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Portables Hardware Linux

Ask Slashdot: What's The Best Cheap Linux-Friendly Netbook? 187

Posted by EditorDavid from the looking-for-laptops dept.
Seems like a good time to revisit this question -- assuming anyone's still using a netbook. Long-time Slashdot reader Qbertino writes: I'm looking for a cheap lightweight netbook that is Linux-friendly, i.e. lets me install Linux without any shoddy modern BIOS getting in my way... The Lenovo 100S-11 looks really neat, but I just read about installation problems... Are there any alternatives?

And if there aren't, what experience do you guys have running Linux on a Chromebook using Crouton -- the Linux-parallel-to-Chrome-OS hack? Is it a feasible alternative to dumping ChromeOS and installing a 100% lightweight Linux?
His budget is around $200, and he ends his submission with "Many thanks from a fellow Slashdotter." So leave your suggestions in the comments. What's the best cheap Linux-friendly netbook?
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.

Ask Slashdot: What's The Best Cheap Linux-Friendly Netbook? More

Ask Slashdot: What's The Best Cheap Linux-Friendly Netbook?

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  • Thinkpad X220 (Score:5, Insightful)

    by JoeyRox ( 2711699 ) on Saturday October 29, 2016 @09:36PM (#53177073)
    Going for $200 used on Fleabay.

    • Re:Thinkpad X220 (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Rinikusu ( 28164 ) on Saturday October 29, 2016 @09:40PM (#53177085)

      Even the X200/201 series are good, for half that. I'm running Mint on my X200s as my primary travel machine. Easy to upgrade and cheap .

      • I have two X201s, and the biggest problem with both is that the wifi needs replacing, and I can't be bothered to do that. (Basically I use the ethernet port, though I have known some USB wifi dongles to cause total lockups.)

        That said, my recommendation to anybody who does not need a high-end gaming or 3d laptop, and is on a budget, to go for something like a refurb Lenovo thinkpad. They're just so much better built and designed than consumer laptops, and provided you stick with the Windows 7 Pro they were d

        • Re:Thinkpad X220 (Score:4, Informative)

          by dunkelfalke ( 91624 ) on Sunday October 30, 2016 @06:51AM (#53178095)

          X201 is ridiculously easy to disassemble compared to many other notebooks. You can replace the WiFi MiniPCIe card in 5 minutes or so. The only problem is the BIOS whitelist, but a modified BIOS with the whitelist removed is not difficult to find.

      • Seconded. The Asus X201E/F201E (X or F depending on where they were released) are GREAT. I have bought several of them on ebay, put in a cheap 120 GB SSD and installed Ubuntu. Perfect Netbook. It's cheap, it's solid, very lightweight, very good screen (although glossy), decent keyboard, even has a USB 3 (plus 2 USB 2). Battery is good for 4 hours of work or 1 movie (or 2 episodes). The power adapter is fairly small and light too. They even look decent. Fairly good build quality too. So far none of the 6 I

    • Re:Thinkpad X220 (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Antique Geekmeister ( 740220 ) on Saturday October 29, 2016 @09:54PM (#53177137)

      Thinkpads have been solid workhorses for me. Do _not_ expect to run extensive virtualized environments or multiple docker containers, and under _no_ circumstances use the default Gnome or KDE window managers common to modern Linux distributions. There are many better window managers, far more stable and far less resource gobbling window managers. Since the underlying graphical environment is one of the most memory, disk, and battery consuming features of modern Linux operating systems, keeping the environment lean will make it perform far better and extend its physical lifespan.

      • Re:Thinkpad X220 (Score:4, Insightful)

        by Lisandro ( 799651 ) on Saturday October 29, 2016 @10:12PM (#53177193)

        I had a X220 with 8GB RAM for a while as my travel computer. Gnome 3 ran beautifully on it.

      • Which window manager do you use?

        • It depends on the distribution I'm using. For extreme lightweight, such as X in a virtual environment, I normally use twm for light weight and to avoid the dangerous instabilities I've found with Gnome, and more recently with KDE. I've recently had good success with Cinnamon.

          Note that I'm often _hammering_ my laptop with work related communications, video conferencing, and lengthy local software tasks.

          • Re: (Score:1)

            by Anonymous Coward

            I would recommend Xfce since it's very lightweight and still looks great. Or if you are comfortable with them, try a tiling window manager like i3, xmonad or awesome.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by caseih ( 160668 )

        Not sure why you say that. Computers haven't advanced that much in the last 5 years. My x220 runs a normal desktop with fancy compiz effects. And I regularly run Windows 7 in a virtual machine. It can handle that just fine. And I'm sure Docker would be fine. Gnome 3 also runs just fine. You can pretty much load up the RAM on the x220 as much as some current laptops. It's got 4 cores at 2.6 GHz and can handle 8 GB RAM. Besides more cores and more RAM, current laptops are not any faster. In fact the x

        • _Modest_ virtualization, and modest graphics, can work well on reasonably modern laptops. Note that I said "Do _not_ expect to run extensive virtualized environments or multiple docker containers". I was referring to environments I've personally worked with where people set up one VM as a highly secure firewall for testing, another for database operations, another for web services, another for credentials management, etc., etc.

          If you start running each of those VM's with Gnome active, expect to run out of r

    • Re: Thinkpad X220 (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      X230, I5, with ssd and 16GB ram running any Linux DE will give you a woody.

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by amiga3D ( 567632 )

        Hell, it even runs Windows 10 great. I bought one off ebay and played with Windows 10 for a while before I had enough and wiped it. Ubuntu runs like a scalded dog on it. Nice hardware.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by Anonymous Coward

        X230, I5, with ssd and 16GB ram running any Linux DE will give you a woody.

        woody is too old, though. probably just limps along on new hardware.

    • A new 2015, end of line discounted Macbook Air will make a very nice Linux machine.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by HuguesT ( 84078 )

        Good luck finding one in usable condition for $200

        • Not only that, most were sold with only 4 gigs of ram (blah) and they don't exactly take to Linux well.
          My 2014 gets 3 hours on Mint (with power optimization), 5 hours on Windows and 9 hours on Mac. Linux also had an issue with sleep if I remember right. It can be fixed with some effort, but the battery will always be an issue.
    • Although the X220 is super good, it's too big and bulky to really count as a netbook.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by AHuxley ( 892839 )
      +1 for Thinkpads. The support by Linux developers has always been good. Just read up on any GPU support if needed.
    • All the version of Lenovo websites I tried (Italy, UK, USA) does NOT show any laptop with Linux. So that's the end of the story. DON'T buy anything that does not support linux out of the box. Please support Linux supporting firms. You may want to have a look at Acer Extensa EX2519, here it prices at 276€ tax included.... Could be around 200USD for you I know that Acer has a bad karma, but they DO support Linux.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by stooo ( 2202012 )

      Yes !
      But take only enterprise grade Laptops.
      Consumer things fall apart after 1-2 Years.

      I personally favour the Lifebooks, they are sturdier than the Lenovos these days.

    • Also there's the similarly-specced (but often cheaper) Dell Latitude E6220.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by farrellj ( 563 )

        Dell Latitude series laptops are fairly good machines, it's the Vostro and Inspirons that tend to be fairly crappy.

    • I've seen my HP elitebook 8470p going for $149 refurb'd on Newegg. It has a newer generation chipset than either the x220 or x201 and supports 32GB of DDR3-1600. It also has a removable plate on the bottom which allows access to everything from the CPU to memory, drive, WiFi, etc... and I've been running Mint 18.1 Mate on it quite nicely (I haven't checked if Linux supports the built-in webcam, however).

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Lumpy ( 12016 )

      And the funny part it's not a netbook. a dual i5 that has plenty of power. swap out the crap spinning drive with a SSD and boost to the max 8gb ram and it's faster than most $800 laptops sold today.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by mcgrew ( 92797 ) *

      I swore off buying used computer equipment two weeks ago. I got a Samsung tablet at a pawn shop for a little over $100 a few months ago. Its CPU failed two weeks ago, and there's really no repairing a tablet or laptop.

      I don't know if Acer still makes Aspire Ones any more, but Kubuntu works on mine better than Windows does. Unfortunately, KDE "Windows eighted" its desktop. I'm looking for a distro with a less insane, more customizable interface.

      I'm also trying to find one that will run on a Gateway 450 lapt

    • Thanks to the original Slashdot poster.

      I really need to replace my old MSI u100. I use it for light web browsing, remote terminals, and configuring equipment in the field. Sadly everyone seems to be abandoning the still usable 32bit CPU's

      The old Thinkpad x200 thru x230 really look like a good deals. They even have tablet versions. A slightly increased screen and keyboard size will be welcome. Great keyboards for terminal use. I can use the expressport to install firewire for debugging other machines. The

  • I picked up an Acer ES1 for about $12O and it has upgradable RAM so I stuck an 8GB stick in. Best "laptop" I've ever had.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by ls671 ( 1122017 )

      How many dollars is 12 O $ in decimal numeric format?

      Because with O (m,n,o...), it would mean maybe base 25 and 12O (base 25) is an awful amount of money ;-)

    • Chromebook build that had Windows

      What's Windows got to do with it? Just get a regular Chromebook, unlock it and install Linux. Since it was running Linux before unlocking you know the hardware has drivers.

      • Just get a regular Chromebook, unlock it and install Linux.

        That depends on whether the unlocking process also disables the firmware's "security feature" of begging the user to reenable "OS verification", which wipes the drive and reinstalls the stock OS. If someone unwittingly activates a wipe, you lose all uncommitted work and the use of the laptop until you return home to the recovery media.

        • Just get a regular Chromebook, unlock it and install Linux.

          That depends on whether the unlocking process also disables the firmware's "security feature" of begging the user to reenable "OS verification", which wipes the drive and reinstalls the stock OS. If someone unwittingly activates a wipe, you lose all uncommitted work and the use of the laptop until you return home to the recovery media.

          I only recall seeing that on powerup and its a quite easy thing to answer "no" to. Never perceived it as a problem. In normal day-to-day work the device was just sleeping and waking and I don't recall any such prompt. Also, nothing of value should exist on a single storage device. On the road I'll carry an encrypted USB stick to backup important files to periodically. There is not excuse for not having a backup.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by tepples ( 727027 )

            I only recall seeing that on powerup and its a quite easy thing to answer "no" to.

            If you happen to be the person in front of it, as opposed to someone else being in front of it when it has restarted to apply kernel, init, or libc updates.

            Also, nothing of value should exist on a single storage device. On the road I'll carry an encrypted USB stick to backup important files to periodically. There is not excuse for not having a backup.

            That's why I said "lose all uncommitted work and the use of the laptop", not "lose data" altogether. After you return home where you keep your backups, you can restore the OS and restore your data back to the last commit. But until you arrive, you're out of luck unless you carry enough restoration media to restore not only "important files" but also the

            • When on the road there is even less chance someone else will be booting, rather than waking, the machine. Also you can always download Linux again in the very unlikely event.

              Plus the reenable OS verifications prompt times out, its largely lost in all the other pre-OS boot type messages. In other words is nearly universally ignored.

  • HP Stream 11 (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Now that the wifi drivers work out of the box with the most recent Linux distributions, the HP Stream 11 works well and has a better keyboard than the Lenovo. Secureboot can be turned off in the BIOS. You might have to tinker with the synaptics.conf file to get the clickpad functions to all work the way you want them.

    Both battery life and performance are decent.

    (I'm using the older Celeron N2840 version - there's a newer N3050 version that I haven't tested running Linux. Strangely, for raw compute power

    • Running Ubuntu 16.10 on my Stream 11 (N2840 version). Decided to keep Windows (it came with 8.1, I upgraded to 10) so I run Ubuntu off a 64 GB USB3 mini flash drive.

    • So, i never tried Linux on it, but i got a HP Stream 11 for my parents about a year ago. The bang for the buck ratio on that computer is amazing.

    • I have one of these - works nicely most of the time (Linux Mint). Not problem free: occasionally, following suspend, there seems to be RAM corruption and some fonts don't work, tool bar applets fail, ... Also the in built Wifi fails about once/day-ish. In each case a reboot (30 seconds) fixes it.

  • For less than the budget mentioned, I recently bought a seven year old business class / "durable build" name brand laptop. I installed the current mint distro, allowing it to completely replace the obsolete version of MS windows that was on it. This worked out so well that I bought a second, and bought Win 10 for it. I wound up with 2 shiny aluminum clad business laptops with my two favorite operating systems. They even came with extra batteries. I know this is not what you asked for, but, I felt, worthy of

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by amiga3D ( 567632 )

      I'm writing this on a Dell Latitude E6500 I picked up for $50. 64 bit 2.8ghz core2duo processor, 4GB of ram and 500GB hard drive and a dedicated Nvidia GPU with it's own ram. Big, heavy but built like a brick with a bright screen. It's awesome and I don't mind lugging 10 pounds around since the keyboard is a delight to type on. The only thing my Macbook pro has better is the trackpad. Running Peppermint 7 OS on it and I find myself using it more than the Mac for internet stuff even though the Mac has a

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by hey! ( 33014 )

      Being older you probably won't have any issues getting the drivers to work (although I have had bad luck Toshiba laptops), and of course there won't be any SecureBoot headaches either.

      The main thing I'd look out for is bad keyboards. In fact when I'm using my laptop as a desktop replacement I always use an external keyboard to cut down on wear and tear. Replacing keyboards can be a pain in the neck so I'd look on iFixit or some other repair site for ones where this repair is easy. I actually didn't have

  • Acer Aspire Cloudbook, $151 (Score:4, Informative)

    by duckintheface ( 710137 ) on Saturday October 29, 2016 @09:50PM (#53177127)

    https://www.amazon.com/Acer-Cl... [amazon.com]

    I bought 3 of these. 1.6 GHz Braswell Celeron N3050 processor, actually better than the new version that recently replaced it.

    2GB DDR3 RAM, Ok that's just barely enough but it does work ok
    32GB flash memory
    This machine is totally silent, fanless and no hard drive. Well built with a good Intel 802.11ac wireless chip.

    This was Microsoft's attempt to compete in the education market against Chromebooks. It failed because even 32 bit Windows 10 is too bulky to run well on this machine. I replaced Windows with 64 bit Ubuntu Linux using the XFCE desktop. I don't know if Unity will run on this machine but I don't like Unity anyway.

    It's best to install Linux with the UEFI boot left in place. Ubuntu works ok with UEFI... you just have to follow the online instructions.

  • My last Notebook was a Windows 8 Notebook that I immediately formatted without booting into Windows one time with my Particular Linux Distribution. I could boot it using CSM or non-Secure Boot UEFI. I never booted Windows once,

    What I don't know is, (I've considerd ChromeBooks for a while) can a ChromeBook boot from a Linux install DVD and completely eradicate the Chrome OS Installation and boot only the Linux install of my choice, or will the BIOS get in the way, because ChromeOS is completely useless. But

    • Re:Can you completely eradicate ChromeOS? (Score:5, Informative)

      by xeoron ( 639412 ) on Saturday October 29, 2016 @10:02PM (#53177163) Homepage
      One can wipe ChromeOS and just install certain Linux flavors.... but ChromeOS is for some and is about to get the Play store on many Chromebooks. And, using Crouton to run full blown Linux side by side is very easy to do. Plus there is a built-in self destruct since the CB needs to be in Developer Mode to run Crouton and thus it is easy to powerwash at start up when in that mode since it tells you press the space bar to leave DevMode which will delete everything for a clean install.

  • These are ten year old laptops going from $60-$200 on eBay depending on condition and options.
    They will run Mint or Ubuntu with nothing customized, and support a built in RJ45 network port, lots of USB ports, up to 8GB RAM, SSD, etc.

    I give them out at Christmas to friends struggling with Windows.

    Note: They come with two graphic adapter options... one of which is Nvidia. If you get the one with Nvidia you *must* install the proprietary "blob" driver from Nvidia, as the open source Nouveau driver does not (d

  • Acer C720 Chromebook with 4GB RAM (Score:3, Informative)

    by coryhamma ( 842129 ) on Saturday October 29, 2016 @10:07PM (#53177173)
    Reasonable 6-8 hour battery life, definitely less than $200 on eBay ($100-130) and you can crack it open to upgrade the storage to a larger drive, like 256GB. Hardware is fully supported with GalliumOS. Runs all your normal Linux software just fine, including Netflix streaming. Supports a FHD external display via HDMI port.

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by cogcritter ( 3614357 )
      Be sure to look at GalliumOS for the c720. It's a Linux distro very nicely tuned to support the platform. Our c720 had previously run Mint, and was a pretty mediocre experience. GalliumOS made the system a true pleasure to use.

  • I bought one at the school surplus sale for $50. Another $50 for memory an $100 for an SSD put the total at $200 for a machine that runs just about any Linux distribution as well as Windows 10.

    A little heavier than a netbook, but the size is right. My only real complaint is that DDR2 is getting pricey.

  • Lenovo 100s (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    I croutoned a Lenovo 100s Chromebook ($150 on sale) over two months ago and since then have been using it five days a week for about four hours a day on my long train commute. Most of that time has been in Blender 3D (which required a few tweaks to its system preferences due to graphics crashes).

    Some observations:
    1. You have to be in "Developer Mode" and push Ctrl-D when rebooting. Once I accidentally hit the spacebar (which will reset to a fresh install of ChromeOS, deleting your crouton installation) bu

  • Get a refurb lenovo t-series, put extra ram and a better HD in it if you have the cash.

  • Comment removed (Score:5, Informative)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Saturday October 29, 2016 @10:57PM (#53177293)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • I've been running an Acer C720 chromebook for years. I bought it off a friend for $75. Now I use it for work, and for fun at home.

    It's got SeaBIOS hack, and Ubuntu 14 with ZSWAP (compress RAM as a "Swap" to increase your effective RAM). It "was" running Huge Green Bug ( https://github.com/hugegreenbu... [github.com] ) but either the guy stopped updating it, or, he upgraded the only distro he supports and all my repos stopped working. So I told it I was actually running Ubuntu and ran a full distro upgrade. It broke so
    • Oh, I forgot to stress. An SSD is a life-saver. They're rapidly coming down in price so if you get a laptop without one, just buy one already. 32 GB in my Chromebook is too small for media at times, but modern SSD's are comparatively huge, and cost next to nothing. I got a 250 GB for my computer for $45 shipped and it's not the "fastest" SSD (I've got faster ones in my computer as well), but it was cheap and it's still (actual) 15x times faster than my next physical hard drive. SSD's are night-and-day diff
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • I picked up one of these with an A4-6210 APU and it is a phenomenal machine. Cost was $180 but I added a 8G RAM upgrade and a 256G SSD. Highly recommended, and the keyboard is amazing.

  • Only you can determine if it has enough storage and RAM for your needs, but it's been fine for me. I'm now running a Lenovo T420S because the slightly bigger screen is better for my aging eyes. But I still love the Chromebook. I didn't bother with Crouton - I went straight to full-on Linux, first Bodhi, then Xubuntu. There was a bit of a fiddle getting the touchpad working, but not a big deal if you're already comfortable with Linux. And it's available on Amazon for $185.

  • Try this link. There's plenty to choose from real cheap. Cut & paste to keep the spaces it puts in. www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&IsNodeId=1&N=100006740 4016 4017 4027
  • http://ixsoft.de/ [ixsoft.de] is a Linux shop in Germany that offers netbooks with all kinds of Linux distros preinstalled, so I assume the netbooks they use are compatible. One model they offer is the Acer Travelmate B117M, which Acer targeted at the educational sector. It is robust, has a non-glare display and a replacable battery.

  • That way it's both certified to run on gnulinux and tested with QA.

    I would go with Dell specific Kaby Lake Linux model as it gives Dell a financial incentive to support Gnu/Linux

  • Crouton on chromebooks is Good (Score:3)

    by Outland Traveller ( 12138 ) on Sunday October 30, 2016 @06:25AM (#53178051)

    I've been running crouton on a toshiba chromebook for a couple years now and I use it with surprising frequency.

    I spend most of my time on the linux side, running terminals, vpns, and some custom chat and web apps. It's not my main system but I frequently use it as a supplement.

    The downside of the config is the annoying/slow "developer mode" bios warning on reboot that you get from unlocking the chromebook bios, and the 3-4 commands you have to run after each reboot to get crouton up and running and happy. Luckily you don't need to reboot often. My average is about once every two months because I've let the battery run down too far. I'm very happy with it especially for the price.

  • Crouton vs. Linux (Score:3)

    by hhawk ( 26580 ) on Sunday October 30, 2016 @08:51AM (#53178339) Homepage Journal

    First with Crouton you can work with many Unix distributions, but if you wipe / install Linux clearly you can work with any one you want.

    Second, if you really want Linux and wish to use it 50, 70 or 80 or 99% of the time, you should prob. install Linux.

    I've used Ubuntu since 2009 as primary desktop until 2015 (July) when I purchased a Chromebook Pixel -- I use that device as my primary desktop, and use Crouton running Ubuntu when there is something I can't do in Chrome OS like run Audacity, record in Skype, etc.

    14.04 LTS Unity with touch works very well.

    I'm currently using Ubuntu 16.04.1 LTS but not w/ Unity - it doesn't work as well but is reliable.

    Now that I have access to Android Apps I now have fewer reasons to run Ubuntu.

    ChromeOS + Linux (via Crouton) + Android Apps = is really an amazingly powerful system. ChromeOS is fairly secure, Android Apps offer a lot of flexibility and Ubuntu/Linus can do mostly everything else.

  • Hey, guys. Thanks for all the wonderful input, I'm learning quite a bit.

    I get the 'refurbished ThinkPad' path, I've done that myself. My large refurbished 15" W530 running Xubuntu 16.4 LTS is basically my luggable workstation. However, knowing myself I'd get a 12" X230 for 350 Euros, then an extra battery pack for 200 Euros to extend the battery life from 4 hours to 16, then I'd get extra RAM and an SSD and land somewhere around 800 - 1000 Euros. I'd have a small and good machine that would be overkill for

  • Find a MacBook Air on ebay used for cheap.

    They have been around for a long time, have Intel processors, can boot Linux.

    Repairs are easy, and replacement parts are easy to find.

    • Airs always rate low on repairability, 90% of the 11in form were sold with only 4gigs and usually a small ssd, which has a proprietary connector, newer models even use Apple's pentalobe screws (which are ridiculously small and easy to strip).

      On top of that, battery life is atrocious is Linux and you have to fix a resume problem.

      • I've stuck pin stock over those screws with superglue and then dissolved them back off with acetone. Before you glue it, bend a right angle crook to get some leverage for turning. Not, perhaps, as good as a real pentalobe driver, but then again I guess it couldn't strip the head if it had to.

        • Pentalobe Drivers are like $3 on Ebay, but you REALLY want to spend the the money on a Wiha, which fits far more precise. I also recommend a brand new set of screws as well, not only because they are pre-threadlocked, but also you will probably damage one getting it out. And that's just to get inside, it only gets worse inside.

          Sadly, Ipads and Surface tablets are worse... Never again.

      • Airs always rate low on repairability, 90% of the 11in form were sold with only 4gigs and usually a small ssd, which has a proprietary connector, newer models even use Apple's pentalobe screws (which are ridiculously small and easy to strip).

        Yes, the pentalobes are a pain in the ass, but only when you first encounter them. Anyone who regularly goes inside computers has a multi-driver set with Phillips, Allen (hex), Torx, pentalobe, trilobe, square, security Torx, and flat. (Did I miss any?)

        I fixed-up my girl's MacBook Air with a bigger SSD. Easy-peasy. Also stuck in a micro-CF card with a case-flush outer bezel for a scratch HD.

        RE RAM, many Macs have been found to support more than in the official specs. Go to Other World Computing* [macsales.com], and y

  • Thinkpad 11e
  • Sometimes called the Princeton, NP300 or just 300.
    11.6in screen, 3rd gen Core I3, 8gigs ram, 2.5 pounds, standard 2.5in drive (easy to add SSD) same form factor as old netbooks. Battery life could be better, but still a fantastic little machine. Not always easy to find, but the last one I saw on Ebay went for well under $100, you could add an ssd and 8gigs and still be under $200.

    Takes to Linux, Windows or even Mac well.

  • I bought a Lenovo S21e about a year ago. A few hours with the Windows sales and merchandising festival of tricks wore me out. For the conversion to Ubuntu Linux I wound up getting a USB 3.0 port extender with an ethernet socket and three USB 3.0 ports, plus a 128 Gig micro SD card. I did a more or less conventional install of the latest Ubuntu Linux, I believe from a 2 Gig USB flash drive with the computer attached to the Internet by way of the external ethernet connection provided by the port extender dev

  • Is quite good running Linux Mint.

    About $120 on Ebay

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