System76 do a range of laptops with Ubuntu; they're US based, but ship
internationally:
https://system76.com/laptops
Dell sell a few laptops with Ubuntu installed. The UK site usually seems
to say they're unavailable, but maybe a phone call would have better
results. The XPS 13 in particular is a pretty nice laptop.
http://www.dell.com/learn/uk/en/ukbsdt1/campaigns/dell-linux-ubuntu-en?c=uk&l=en&s=bsd
I think people mostly still buy Windows laptops and install Linux
themselves. It's generally pretty smooth, but it's worth planning before
you buy. Things I know to look out for:
- Stick to Intel graphics unless you're keen to play games on it. Nvidia
and AMD graphics do mostly work OK with their proprietary drivers, but
it's a bit of extra hassle.
- Try to find out what wifi chipset it uses and check what Linux support
is like. Again, you can make just about anything work with some
fiddling, but some are easier than others.
Thomas
On Thu, Nov 3, 2016, at 05:58 PM, Peter Alefounder via Hampshire wrote:
> What is the best way to acquire a laptop running Linux these
> days? Various web searches haven't helped me much. Some sites say
> it's better to get one running Windows, then install Linux.
> However, I get the impression that it can be difficult to have
> all the hardware working properly, because of a lack of Linux
> drivers. Other web sites list various laptops with Linux, but
> they turn out to be either extremely expensive, or very low-end,
> or currently out of stock. It appears that building one is not
> feasible as, unlike desktop machines, hardware is not standard.
>
> I understand that people do have laptops running Linux, so how is
> it done? I would be grateful for any advice.
>
> Peter Alefounder.
>
> --
> Please post to: Hampshire@???
> Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire
> LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk
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