Dell has got to be one of the most frustrating companies that put out a linux laptop. They put out a laptop certified for ubuntu but then never support newer releases. A big part of their hardware is always proprietary drivers like webcam, fingerprint reader etc… Then you update to a new LTS release because lets be serious 20.04 at this point is going to sunset in a couple of years… However after you update the webcam stops working, or some other hardware stops working. Then you are constantly troubleshooting to get it working and every kernel update it breaks again. If you ever did ask support they will just tell you to go back to 20.04 image from dell. Not to mention all their OS tools are made for windows even the ones for making linux recovery images… like WTF! I am two years in on this laptop and I am just getting rid of it I cannot put up with this nonsense anymore from them.
Better hardware manifacturers for Linux:
- Clevo (ODM, nearly exclusively from companies like below)
- Novacustom
- System76
- Kubuntu Focus
- Tuxedo
- Framework
- Slimbook
- Starlabs (only order what is in stock)
- Lenovo Thinkpad
If you go with Starlabs, make sure what you’re ordering is IN STOCK.
I ordered the Lite V which I as estimated to deliver in October 2023. It’s now April 2024 and they are just receiving it on their end. It seems like they’ve learned their lesson but not letting people pre-order their newer things now. Reviews of previous products seem promising with them.
My friend has the Slimbook Executive. That thing is sex with a keyboard.
Would not recommend System76. I’ve had many issues with my machine (primarily software, related to their buggy custom firmware, and Pop!_OS, until I ditched that for stock Ubuntu). Their support has been terrible - rather similar to OP’s, actually. I’ve had the laptop for about 2.5 years, and I’m checking practically daily for something to replace it.
I’ve had a Gazelle 16 for 2 years now, and while I agree they are not the end-all for Linux laptop hardware, I’m pretty happy with it. I’ve distrohopped on it quite a bit since I got it, but I mostly run Fedora Gnome on it (running 39 currently), and so fat, everything just works. I’m thinking of buying from a different provider when it’s time to change (maybe 2 to 4 more years). Can’t speak to their support since mine has just worked since day one and I’ve had no need to reach out to them. PopOS is pretty good, but it is lacking when compared to Fedora. Let’s see what happens when 24.04 comes out with the rust-based Cosmic DE.
Considering that you are not using their software, was the laptop worth the premium you paid for it, vs buying from Clevo directly?
I figured the hardware and software coming from the same vendor would yield the best results, and wanted to support a company that supports right-to-repair, and Linux in general. But ultimately I found Pop!_OS buggy and had performance issues, so I’m not using their OS, and their firmware is causing issues with my SSD, so I’d like to be off of it as well (but was told "there’s no process for reverting to the proprietary firmware“ for the specific model I have). I could have bought a Clevo directly, saving hundreds of dollars, and probably had a better working machine.
I purchased it with the intent to use PopOS, and did for the first 3 months, then started distro hopping. I’m a die hard fedora fan, so I just ended up keeping Fedora (I did go back a few times to Pop).
I can’t say Pop was ever an issue, it just worked, and my 10 years old daughter has it in her PC and she’s very happy with it. But even on Fedora, I feel this purchase was absolutely worth it. I got it with as little ram as possible (8GB) and with the smallest NVMe drive (256GB) and then bought 64GB of RAM and two 2TB NVMe drives. It all came at around 500 dollars in savings when compared with the highest build.
You wonder why I didn’t straight up got a Clevo? I’m ashamed to recognize that I never heard of it until a few months after I got my Gazelle. Then there’s the fact that they are somewhat hard to get in the US.
All in all, I want to love to another manufacturer on my next purchase, only because I think there are better options than system76, but not because I think they’re not good enough or anything.
+1 for Lenovo Thinkpad
- Clevo (ODM, nearly exclusively from companies like below)
I have a gen 6 X1 carbon. Have Pop on it, and it’s a dream. Got it new, half price from lenovo, as it was a couple years old and they were shifting stock. Best laptop I’ve had, and an exceptional Linux experience.
The problem is, that there are not many notebook producer, that are
- Supporting Linux
- Have reasonable prices and hardware
- (Are not from an authoritarian country that has shady spying practices and uses slave labour)
There is Dell, Acer, Framwork and that’s it, I guess?
Bought a Yoga Pro 7 7840HS 32GB 1TB. Everything works fine in Linux. Battery does 8-10h on full charge, good build quality, no issues with any parts. Running EndeavourOS after had some minor issues with Manjaro, WiFi connecting 1 minute after booting and some weird disconnects after a while. No such thing in EndeavourOS.
Running idle with minimum brightness, Bluetooth off, WiFi connected and keyboard backlight turned off consumes minimum 3.6W. Got it less than $900 around 4 months ago.
Even on the Windows side of things they’re frustrating. Company took my perfectly working Thinkpad and replaced it last September with an “upgraded” Dell Inspiron laptop. It’s a piece of crap. Wakes up all the time in my bag, randomly drops wifi, and randomly drops ViewSonic monitors. Official IT solution: this happens sometimes, we don’t know why, and we’re going to send you Dell monitors instead.
*Edit I guess it’s actually a Precision, not Inspiron. I don’t buy Dells so I don’t know all the names!
Waking up in the bag is a known problem with Windows’ new sleep mode but the rest ¯\_( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)_/¯
Inspiron? Must be a small company. That’s consumer class, they’re made to be sold at Walmart. Latitudes are pretty good imo, I actually prefer them to thinkpads.
My error, I just checked and apparently it’s actually a Precision. I don’t deal in Dells so I don’t know all their nomenclature! It’s still been a downgrade though from my ThinkPad.
The issue is whether the thing is running a mainline compatible or distro kernel. If the device is running an orphan kernel, you’re screwed. This is the depreciation mechanism built into Android. It is “not Linux” because they are all orphans.
Technically even this is not enough if you want to get in the weeds. Technically the device can be on mainline but the company has a full time dev maintaining the required modules while the hardware itself it undocumented. If the hardware is documented at the api/registers level and it is already on mainline, it will likely remain supported for decades.
This is the true benchmark of ownership; public hardware documentation and fully merged support in the mainline kernel. Just for reference there is not a single mobile device that fully checks all of these boxes. Just to further illustrate how pervasive this is and how ignorant most of us are, the Raspberry π is proprietary with its full documentation locked under NDA. The vast majority of the silicon is made for a defunct TV tuner box, but you’ll never find documentation about any of this hardware at the registers level.
Your computer is the same, the microcode on ×86 is undocumented and things like the ALU architecture are not fully known except that it is a CISC wrapper around a RISC architecture. ARM is mostly proprietary at the registers level. All modems have been proprietary since the Atheros stuff over a decade back. The closest you can come to a FOSS computer are the old Duo series Intel chips supported by Libreboot and that is only because of the wonderful Leah Rowe’s hacking skills.
If you want to know what really works, go to https://linux-hardware.org and search. Either way, get the Hardware Probe from flathub or your package manager, run the test and review/upload your results to save the next person from similar issues. Seriously, don’t just ignore this. Upload your scan to the database with 233,034 other tested computers and 474,877 parts that have already been tested and uploaded. You can also see the configurations other people have used on the same hardware and get an idea if another kernel might work.
I don’t think you’re right on this. When DELL is branding a laptop as “linux supported”, then the hardware normally works out of the box with at the very least, Ubuntu (and probably by most other distros too). If you’re seeing hardware incompatibilities, it’s probably because the Linux kernel itself might have dropped some of the older hardware drivers from its list of support. I’m writing this on a DELL Latitude 5480 from 2017, and I have installed the latest ubuntu without any hardware issue whatsoever. Everything’s just supported out of the box. No special image from DELL was ever required. So if you’re seeing your hardware stop working, you should look if DELL provided closed source drivers or firmware for your laptop’s hardware. If that’s the case, then you didn’t have a “linux supported” laptop, you had a laptop with specifically-added Linux support after the fact. I wouldn’t have bought that in the first place.
Hmmm. I didn’t know Dell had a Linux laptop. I bought a vostro with windows pre-installed and flashed fedora on it, expecting to get no WiFi webcam but everything worked out. It’s interesting that their windows machines run Linux better than their flagship Linux machine.
Do not buy dell… They are like apple without the whole “good products” part.
Suggest a better choice, please. Lenovo?
If you want a PC laptop, my recommendation is that you either get a framework or buy one from a linux manufacturer (System76/Tuxedo/Slimbook)… Or if you need GPU horsepower on the go, just get whichever gaming laptop is on sale, they are all pretty much the same. If you’re on a budget, try your hand at 2nd hand. If you country doesn’t have a developed 2nd hand market, then you might consider getting a budget laptop, however those generally tend to suck and I’d recommend against it, unless you really just NEED a laptop.
Just don’t buy dell “flagship” products, they are just worse macbooks
I bought a dell xps15 circa 2017 and it is god awful with Linux. I will never buy another dell ever again.
Not to mention they sell proprietary parts and couldn’t sell me a replacement ac adapter for my docking station. They wanted to force me to buy a new docking station instead of just purchasing an AC adapter… Horrible company and horrible compatibility.
You are lucky. My laptop’s fingerprint scanner did not work out of the box. I also had troubles with audio (“subwoofer” was disabled) and WiFi (losing connection). This all was fixed in later Ubuntu updates, but I had to wipe out Dell’s spyware manually. So I’d say Dell with preinstalled Ubuntu is the same as any laptop with FreeDOS: you have to install the OS you need instead preinstalled one and troubleshoot all the driver issues. No guarantees that all hardware is Linux compatible.
Exactly, never going to buy any Dell anymore… I’m so pissed with their XPS 13 issues.
Their XPS’ have gotten worse IMO. I have an XPS now running Linux Mint and it seems fine. Issue here or there.
I went to buy a new one but now they only come with 2 USB-C ports and that’s it! It’s not practical…
Just gonna leave this here for anyone who wants a laugh. It wasn’t a Linux based desktop, but it was hilarious. Buying a PC with Dell: my journey into hell
I’ve been more fortunate than you apparently. I’ve got a xps15 5520 which is not officially supported, but thx to the return policy I felt safe to buy it and give it a try.
I’ve been using mint on it without any problems. Hibernation was what took me the most with to get working. Very happy user so far.
Dell are shit. It was a good day when the last Dell in the family was switched out for Macs.*
*I don’t like Macs either but I could plausibly refuse to support them on the basis that I didn’t know how they worked and the hardware is all locked down.
