Looking for an ultra portable laptop for Ubuntu

Question

I'm in the market for a new laptop, and portability is important since I really only use it when I'm travelling to and from work - primarily for programming.

I've been searching high and low for something like this:

• less than 2kg
• hopefully Intel i5 (but negotiable)
• NO dvd drive - just don't need it
• 4G ram
• either 7200rpm disk or SSD (ssd preferable)
• 13 inch screen
• not too pricey (MacBook Air is about $1700 AUD)
• available in Australia

The Dell Inspiron 13z and Lenovo Edge 13 look close, but I've not found anything that says I'm not going to have a fight with compatibility.

The MacBook Air 13 looks like the PERFECT hardware, but I'm afraid it will just be easier to run MacOS than Ubuntu.

I want to stay with Ubuntu, but the MacBook Air is only $1700 so I'm in danger of becoming another apple fanboi if I can't find anything competitive.

Going through all the sites looking for stuff has been a huge waste of time

• System 76 doesn't deliver to Australia
• http://www.linux-laptop.net/ and http://www.linlap.com/ are hard work and not confidence inspiring
• http://www.vgcomputing.com.au/nsintro.html is hard work again, searching for every laptop they say has excellent compatibility on the web to find out what spec it is
• http://zareason.com/shop/Strata-Pro-13.html (at $1345 USD) looks interesting, but I've got no idea how much I'll get stung by customs importing
• Dell Inspiron 13z with i5, 4G, 320 7200rpm disk, ATI Mobility Radeon HD5430 - 1GB, Dell Wireless 1501 802.11b/g/n @ $1200 AUD seems like the only competitor but is it compatible? (Dell support offer no opinion - as far as they are concerned they only have 2 models that are certified for ubuntu)

Am I worrying too much about the compatibility? Should I just go with Dell? Or switch to MacOS?

(It would be good to have a searchable database that had the full machine specs, and compatibility - I'm thinking about building something... but I don't have much time right now...)

Thanks.

UPDATE I went with a MacBook Air. The price/weight/power was just right. Everything else was either too pricy (i5) or too heavy, or underpowered (SU7300 1.3GHz). Its a pity, because I didn't really want to leave Ubuntu. I'll still run it on my media center and spare (heavy) laptop.

Answer 1

i would recommend acer aspire 4547g

Answer 2

Laptop choice really comes down to personal preference and dollars.

Like you I live in Aus and searched high and low for a decent laptop that I could install Ubuntu on - eventaully settled for the Dell 15R and it runs 10.10 netbook no problems, all keyboard buttons function correctly everything, it just worked out of the box.

Recently purchased two Lenovo S10-3 netbooks for my kids and plan to install 10.10 netbook on them as well - I don't forsee any issues that I won't be able to overcome as Ubuntu has become a lot more hardware compatible with every release.

You should also check Lenovo's Au site as they currently have the Thnkpad Edge on sale at a decent price.

Answer 3

Although it's 12" rather than 13" the Lenovo x200 is really good and generally well supported. I picked up one of the lighter, lower power x200s when they were on special, and I'm very happy with it.

A large number of developers have x200 and x200s laptops; problems are generally hit early and fixed before they make it into a release :)

Answer 4

i would recommend a dell inspiron 15 lappie. as ubuntu doesn't need a heavy multimedia rig...

Answer 5

I got a new Macbook Air 3,2 a couple of days ago. Installed Ubuntu Desktop 10.10 quite successfully! Everything works great on it. All mac keys and features great! Here are some links to setting up:

• https://help.ubuntu.com/community/MacBookAir3-2/Meerkat
• http://digitizor.com/2010/10/23/how-to-fix-the-msn-bug-in-empathy-ubuntu-10-10/
• http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2010/04/10-things-to-do-after-installing-ubuntu-10-04-lucid/
• http://www.unixmen.com/linux-distributions/ubuntu/265-great-themes-for-ubuntu-904-jaunty-jackalope

With Ubuntu, this is my favorite laptop of ALL time!

Answer 6

Not that it is a sure answer, but couldn't you use something like laparkan to ship from system 76>overseas mailbox>you?

In my opinion a system 76 system should be your best bet.

Answer 7

Dell announced a new one. New Dell Laptop

Answer 8

Canonical has a list of computers considered "Certified" to work with Ubuntu (essentially the manufactures sent Canonical their computer for Canonical to make an official test to see if the computers work well with Ubuntu).

The list is at http://webapps.ubuntu.com/certification/, and it gets as in depth as whether the computer is a laptop, desktop, server or netbook, so you can get picky like that. I would check Lenovo and HP's laptops/netbooks.

Answer 9

See this question for compatibility of Lenovo's Edge series. The wireless troubles with the Realtek chipset can be overcome (though the connection is lost occasionally). It's a nice enough laptop, but my model with an i3 processor has a rather loud fan constantly spinning, however. This is a major problem. (No difference as far as I can tell between Windows 7 and Ubuntu here.) I suggest you investigate the fan noise as well as speed. (I see that you've already made your choice, but this may be interesting for the benefit of others.)