I’m looking for a laptop to install Ubuntu on. I’ve been debating between buying an Asus or Lenovo laptop, or if I should buy a mac book.
EDIT: My budget is between $800 and $1200
Things I’m looking for in a laptop:
I don’t need a GPU, all I need is intel integrated graphics.
8GBs or RAM or more.
Storage speed. Not necissarilly space. So SSDs are a great thing.
CPU speed, cause I need to get my work done.
Overall build quality of the laptop.
Looking at my options, the mac books seem to be competitively priced.
MacBooks's are great build quality wise but I don't know that I'd get one with the intension of running anything but OSX as the main OS. I haven't bootcamped Linux on mine(2009 MBP), but I know Apple's bootcamp drivers for Windows leave a lot to be desired. The trackpad driver is terrible in Windows whereas its awesome in OSX. Anyway I'd definitely do some Googleing to see how well whatever distribution of Linux you plan to use works with the hardware. I think drivers for the proprietary hardware could be an issue.
I use Fedora on a late 2010 MacBook Pro. What I can tell you is, linux works better than Win7 (I have a triple boot, turned the ODD in to an extra HDD). Trackpad on Win7 is atrocious, on linux is not as good as on MacOX but at least the scroll and the secondary button tap with two fingers work.
Now, I do not recommend installing linux on the same drive as the MacOS. I ran into a lot of trouble when I tried that, either with or without rEFIt.
If I were buying a new laptop today to run linux, I wouldn't go with a Mac.
i would say macbook but now that the only option are the retinas and they can't be user upgraded (upgrade after purchase i.e.: ram, hdd, battery replacement) i'm not sure of that choice, unless you take the old non-retina although it is from 2013
dude, just get a System76 machine. Comes preloaded with Ubuntu Linux and is one of the most recommended Linux OEMs. I'm not sure why you think that Mac laptops are competitively priced. Take a gander at this build. It has Wireless AC + Bluetooth 4.0
If you want to run linux only I would recommend a system builder that specs system towards linux as well. Some manufacturer offer developer versions of their notebooks with linux preinstalled. Most of them are just Korean chassis anyway (Clevo et cetera). That does not mean that they are bad notebooks.
Depending on what your work is a used Lenovo Thinkpad might be nice if you drop in some stuff. I got a T420 for 300 Euro and equipped it with a SSD secondary to the harddrive and I will add a mSATA SSD and two USB 3.0 ports (in the express card slot). If you do not need screaming CPU performance they are great (2nd gen i5 in mine, does the job of surfing, writing and coding).
But then again: What are you trying to do with your notebook?
Edit: If you want an upgradeable Ultrabook look at something based on the Clevo W840SN with Linux. It went head to head with the MacBook Pro for a friend of mine (he sent it back because they made an assembly error, the fault of the final assembly at the small firm in Germany, so not Clevo's fault)
