Solved Guidance to buy new (refurbished) Dell Laptop

[AMFA]

Hi Everyone,

Currently running a MacAir (13) 2015 with Linux Mint for my daily computer. Love LINUX also have a Desktop that works amazing that I built for the wife. My current laptop however, is starting to freeze up when opening multiple windows and the back lit keyboard a lo of the keys are work off (I am hell on keyboards with these gorilla fingers).

Been reading the forums and seems XPS would be a good choice. Would Dell XPS 13 9380 4K Touch Intel Core i7-8565U 16GB RAM 512GB SSD for around 500 USD be a good choice. Or is there something someone could recomend?

I do not mind spending more but seems thats not necessary that around 500 will get you a great computer for Linux. Thanks guys hope everyone is well and I appreciate any feedback, guidance, and recommendations.


AMFA

 

[xlbooyahlx]

Check the wifi adapter in the specs. If it's an intel (which it should be), you should be golden

 

[AMFA]

Check the wifi adapter in the specs. If it's an intel (which it should be), you should be golden

Thank you, appreciate the help.

 

[AMFA]

Check the wifi adapter in the specs. If it's an intel (which it should be), you should be golden

Qualcom would not work?

 

[xlbooyahlx]

Qualcom would not work?

What model? You can check by googling "qualcom wifi adapter model( ) linux support". Been awhile since I've seen a qualcom wifi adapter in a laptop?

 

[xlbooyahlx]

Qualcom would not work?

Ahh you mean atheros?

 

[xlbooyahlx]

Atheros

 

[xlbooyahlx]

Qualcom would not work?

Given that question you might want to spec the audio adapter as well.
Good rule of thumb...Intel everything....generally supported.

 

[xlbooyahlx]

Dell XPS 13 9380 4K Touch

Here's a review from 2019 on that laptop, and more than a few reasons for not going with that partucular model with linux. For $500 you could have a brand new laptop, with much better battery life, a more powerful processor, much faster system bus, etc, etc, etc

 

[xlbooyahlx]

Just an example

HP Newest Pavilion 15.6" HD Touchscreen Anti-Glare Laptop​

With a:
WLAN Connectivity: Realtek RTL8822CE

There are a lot better, and newer laptops out there for the money. Just spec them all out for linux support before purchasing.

 

[Brickwizard]

Qualcom would not work?

For Qualcom you need the Athros drivers found in most repositories

 

[wizardfromoz]

Would Dell XPS 13 9380 4K Touch Intel Core i7-8565U 16GB RAM 512GB SSD for around 500 USD be a good choice.

I've been using a Dell Inspiron 5770 since July 2018 - AMD - and it runs fine with Linux (79 distros).

It was getting a little sluggish a few weeks ago so I flashed the BIOS for the first time, and gave it a new lease of life.

Cheers

Wizard

 

[xlbooyahlx]

I've been using a Dell Inspiron 5770 since July 2018 - AMD

the model he mentioned had an Atheros/Qualcom wi-fi card that was unsupported by linux at this time.

 

[xlbooyahlx]

Hi Everyone,

Currently running a MacAir (13) 2015 with Linux Mint for my daily computer. Love LINUX also have a Desktop that works amazing that I built for the wife. My current laptop however, is starting to freeze up when opening multiple windows and the back lit keyboard a lo of the keys are work off (I am hell on keyboards with these gorilla fingers).

Been reading the forums and seems XPS would be a good choice. Would Dell XPS 13 9380 4K Touch Intel Core i7-8565U 16GB RAM 512GB SSD for around 500 USD be a good choice. Or is there something someone could recomend?

I do not mind spending more but seems thats not necessary that around 500 will get you a great computer for Linux. Thanks guys hope everyone is well and I appreciate any feedback, guidance, and recommendations.


AMFA

Here's a Dell with an Intel AX201 wifi card, fully supported. 11th gen i5, 16Gb ram, and brand new 512Gb ssd
only $299.99 US

 

[xlbooyahlx]

Here's a Dell with an Intel AX201 wifi card, fully supported. 11th gen i5, 16Gb ram, and brand new 512Gb ssd
only $299.99 US

Nevermind that link, the more I thought about it, well, I couldn't pass it up, and I ended up purchasing it just a little while ago. There are plenty on ebay for less than $500.00 that are much newer than the model in your OP, with much better specs. OP was 8th Gen i7, incompatible wifi, slower system bus, etc. etc,. BTW the model you had in your OP was a touch screen which is a chore to get working in linux, but doable.
I know there's a thread in this forum (touch install starts immediately after "figure 5") how to do it if you do need/want that touch screen working

 

[AMFA]

Im open to anything just want to have something decent that will perform well.

 

[xlbooyahlx]

Here's a Dell with an Intel AX201 wifi card, fully supported. 11th gen i5, 16Gb ram, and brand new 512Gb ssd
only $299.99 US

Im open to anything just want to have something decent that will perform well.

Take that link above and find another one just like it, there were a bunch up there, and it has everything you needed at a good price.
I ended up picking that one up for myself.

 

[AMFA]

Take that link above and find another one just like it, there were a bunch up there, and it has everything you needed at a good price.
I ended up picking that one up for myself.

Yeah ebay has a ton of em, looking now... Thank you

 

[xlbooyahlx]

Thank you

You're welcome brother!

 

[AMFA]

Went with a Dell Inspirion 5594 with 8GB RAM, Intel i7 (10th Gen), and Intel Wifi card fairly reasonable on price just under 400 USD on ebay.