

TLP can be very effective. Have you tried it?

I did try it,however i do not remember if it made any difference.Perhaps i didn't configure it properly?

I’d say give it a try. My experience has always diverged from the stated norms on battery life in all devices and contexts, but maybe my usage patterns are abnormal.

If you’re using simpler programs (Firefox, terminal), your battery life should be great. I usually get four hours of heavy vim use with WiFi etc all on, on a battery that’s 75% capacity. YMMV.

It’s not a mbp level, but I imagine it’s fairly similar to what windows would draw. Maybe better.

This actually is a ThinkPad :(

It’s a new X390 Yoga though. Maybe they’ve dropped the ball a little, it definitely matches my friends’ experience that the more traditional models are pretty stable.

Sorry to hear this. Yeah, it’s probably a matter of getting an older one. The newer ones are trying to compete with surfaces and mbp, and it’s been painful to watch :/

Anecdotal evidence but I've had a great experience with the first gen X1 Extreme 4K and running ubuntu 18.04.

I recentely ordered the X1 Extreme v2 and I am rediculously excited. It's my first non-Apple laptop in 20 years.

Laptop vs. Desktop.

Linux laptop experience is notorious for weird quirks and instabilities with the hardware. Desktop is a lot smoother.

What laptop are you using? I think that would be helpful context. I've been running Ubuntu 16.04 on my Dell XPS 15 9560 with almost no issues (and none that aren't easily resolved with a shell script or a keyboard shortcut) for almost three years now. I get the sense that the more popular the hardware, the fewer issues you'll have running Linux on it. I certainly wouldn't call you "too incompetent" -- but I might call you just plain unlucky.

If you want to go back to macOS because you don't have to be "lucky" to get a laptop that plays nice, I don't blame you. But for me, the tradeoffs to stay on Linux have been minimal and absolutely worth it.

I’ve had the same experience. Using windows and linux now, it’s shocking but windows has been a pretty good experience for getting work done.

I recently got a new laptop and bought it from one of those linux specialist places after having a pretty terrible compatibility experience with my previous high end HP laptop.

As an intermediate, install windows on the insiders channel, though update 20h1/2004 should be out soon for GA.

I had to jump into windows for a few things last month, and WSL2 on windows has become pretty good and bearable, the Docker beta support for WSL2 also really good... seems to use a bit more memory than I recall. But linux cli with a Windows GUI has been surprisingly bearable... Remote (wsl/ssh) extensions for VS Code invaluable as well.

You are saying the alternate to probably the most used developer setup is a combination of multiple beta release channels?

I am suggesting trying a software-only alternative to buying another laptop.

Far less obscure than the issue you cite but I have found keyboard shortcuts across the OS and third party apps on Linux are so incredibly inconsistent when compared to macOS (or Windows for that matter.) I find I'm constantly bouncing between control, alt, and super to achieve what I could do in macOS with just super.

Truth is, Linux doesn't work well on new hardware unless it is some specific models that state Linux support like some dell or thinkpad machines. You bugs will probably be fixed in a couple of months/years.

I don't completely love any setup, but I'm starting to think that Windows 10 + WSL is the best open-source development setup. Huge variety of hardware, plus all hardware actually works right, plus pretty much any popular desktop app works reliably and has a good GUI, plus all Linux CLI tools are there and work right.