> Really, most modern Linux distros are pretty god damn nice.
This has been my experience recently as well. For laptops at least, as long as you buy a system with known good Linux support, the vast majority of the common complaints I see are not really valid.
If you need macOS or Windows to run a specific application exclusive to that platform, great. If your software all runs on Linux, you can gain a lot of freedom and privacy for little effort these days.
Most recently I got a cheap HP laptop with some online caveats. But it actually works nearly perfectly, better than most versions of Windows I've used. I started using Linux desktop eight years ago and it's only gotten better (and I've always gotten random bargain PCs).
> as long as you buy a system with known good Linux support
And that is where the problem lies. With Windows I can buy pretty much any laptop and expect it to work with. With Linux I have a limited selection of laptops, if I want it to work fully. I'm a developer and I know my way around Linux pretty well, still I usually run into "missing drivers", "package management is broken", "hardware working mostly but not fully" when I try Ubuntu or Debian.
This sounds like you're trying to buy brand new laptops and then slap distros with years old kernels on them. With most laptops, the network card is the only area where support is still not solid.
I think in general there is just very little hardware as attractive as a MacBook Pro that supports Linux well. If we take the requirements as being roughly: HiDPI screen, thin and light all metal body, USB C charging, tenkeyless keyboard with centered trackpad and reasonable expectation of mostly working out of the box with a standard Ubuntu iso.
Your options are pretty much just the Dell XPS/Precision line and the Lenovo X1 Extreme series? Anything else?
Seriously? Intel MBP now has proprietary T2 chip, has other non-common chips, useless TouchBar instead of F keys, poor cooling design. It's also no future for Linux because they transitioning to Apple Silicon. It uses ARM for cpu march but they use original GPU that I think never be used for Linux. It also uses original boot sequence rather than UEFI.
No hardware provider really uses a standard network adapter, and as I said that's the main thing to check when purchasing a laptop. You can't have a reasonable expectation of just working, but that's all you should need to check.
Though, isn't the issue more that your listed requirements show a strong personal preference to macbooks?
I sympathize with this as I had a laptop with Nvidia Optimus and installed Linux on it back before it was really supported, which wasn't fun.
However with Dell XPS Linux version, Lenovo has a couple, and also System76 and things you have now hundreds of laptops guaranteed to work and many more that actually still will. Just research them first if you're not sure. These days there is so much info on laptops that work well.
The first class supported ones like XPS (which I'm on my second) get firmware updates etc. it gets easier and easier every year.
One of the best things of Linux support is that the more mundane the laptop is, the better supported it tends to be. And also cheaper.
All I'm doing to have perfect Linux support in all my laptops is to go for the boring models. No RGB keyboard, no bleeding-edge dGPU's, and no dual, or foldable screens.
Did any of you replying actual read my comment or did you just auto-reply "buy a supported Linux laptop"? I said ". With Windows I can buy pretty much any laptop and expect it to work with", and you are saying "Just research if the laptop you want to buy works with Linux", you are completely missing the point. I do not want to have to bother researching if a specific laptop will run Linux and research if all the hardware in that particular laptop will work. I want to buy the laptop I like and I want Linux to support that laptop, since it is commodity hardware. Same as I expect of Windows and Windows delivers in this aspect.
I, too, would like to live in a world where I do not need to research if a particular laptop will work with Linux.
The reason I don't live in that world is because laptop manufacturers, in the general course of things, don't ship their laptops with Linux; they ship them with Windows.
The obvious answer is to buy from manufacturers who ship their laptops with Linux. You could try Dell or System76.
Incidentally, it would be nice to live in a world where I didn't have to check for MacOS compatibility; I could just buy MacOS from Apple and run it on whatever. The answer is very similar: if you want that experience, buy it from the laptop manufacturer that ships their machines with MacOS.
Except that's not true, you can buy a laptop that has windows installed and it typically works. However trying to install windows yourself, you often run into all sorts of issues.
windows installation have improved dramatically over the last 3 years.
i always have had a debian and a windows laptop. for at least 20 years. 95% of my time is on the debian one.
this year was the first time where i thought a windows laptop might be enough. i am waiting for the next release of the WSL2 and i think i'm jumping ship for good.
I've often found that simply buying an older model of a relatively popular brand is more than enough to get a working combo.
My go-to is Lenovo, and sticking to the Thinkpad line. Occasionally I've had some growing pains, but I've found using a model that's at least 12-18 months old is more than sufficient for patches to have made it upstream.
Obviously if you have some specific need for a rather new model, then going for something like the Dell XPS line or some other "Linux Certified" line is a better plan. But for my needs, anything within the last 6 years will likely be good enough in my book. I tend to kick intensive jobs off to my local server or set up a one-off in the cloud.
This has been my experience recently as well. For laptops at least, as long as you buy a system with known good Linux support, the vast majority of the common complaints I see are not really valid.
If you need macOS or Windows to run a specific application exclusive to that platform, great. If your software all runs on Linux, you can gain a lot of freedom and privacy for little effort these days.