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Comment by troni | Hacker News Reader

I'm curious about this as well, I'm looking at getting a ThinkPad for battery life. I've heard they support Linux well, but is there any component(s) that I should avoid getting for Linux? I run Debian.

Mac is not an option for me, I want Linux-on-hardware.

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Well make sure your hardware is supported on the kernel you are going to use, this is where debian tends to lag behind with its stability.

Try looking for people running your expected hardware with debian online and you'll probably get a better idea.

Unless you don't mind using updated kernels, most thinkpads should work reasonably well.

This should help too: http://www.ubuntu.com/certification/desktop/make/Lenovo/?cat... (Precise is close to wheezy kernel).

Don't get anything with an SLI graphics set-up. Don't get an Nvidia Optimus card. Don't get an AMD processor or GPU.

Mine has the nvidia...Its not to hard to work around.

If you don't mind me asking, which system do you have and do you find that the GPU drivers break frequently with updates?

I'm in the middle of trying to decide between Lenovo and Apple too.

It isn't hard to use an optimus card with Debian or most other distros nowadays you just need to install bumblebee (wheezy-backports for debian) with that you get improved battery life.

I personally don't get GPU drivers breaking the computer but I don't use nvidias drivers I use nouveau but I also use Debian so a distro like Arch (which is more prone to packages breaking systems) might be much worse.

Sorry - I didn't see this comment. I'm running Debian Sid. I believe that have the Nvidia card disabled (in the BIOS). I haven't had a single issue with my Drivers.

I have a w520.

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