Hi,
I might need to give away my Surface Pro 7 soon, and I’m considering what laptop to buy next. For a MS laptop, the surface behaved rather well on linux. Well, if it wasn’t for the cameras, which never worked. I’m now wondering which laptop has good hardware support, that would be kinda like a surface, a 2-in-1 laptop. As in, detachable keyboard, that can operate in tablet mode and then once you attach the keyboard you have a full laptop. But with full Linux/cameras/everything support?
Does such thing exist? Thanks!
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Framework recently announced a 2 in 1 laptop the Framework 12. That might be something for you.
I might need it earlier than announced stage. However it’s really interesting to hear they’re also working on this format. I’ll wait to see further news about this, depending on how soon I need my surface replaced.
Edit: aw, the keyboard isn’t detachable on this one :(
I’d say this over the V3 except all this tarrif nonsense has really messed with everything. Ordering now means you won’t even get one til next year, and that’s just on paper. Who knows when it will really be able to be shipped.
Minisforum V3
I bought it because it was the only one of the few 2-in-1 / convertibles that has the option to come with 32GB RAM and doesn’t have the on/off key in the corner of the normal keyboard, which I fucking hate. The price is also great, but especially so when you catch it at a discount. It is quite a high end device though.
I run arch on it and it runs well. Needed some manual fixes at the beginning which can be found at: https://github.com/mudkipme/awesome-minisforum-v3
I never heard of this one and it looks amazing (if a bit on the chunkier side). Do cameras work ok? Any hardware that doesn’t work ok Linux?
Both cameras work for me. Fingerprint sensor works.
You can click through the different probes here https://linux-hardware.org/?view=computers&type=tablet&vendor=Micro+Computer+(HK)+Tech+Limited to see exactly what works and what doesn’t on different distros at different times. At a quick glance it looks like mostly everything is working.
Great that’s awesome information! I’ll try to figure out the table but it looks really promising.
I recommend the website in general. It is very hard to parse tbh. but once you get used to it, it gives great info about parts and devices and the differences in kernel versions or even distros.
Seems to be sold out currently.
The SE variant is available on amazon.
Can confirm
There is a Thinkpad (x12) that has a detachable keyboard. Thinkpads usually play nice with Linux, but I can’t speak to that model specifically.
Buy a framework and don’t look back.
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For an everyday use laptop/tablet, I’d also like to know. PostmarketOS is a good bet for switching Surfaces to Linux, but not all of the hardware features are working yet.
Lenovo has one that comes to mind. I’ve seen this one at Best Buy that’s a Chromebook and may be a good candidate for Linux upgrade with a detachable keyboard that is very much like the Surface’s. It’s the Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 5. Here’s a screenshot
Decent specs but not the best and okay price, especially compared to the Windows prices.
I’m not too familiar with how compatible this is with Linux, but I have installed Linux on other Chromebooks in the past and ChromeOS is a Linux distro of sorts, so it should work. One reason I’m more into Chromebooks for Linux candidates is that they have USB type C charging standard and they are typically cheaper as brand new machines. The only thing I hate is that they don’t have a caps lock key but that weird search key in place of it.
But might be something to check out.
