ChrisRecently I got into Linux again after a long hiatus.
I fell in love with Pop!_OS by System76.
Ubuntu 20.04 also looks gorgeous and made me want to go back to the Linux side.
So I started looking for a worthy laptop for the job, with excellent support for Linux, and these are my findings.
The notebooks are grouped by the following vendors:
- Clevo (laptopwithlinux.com)
- Dell
- Lenovo
- System76
Prices are in Euro.
CPU Mark and Values are from cpubenchmark.net
Purposely excluded Purism and their Librem line for their niche product (privacy oriented), value for the buck and potential to later re-sell.
I have put together a publicly available spreadsheet that contains all these information.
Clevo
a dear friend of mine shared with me his findings, and suggested to check out laptopwithlinux.com
Clevo NL41CU 14-inch Metal Design
The specs of this notebook are quite a bargain for 469€+!
- Portability: 14-inch display - battery up to 6 hours - 1.8kg
- Storage: Max. 1x M.2 PCIe SSD
- Graphics: Intel UHD Graphics 620
- CPU: Intel Core i3, i5 or i7 - Max. 32GB memory
I’m really thinking about getting one of these!
Dell
I went straight to the XPS Developer Edition, without looking much at the other models to be honest.
Dell XPS 13 Developer Edition
Price 1429 € (with touch-screen 1628 €)
Weight 1.23 kg
Thickness 1,56 cm
CPU Intel Core i7-10510U 10th gen (8 MB cache, up to 4,9 GHz, quad-core)
CPU Mark and Value 7294 / 17,86
RAM 16 GB, LPDDR3, 2.133 MHz
Disk SSD 512 GB PCIe NVMe M.2
Display Display non touch-screen InfinityEdge FHD (1.920 x 1.080), 13,3"
Networking Killer AX1650 (2x2) integrated with Intel Wi-Fi 6 + Bluetooth 5.1
Battery 4 cells, 52 Wh
Charging Port Thunderbolt 3 Type-C
Warranty 1 year
Supports fingerprint
Lenovo
ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 8
Price 1929 €
Weight 1,09 kg
Thickness 1,49cm
CPU Intel Core i7-10510U (1,80 GHz - 4,90 GHz Turbo Boost, 4 core, cache 8 MB)
CPU Mark and Value 7294 / 17,88
RAM 16 GB LPDDR3 2.133 MHz
Disk SSD 512 GB, M.2 2280, PCIe-NVMe, OPAL, TLC
Display 14", FHD (1.920 x 1.080), IPS, anti-reflection, 400 nit, non-touch
Networking wireless 6, bluetooth 5
Battery lithium 4 cells, 51 Wh
Charging CA adapter 65 W (3 pin) + USB Type C (Italy)
Integrated Mobile Broadband
Supports fingerprint
Warranty 3 years
ThinkPad X1 Yoga (Gen 4)
Price 2496 €
Weight 1,35 kg
Thickness 1,55 cm
CPU Intel Core i7-8665U (1,9 GHz, up to 4,8 GHz con Turbo Boost, 4 core, cache 8 MB)
CPU Mark and Value 6672 / 16,31
RAM 16 GB LPDDR3 2.133 MHz
Disk SSD 512 GB, M.2 2280, PCIe-NVMe, OPAL, TLC
Display 14" UHD (3.840 x 2.160), IPS, AR/AS, 500 nit, multi-touch
Networking Intel Wireless-AC 9560 2x2 AC, Bluetooth version 5.0 vPro
Battery Lithium 4 cells, 51 Wh
Charging CA adapter 65 W (3 pin) + USB Type C (Italy)
Supports fingerprint
Warranty 3 years
Not Ubuntu certified
## ThinkPad X390
Price 1924 €
Weight 1,22 kg
Thickness 1,69 cm
CPU Intel Core i7-8665U (1,9 GHz, 4,8 GHz Turbo Boost, 4 core, cache 8 MB)
CPU Mark and Value 6626 / 16,2
RAM 16 GB DDR4 2.400 MHz
Disk SSD 512 GB, M.2 2280, PCIe-NVMe, OPAL, TLC
Display 13,3" FHD (1.920 x 1.080), IPS, anti-reflection, 300 nit, multi-touch
Networking Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX200 2x2 AX, Bluetooth 5.0 vPro
Battery lithium 6 cells, 48 Wh
Charging CA adapter 65 W (3 pin) + USB Type C (Italy)
Supports fingerprint
Warranty 3 years
ThinkPad T490s
Price 1724 €
Weight 1,3 kg
Thickness 1,72 cm
CPU Intel Core i7-8665U (1,9 GHz, 4,8 GHz Turbo Boost, 4 core, cache 8 MB)
CPU Mark and Value 6626 / 16,2
RAM 16 GB DDR4 2.400 MHz
Disk SSD 512 GB, M.2 2280, NVMe, Opal
Display 14" FHD (1.920 x 1.080), IPS, anti-reflection, 300 nit, multi-touch
Networking Intel Wireless-AC 9560 2x2 AC, Bluetooth 5.0 vPro
Battery lithium 3 cells, 57 Wh
Charging CA adapter 65 W (3 pin) + USB Type C (Italy)
Supports fingerprint
Warranty 3 years
ThinkPad L13
Price 1244 €
Weight 1,38 kg
Thickness 1,76 cm
CPU Intel Core i7-10510U (1,80 GHz, 4,90 GHz Turbo Boost, 4 core, cache 8 MB)
CPU Mark and Value 7,294 / 17,83
RAM 16 GB DDR4 2.666 MHz
Disk SSD 512 GB, M.2 2280, PCIe-NVMe, OPAL, TLC
Display 13,3" FHD (1.920 x 1.080), IPS, anti-reflection, 300 nit, multi-touch
Networking Intel Wireless-AC 9560 2x2 AC, Bluetooth 5.0
Battery lithium 4 cells, 46 Wh
Charging CA adapter 65 W (3 pin) + USB Type C (Italy)
Supports fingerprint
Warranty 1 year
## ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 2
Price 2073 €
Weight 1,7 kg
Thickness 1,84
CPU Intel Core i7-9750H (cache 12 MB, up to 4,5 GHz Turbo Boost)
CPU Mark and Value 11503 / 29,12
RAM 16 GB SoDIMM DDR4 2.666 MHz
Disk SSD 512 GB, M.2 2280, NVMe, Opal
Screen 15,6" FHD (1.920 x 1.080), IPS, anti-reflection, 500 nit, non-touch
Networking Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX200 2x2 AX, Bluetooth versione 5.0
Battery lithium 4 cells, 80 Wh
Charging CA adapter 135 W (3 pin)
Supports fingerprint
Not Ubuntu certified
## ThinkPad P53s
Price 1820 €
Weight 1,78 kg
Thickness 1,91 cm
CPU Intel Core i7-8665U (1,9 GHz, 4,8 GHz Turbo Boost, 4 core, cache 8 MB)
CPU Mark and Value 6626 / 16,2
RAM 24 GB DDR4 2.400 MHz (8 GB integrated + SoDIMM 16 GB)
Disk SSD 512 GB, M.2 2280, NVMe, Opal
Display 15,6" FHD (1.920 x 1.080), IPS, anti-reflection, 250 nit, multi-touch
NVIDIA Quadro P520 2 GB GDDR5 64 bit
Networking Intel Wireless-AC 9560 2x2 AC, Bluetooth 5.0 vPro
Battery lithium 3 cells, 57 Wh
Charging CA adapter 65 W PCC (3 pin) - USB Type C (Italy)
Supports fingerprint
Warranty 3 years
ThinkPad L490
Price 1386 €
Weight 1,69 kg
Thickness 2,25 cm
CPU Intel Core i7-8665U (1,9 GHz, 4,8 GHz Turbo Boost, 4 core, cache 8 MB)
CPU Mark and Value 6626 / 16,2
RAM 16 GB SoDIMM DDR4 2.666 MHz
Disk SSD 512 GB, M.2 2280, NVMe, Opal
Display 14"" HD (1.366 x 768), TN, 220 nit, anti-reflection, non touch
Networking Intel Wireless-AC 9260 2x2 AC, Bluetooth 5.0 vPro
Battery lithium 3 cells, 45 Wh
Charging CA adapter 65 W PCC (3 pin) - USB Type C (Italy)
Supports fingerprint
Warrany 1 year
System76
Lemur pro
Price 1377 €
Weight 0,99 kg
Thickness 1,55 cm
CPU Intel Core i7-10510U (1.8 up to 4.9 GHz - 8MB Cache - 4 Cores - 8 Threads)
CPU Mark and Value 7294 / 17,85
RAM 16 GB DDR4 at 2666 MHz (8GB+8GB)
Disk SSD 500GB Seq Read: 3,500 MB/s, Seq Write: 3,200 MB/s
Display 14.1″ 1920×1080 FHD, Matte Finish, non-touch
Networking Upgrade to WiFi 6 + Bluetooth
Battery Li-Ion - 73 Wh
Charging 65 W, AC-in 100–240 V, 50–60 Hz and 65W+ USB Type-C Charging Compatible
Warranty 1 year
Not Ubuntu certified
Darter pro
Price 1288 €
Weight 1,6 kg
Thickness 2,44 cm
CPU Intel Core i7-10510U (1.8 up to 4.9 GHz - 8MB Cache - 4 Cores - 8 Threads)
CPU Mark and Value 7294 / 17,84
RAM 16 GB Dual Channel DDR4 at 2666 MHz (2x8GB)
Disk SSD 500GB Seq Read: 3,500 MB/s, Seq Write: 3,200 MB/s
Display 15.6" 1920x1080 Matte FHD IPS
Networking Upgrade to WiFi 6 + Bluetooth
Battery Li-Ion - 54.5 Wh
Charging 65 W, AC-in 100–240 V, 50–60 Hz
Warranty 1 year
Not Ubuntu certified