500$ - 700$ Freedos Laptop Recommendation

Pardus

My 12 years old HP Pavilion g6 is dying.

3 years ago the hard drive died. Windows 7 died too. I replaced it with a 128 gb SSD and installed Linux Mint. Laptop came back to life. Recently I can't even install Linux (so ı' m using Zorin OS on USB) because the graphic card probably died or broke down. I think it's time to buy a new laptop. But my budget is limited. Can you please recommend me a quality freedos laptops between 500-700?

Thank you.

mib2berlin

@Pardus
Hi, I guess in this budget all you can buy is 10 times faster than your G6, it depends if you need other features, gaming for example.
2022 I bought a Samsung Galaxy Book 15FHD for a friend and was amazed how fast and good this thing is for 400€.
16" display, metal case, good keyboard but not for gaming.
I always buy devices published one year ago or a bit more, you can save a lot of money if you not but the newest hardware.

Cheers, mib

Pardus

I don't think I'll be playing games. Just for daily use. For example, internet, video, music etc. What I expect from a laptop is that it doesn't break down for a long time.

While researching, I saw Dell laptops with Ubuntu installed. What do you think about Dell laptops?

mib2berlin

@Pardus
I bought one used from a refurbish shop for 400€ but send it back because to much plastic for me and the display was not good enough for me.
Got back to HP.

This is just an example on the upper price range, CPU from 2022.
https://www.notebooksbilliger.de/hp+probook+455+g9+8h4e8aa+816502?nbbct=2003_adw
You can save some money if you find one without OS, maybe 20-30€.

Ayespy

@Pardus I've had Dell. It ran pretty good, but had some glitches that just irritated me to death. I moved back from Dell to HP. Are you buying in Europe or the US?

Ayespy

@Pardus Here's a really sweet laptop at a good price:
https://www.hp.com/us-en/shop/pdp/hp-laptop-17-cp3047nr?jumpid=cs_con_nc_ns&utm_medium=cs&utm_source=ga&utm_campaign=HP-Store_US_All_CPS_All_AMD_Google_All_Smart-PLA&utm_content=sp&adid=&addisttype=xpla&7F1Z5UA%23ABA&cq_src=google_ads&cq_cmp=20532148701&cq_con=&cq_term=&cq_med=pla&cq_plac=&cq_net=x&cq_pos=&cq_plt=gp&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwsoe5BhDiARIsAOXVoUstHVZACqE8310bqHeulBX8XA7DtbsKwQONBRPnuE7KgAe3hZMxQicaAl0XEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

You could replace the Win OS with linux at zero cost.

Ayespy

@Pardus Lenovo is good.

https://www.lenovo.com/us/outletus/en/p/laptops/ideapad/ideapad-500/ideapad-5-gen-7-15-inch-amd/82sgx029us

Pardus

Thanks for your suggestions. I took notes. I also found some options from different brands that fit my budget. I will come back here again when I have my options clear and ask for your suggestions. The brands I am currently considering are: HP, Lenovo, Asus and Acer.

It is very difficult to choose. I could go crazy.

Extra question: Is there any problem installing Linux on these brands?

mib2berlin

@Pardus
I am writing it from Opensuse on my HP Probook and I never had issues to install Linux on any laptop specially if it is not latest newest hardware.

Cheers, mib

Pardus

Hello again!

I think I've decided to buy my new laptop now. In my last post, I decided the brands I wanted to buy based on your suggestions: HP, Lenovo, Asus and Acer. If you have time, could you take a look at the options I have chosen for each brand and share your thoughts? After deciding on one option for each brand, I will try to determine the best of the four options. Or if you tell me which one you think is the best among all these options, I would be happy. Thanks for your time.

Aaron

@Pardus said in 500$ - 700$ Freedos Laptop Recommendation:

Lenovo

Thinkpad instead of Lenovo

Ayespy

@Aaron ThinkPad is Lenovo.

Pardus

For some reason, I always think of HP. Maybe it's because I've been using HP for 13 years.

Ayespy

@Pardus I tend to keep buying HP machines because, for my purposes I keep finding I can get the best value/specs for the price with HP. They have their drawbacks here and there, but I can't seem to find what I want for the price with other brands.

Pardus

There were many options so I've decided on two brands, good or bad. I reduced the number of brands. Which one? If you don't tell me I won't be able to decide on my own. Thanks.

HP >>

LENOVO>>

luetage

@Pardus You got mixed advice here. If you want to run Linux, the latest hardware might not work as expected, if at all. It depends on the distribution you want to use and which version of the Kernel it runs. The latest hardware might not be supported at all, or bug out, even on the newest Kernel. Moreover especially when considering laptops some hardware might not work at all. Read up on Wifi cards and their support on Linux. Be careful with graphic cards, you could run into an awful lot of issues, AMD is preferable to Nvidia on Linux. Since you don’t want to play games, you could avoid a dedicated graphics card and find something with inbuilt graphics.

Write down all specs of the laptops you consider for purchase and check for support. The better your hardware is supported, the less time you have to invest later troubleshooting and finding workarounds.

You can find hardware support pages for Linux on the net, here is an example for Ubuntu ☛ https://ubuntu.com/certified/laptops

Pardus

Hi. I found this laptop. Discounted. What do you think? I always thought of Ryzen 7 but...

Lenovo Loq 15

mib2berlin

@Pardus
Looks very good, The CPU is one year old, plenty of RAM and a fast SSD.
The GTX 3050 is a bit older, perfect for all office/web work and you can play even games with is.
I had never issues with Nvidia cards on Linux, using them since many years up to GTX 2060.

Cheers, mib

Pardus

Thank you all for your help and suggestions, friends. I finally bought the laptop I mentioned last: Lenovo LOQ 15ARP9 R5 7235HS 24GB DDR5 RTX 3050 6GB GDDR6 512GB M.2 SSD 15.6" FHD 144Hz G-SYNC FreeDos Gaming Notebook

I hope I will be happy with this laptop. I am currently preparing an ubuntu usb. I hope there won't be any problems with the installation and I can get the laptop thing done.

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