cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/50059421

I’m looking around for a laptop with these characteristics in particular:

  • Screen with stylus / pen (and pressure levels), but it doesn’t need to be “2-in-1”.

  • Good or above-average computing capabilities.

  • Long support for some Linux distribution. I emphasize “long”, because for example Lenovo for its laptops supports only one specific distribution version. Recently I upgraded my Thinkpad X1C9 to Kubuntu 24.04, but OEM drivers are only available for 20.04.

Do you have any suggestions of good vendors of a laptop like that? And experiences to share?

The Thinkpad X1 Extreme was a good example of what I have in mind. But Lenovo don’t produce stuff like that anymore – and again, it doesn’t really support Linux long-term.

Thank you for sharing!

  • stravanasu@lemmy.caOP
    1·
    5 days ago

    This looked really cool and more or less what I’m looking for. But it seems the Z series has been discontinued? Maybe they joined it with the T series.

    One problem in the Lenovo website is that you can’t filter laptops by pen-capability. They have a “touch” search filter, but that isn’t the same.

    • GrapheneOSRuinedMyPixel@sh.itjust.works
      2·
      4 days ago

      I actually bought the Z16 just a few months ago to replace my aging 16" Intel MBP - I wanted good linux support, type-c charging, normal keyboard and a 16" 4k OLED screen, nothing new seemed to be comparable.

      If you absolutely need something new, notebookcheck has a pen support filter in their search. Just look for laptops without Nvidia GPUs and maybe check Arch wiki (they have device specific pages) or hardware probes on linux-hardware.org. New hardware generally has worse linux support that improves over time.

      • stravanasu@lemmy.caOP
        1·
        4 days ago

        Thank you for netobookcheck, great resource! 🙏 So you bought your Z16 for some store? I’ll look around too :)

        • GrapheneOSRuinedMyPixel@sh.itjust.works
          2·
          3 days ago

          I got mine used from a local ebay-like site. Can’t really justify buying new hardware most of the time. Thinkpads in general are really easy to buy second-hand in great condition when corporations replace them. Z-series were not very popular so getting it was a lot harder than a T14 or P1, but still, there were some great options.

          • stravanasu@lemmy.caOP
            1·
            3 days ago

            Completely agree there. New models too often turn out to have some mass-produce flaws. I one waits a little, these problems come out and a little search reveals them. So one can buy a slightly older but safer model. I have one of the very many Carbon gen 9 that turned out to have defective Thunderbolt ports; if only I had waited a little before buying a brand-new model…