Ask HN: What's the Best Linux Laptop? (August 2025)

10 pointsrufugee7mo ago5 comments

Veteran Linux user here. After 10 years on a MacBook (great hardware, deteriorating OS), I’m done. macOS has drifted too far into locked-down mediocrity. I’m selling the Mac and going full Linux again.

Here’s what I need in a laptop, today:

  - Battery life that doesn’t leave me chained to a wall
  - GPU solid enough for running local LLMs and occasional CUDA work
  - Hardware that just works with Linux—no weird ACPI quirks, no sleep/wake drama, no firmware acrobatics

I’ve looked at the Framework 16, and I want to love it—but consistent reports of abysmal battery life are hard to ignore.

I’m not considering Asahi or Apple Silicon for now. Too many headaches with missing packages, broken toolchains, and ARM-specific weirdness. Yes, Linux on Apple hardware is a dream—but it’s not production-grade (yet).

So what’s the pinnacle of Linux laptop hardware in 2025? Let’s say price isn’t the bottleneck—just give me rock-solid compatibility, real-world battery life, and the horsepower to stay productive.

Appreciate any firsthand recommendations, regrets, or curveballs.

5 comments

stncls7mo ago

I don't know about "best", but I'm very happy with my last few Lenovo ThinkPads (X1 carbon, nano, some T-series). Before that, I had some Asus Zenbook, and everything worked as well. All had 4-15hr batteries, more than I expected in their respective eras. I've heard Dell XPS were good too.

There is no black magic. The only trick is checking the amazing Arch Linux wiki [1]. It will tell you everything you need to know, things like avoiding the recent Intel MIPI webcams (Linux support is coming, but count a couple of years for out-of-the-box).

Regarding Desktop Environments, it depends on your taste. I don't enjoy Gnome, but OSX refugees tend to like it. I've used XFCE, LXDE, LXQt, and recently KDE, and I have only good things to say about all. And tiling DE aficionados are spoiled for choice.

Plus, exchanging low-level code with Windows (wsl2) and OSX (largely posix-compatible) has never been easier. The only remaining issue being if you go down to assembly (Aarch64-vs-x86_64), which only crops up if you depend on proprietary applications.

To summarize, the picture is quite good nowadays, has been for a while, and is only improving. Of course, the one problem is closed-source apps. If you rely on one, document yourself on its quirks. Otherwise, Arch Linux wiki for hw support, and you're golden.

[1] https://wiki.archlinux.org

rufugeeOP7mo ago

Thanks! re: desktop environment, I am sooooo excited to get back to i3/sway. Peak desktop experience for me. :)

ankurdhama7mo ago

> I’m done. macOS has drifted too far into locked-down mediocrity

Can you please share few examples that you faced that were related to "locking down" of macOS?

ZYZ647387mo ago

Maybe https://www.tuxedocomputers.com/ is of some interest to you.

brudgers7mo ago

Thinkpad.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IsSpAOD6K8

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