New laptop for coming new Slackware...
by astrogeek from LinuxQuestions.org on (#5HY7T)
I am trying to replace my long lived Toshiba 32-bit machines as they have reached a well deserved end-of-life retirement.
I decided on a System76 Oryx a couple of months ago, being surprised at both the price and my willingness to pay it - but I thought it was the only clear choice for my needs (and still do).
Having placed the order and waited, and waited (with good communications from System76 I think), I have now learned they will be unable to deliver the one I ordered and are offering an "upgrade", at additional cost but still without a promise of delivery date ("sometime in June, probably...").
I am reluctantly considering alternatives but want to avoid another protracted shopping experience, so in the absence of any strongly advocated alternatives I am mostly looking at Lenovo ThinkPads and Legions based heavily on availability and access to a few models for general impressions.
The deciding features for the Oryx were:
17" Display for my old eyes
Widely praised keyboard (I have not actually touched one)
Disabled Intel ME
No UEFI firmware, Coreboot instead
No non-*Nix OS to waste time/space or sweep out of the way
Good thermal design, good reputation among users
Wired etehrnet (must have)
Also: i7, 8 core 5Ghz, up to 64GB RAM, up to 4TB storage, etc. All good specs but mostly gravy on the above desirable basics.
Of course, with a Lenovo or just about anything else I may get the 17" display and hopefully good thermal characteristics (important), but none of the more desirable items, and do not want to devolve to a game of specsmanship comparing numerics of Ghz/GB so long as I get a solid unit with high range horsepower and a nice keyboard I can use 8-10 hours a day for years without frustrations.
My uses are mostly programming, heavy database use, some text authoring and lots of remote access/admin via SSH. Good video and gaming graphics will be nice to have, but not the driver (I think anything recent will blow me away in any event). Camera will be covered with duct tape or clipped out, so not a feature.
So, given the above: Current upper end horsepower, programmer's keyboard, 17" display (15" OK all else being equal), reliability and hopefully long service life running Slackware 14.2/15.x as the goal, I am soliciting comments from Slackware users who are happy and enthusiastic about their hardware, particulary Lenovo users or those with strong opinions for not being Lenovo users.
Also, I have no UEFI experience at all - so anything to watch for? My intent is to wipe the storage and install without ever booting to W10, so will probably test the hardware and subsequently install via PXE boot - does anyone here PXE boot UEFI/Lenovo?
Any other problems/advantages to note?
All comments, suggestions and opinions appreciated.
I decided on a System76 Oryx a couple of months ago, being surprised at both the price and my willingness to pay it - but I thought it was the only clear choice for my needs (and still do).
Having placed the order and waited, and waited (with good communications from System76 I think), I have now learned they will be unable to deliver the one I ordered and are offering an "upgrade", at additional cost but still without a promise of delivery date ("sometime in June, probably...").
I am reluctantly considering alternatives but want to avoid another protracted shopping experience, so in the absence of any strongly advocated alternatives I am mostly looking at Lenovo ThinkPads and Legions based heavily on availability and access to a few models for general impressions.
The deciding features for the Oryx were:
17" Display for my old eyes
Widely praised keyboard (I have not actually touched one)
Disabled Intel ME
No UEFI firmware, Coreboot instead
No non-*Nix OS to waste time/space or sweep out of the way
Good thermal design, good reputation among users
Wired etehrnet (must have)
Also: i7, 8 core 5Ghz, up to 64GB RAM, up to 4TB storage, etc. All good specs but mostly gravy on the above desirable basics.
Of course, with a Lenovo or just about anything else I may get the 17" display and hopefully good thermal characteristics (important), but none of the more desirable items, and do not want to devolve to a game of specsmanship comparing numerics of Ghz/GB so long as I get a solid unit with high range horsepower and a nice keyboard I can use 8-10 hours a day for years without frustrations.
My uses are mostly programming, heavy database use, some text authoring and lots of remote access/admin via SSH. Good video and gaming graphics will be nice to have, but not the driver (I think anything recent will blow me away in any event). Camera will be covered with duct tape or clipped out, so not a feature.
So, given the above: Current upper end horsepower, programmer's keyboard, 17" display (15" OK all else being equal), reliability and hopefully long service life running Slackware 14.2/15.x as the goal, I am soliciting comments from Slackware users who are happy and enthusiastic about their hardware, particulary Lenovo users or those with strong opinions for not being Lenovo users.
Also, I have no UEFI experience at all - so anything to watch for? My intent is to wipe the storage and install without ever booting to W10, so will probably test the hardware and subsequently install via PXE boot - does anyone here PXE boot UEFI/Lenovo?
Any other problems/advantages to note?
All comments, suggestions and opinions appreciated.