What I really want is a place that has physical locations that sells linux laptops and will give you something like apple care used to be with apple in the middle aughts. They will take care of anything and you just don't have to worry about it at all. I keep on thinking it would be great for microcenter to partner up with someone on this.
this post was submitted on 16 Jul 2025
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Companies usually handle this by using a hardware vendor with on-site support (like Dell) for hardware issues, and a Linux distro with corporate support (like RedHat) for software issues. Definitely more than a regular user would be willing to pay, though.
System 76 does a pretty good job with support. I've occasionally pinged their support about an issue I was having and they were quite willing to help - and pretty useful as well (no "did you try rebooting?" run-around).
ThinkPad P14s G6 (AMD) with the 2880x1800 touch screen? Only 60Hz though and $$$
The Thinkbook 14+ 2025 seems to check quite a lot of the boxes. Nevertheless, depending where you live you will have some high taxes to pay if ordered from Aliexpress: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1G_xM0qxA-8
The option with the TGX(Oculink) port to use an eGPU is particularly appealing for some.
There is a guide to install Arch on it: https://github.com/Cyber-Typhoon/Secure_Arch_Install_Oculink_eGPU
- Good keyboard with text navigation keys (Home, End, Page Up, and Page Down) and a sensible layout: delete at the top right, no stupid replacement of normal modifier keys with fingerprint readers or copilot keys, no tiny arrow keys, etc.
- Good touchpad that’s precise, doesn’t lag, and allows clicking on most or all of the total area
I don't think these should be that important. Even if one uses a single device for every need in the form of a laptop, one can still attach a keyboard and mouse to it. The worst customizable keyboard and wireless mouse will still be better than whatever the laptop has built in.
The worst customizable keyboard and wireless mouse will still be better than whatever the laptop has built in.
Unless you have a laptop with a good trackpad and keyboard, then you don't need to carry around a bunch of extra stuff.
Unless the point is to have a single device and not to carry a bunch of peripherals around? "Better" only if your criteria ignores the need to carry it around with the laptop.