Good Laptop For Zorin 15?

My wife wants to buy a new laptop. She's looking to get a budget-level model, like a Chromebook, but more powerful. I've been scouting brands like Lenovo, HP, Toshiba etc. I will be putting Zorin 15 on it. I have no experience with recent laptops. I've only put Zorin on her old Dell, which uses bios. so no experience with EFI. She needs one with a DVD player so she can watch movies on it. I plan to get one with a SSD, 128 or 256 GB. She will be using it for internet work mostly, so she won't need a huge drive, but she is a packrat, so something mo=re than the paltry 64 GB flash drive is needed.

I have looked at the Zorin computers and it's a possibility, but it doesn't look like it has a DVD player. Maybe could add? The 11" would be fine, and the price is decent. just need the DVD player.

Hi mdiemer,

If you go to the Nova custom website from the link in computers you can configure the notebook to your liking, including an optical drive.

https://configurelaptop.eu/product/clevo-n750wu/

I watche a review of Star Labs on YouTube which was favourable but personally I would go for the Nova custom option - personally I would never go down the SSD route, just for personal preference, and now the Computers are shipping with Ultimate but most of the extra software seems to be geared around Wayland which I absolutely hate with a vengeance and the desktop recorder for Wayland that ships with Ultimate is Pants!

Swarf, I have never used a SSD. Why do you think they're bad? What is your opinion of flash drives? I did get her a 6 GB external drive so she has all kinds of storage space there, so maybe the 64 GB flash would be OK. As for Wayland, I don't even know what it is. As for ultimate, I personally only need core, and that would probably suffice for her as well. but I also wouldn't mind supporting the Zorin team. They have created a great OS with 15 and I want them to succeed with it. I really wish I could make a donation directly. In the past, I have twice purchased Ultimate, but always went back to Core. just wanted to contribute.

ain't nothing wrong with SSD's, my preference is Samsung but there's a lot to choose from and ALL are faster than a Spinner Disk

Hi mdiener,

This guide should hep you - I'm still not sure about TRIM - also whilst spinning discs are slower, should things go wrong it is easier to recover data from an HDD than an SSD as when writing to SSD it has to erase what is there to make space for the new data - on the HDD it is just a marker on the drive that a file has been deleted - but can be recovered!

https://itsfoss.com/upgrading-solid-state-drive-linux/

Also interesting article here:

https://zillowtech.com/best-linux-file- ... r-ssd.html

and from same search:

"Do we still need spinning drives? | [H]ard|Forum
Search domain hardforum.com/threads/do-we-still-need-spinning-drives.1984787/https://hardforum.com/threads/do-we-still-need-spinning-drives.1984787/
as other person pointed out, we usually do use more than the one drive (regardless of HDD or SSD or Hybrid etc) in case something happens, not want to lose everything on said storage medium, so, SSD for OS (the stuff you need at fastest) HDD or other for long term "junk" stuff (or primary for SSD slave for HDD ^.^

I'm not a speed fan, I don't need to have my OS boot instantly.

"All good things come to those that wait!"

Also when you buy a computer with Zorin preinstalled (even Core) you are helping the project.

(Wayland is a Desktop Environment which is about as good as pulse audio and systemd! - you have the option to boot Zorin on Wayland when you click on the cog on the login screen of Zorin 15 - you can then no longer use Synaptic Package Manager - how bad is that?! )

Good info, thanks Swarf.
I still wonder if some laptops are better for Zorin than others. Mainly, with respect to installation. Are some brands tricky? I see threads here where folks are having trouble installing on this or that laptop. Anyone have any thoughts on which are good and which are not in this respect?

mdiemer wrote:Good info, thanks Swarf.
I still wonder if some laptops are better for Zorin than others. Mainly, with respect to installation. Are some brands tricky? I see threads here where folks are having trouble installing on this or that laptop. Anyone have any thoughts on which are good and which are not in this respect?

Lenovo.
Much as I hate Acer... I never had any real issues with installing Zorin on many different Models of Acer.
Acer is a cheaper notebook, which makes them kinda common.
All of them were older, so a brand shiny new Acer may give headaches that the older ones don't.
Frankly, Zorin didn't just breathe new life into them- They work better and faster and leaner than they ever did brand shiny new with Windows installed on them.
By. Far.
Panasonic machines seem pretty good.

From what I have heard (rumors), Dell is often a P.I.T.B. In fact, someone recently commented on this forum about it as well.
I worked for Dell, though, so I always avoid Dell like plague. I only ever used a Dell machine when I got it for free.
I've heard that Asus gives some headaches.

I BY FAR prefer Towers over notebooks. It is a Current Curse that I am using a notebook. A situation I hope to remedy before much longer.

Like I said the custom build of Nova custom - gave link in reply above - there about page is interesting as you see them putting a notebook together.

I live in the states, so I wonder about things like duties and such (dare I bring up tariffs?). The only thing I ever bought from the UK was a music CD many years ago. I got it in two days, which was pretty amazing, considering. Although I do live on the East Coast, just a quick jump across the pond. Then again, they probably sent it from boston or new york. But a computer, that's a different story.

[quote="Aravisian"]

[Lenovo.
Much as I hate Acer... I never had any real issues with installing Zorin on many different Models of Acer.
Acer is a cheaper notebook, which makes them kinda common.
All of them were older, so a brand shiny new Acer may give headaches that the older ones don't.
Frankly, Zorin didn't just breathe new life into them- They work better and faster and leaner than they ever did brand shiny new with Windows installed on them.
By. Far.
Panasonic machines seem pretty good.

From what I have heard (rumors), Dell is often a P.I.T.B.

Thanks, I may go with Lenovo, if I decide against importing from UK.

Why not see what Zareason has to offer:

https://zareason.com/ultralap-6440-i5.html - you can specify that you want Zorin installed.

or even Think Penguin.

https://www.thinkpenguin.com/gnu-linux/ ... nux-laptop


(Star Labs is UK, Nova is Netherlands - I particularly like their 'about' page which has a mini video of them building a notebook.

There is also System76 but I don't think you could specify Zorin - but you could point out that it got a good mention on Forbes!

https://system76.com/laptops/galago

I think I will stay stateside, it will be a lot cheaper, and the wife does not want to spend a lot on this.
Anyone have any thoughts on HP? Both as a brand, and then as a host for Zorin?

This should help you:

https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebook- ... -p/6764479

Thanks. I forgot that HP was good for printer support. I am leaning toward HP now, can get one at Best buy for 300.00 (down from 400.00, so a good deal).

Picked up HP laptop, i3 with 8GB ram. Ran Zorin Core 15 from live USB drive. Had to disable secure boot get it to boot. Only problem was no WiFi. I tried another distro, elementary, and same thing.

My question at this point: Would actually installing it solve this, or will I still have no WiFi, and and have to troubleshoot? I realize the only way to know this for sure is to actually install it, but before doing so I wondered if anyone had any thoughts on this? Unfortunately the machine has no ethernet port, making troubleshooting more difficult.

mdiemer wrote:Picked up HP laptop, i3 with 8GB ram. Ran Zorin Core 15 from live USB drive. Had to disable secure boot get it to boot. Only problem was no WiFi. I tried another distro, elementary, and same thing.

My question at this point: Would actually installing it solve this, or will I still have no WiFi, and and have to troubleshoot? I realize the only way to know this for sure is to actually install it, but before doing so I wondered if anyone had any thoughts on this? Unfortunately the machine has no ethernet port, making troubleshooting more difficult.

Why not purchase an appropriate USB/ethernet adapter from here?:

https://www.thinkpenguin.com/catalog/wi ... g-gnulinux

So the problem is that the computer lacks the hardware? (It connects to Windows fine, but I'm thinking that is irrelevant). I was assuming the problem was drivers. But this is the first computer I've had trouble with WIFI on, so I'm out of my league here. I have also now tried Mint 18, which was based on 16.04. I have seen instructions on the Ubuntu forum to get it working, but it involves a very long terminal session, something I rarely pull off successfully. Apparently there is a problem with the Linux kernel after 16.04. But even Mint 18 was no go, so maybe you are right, it's a matter of hardware.

Can you follow this guide so we know what chipset we are dealing with?

https://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/linux-fin ... r-chipset/

I'll pass for now on that very complicated tutorial re: chipset info. I will see if there's an easier way to get that.
I do know the driver for WIFI: Realtek RTL8821 CE 802 11ac
Also, I have taken a look at the hard rive with Gparted"

sda1: EFI System Partition Fat 32 260 MB 66 used 194 unused "boot. esp"
sda2: ms reserved partition unmknown 16 mb unused (msftres)
sda3: NTFS Windows 181 GB 32 used 85 unused msfdata
sda4: NTFS Windows Recovery Tools 471 MB (hidden)
unallocated: 6 MB

So, if I go ahead and install, how best to approach it? Carve out some space from the Windows partition (the large one)? Or choose the "install alongside of" option?

Good luck:::

For what it's worth, I loaded Zorin on to two laptops, a Pansonic cf-54 and a Lenovo T420..............
and on both........ Internet worked flawlessly............

imho.... you have a hardware problem................. best of luck.

let us know... enquiring minds want to know...

Hi mdiener,

Please take a look here:

https://askubuntu.com/questions/1071299 ... untu-18-04

Yes, and I also asked a question on Ubuntu and got this:

sudo apt-get install --reinstall git dkms build-essential linux-headers-$(uname -r)
git clone https://github.com/tomaspinho/rtl8821ce
cd rtl8821ce
chmod +x dkms-install.sh
chmod +x dkms-remove.sh
sudo ./dkms-install.sh

which looks to be the same thing. They said it should work on Zorin as well. I am just trying to decide at this point whether to install or not. Actually, since this laptop is the wife's, she is the one who needs to decide. Keep it as is, or dual boot. I have already done quite a bit to make Windows 10 less intrusive and obnoxious, while she is deciding. Me, I would have already installed Zorin and wiped out Windows. It's even worse than I thought it would be. For example, it wouldn't allow to install Firefox, unless I configured things so that apps outside of their app store could be installed. To do this, you have have a Microsoft account. Then, when I finally got firefox installed, I kept getting messages like "Are you sure you want to do this? same when I made Firefox default. Are you sure you want to do this? Unbelievable. They are obviously trying to intimidate people and of course most people will fall in line. so they maintain their monopoly. And the gov't does nothing about it.

mdiemer wrote: ... And the gov't does nothing about it.

On the contrary [tongue-in-cheek or :->] (nsawintel!):

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/01/1 ... microsoft/

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/08/09/pentagon_jedi/

Frightening, isn't it?

Hello MDiemer, I would think this would be a really hard answer to give. So many things would be influenced by personal choice. Recently purchased a used Dell Latitude E5530. (would have possibly stayed away if I read this string
prior - mainly because of what Aravisian mentioned, and he knows more than I). I got mine on ebay, $125. Cost played a major factor, along with the fact I like having the number pad on the side of my keyboards. Some people do, some don't. Next time I will look at Lenovo.

So what's the status? You ever get it to work right?

JeffK969 wrote:Hello MDiemer, I would think this would be a really hard answer to give. So many things would be influenced by personal choice.

As well as by personal experience that with a very small data set, convinces a person on a grander scale.
Ask KayDee and she will say "Avoid Lenovo at all costs."
And I have had nothing but smooth sailing on any distro with Acer (Cheap, cheap puters...)

Very good point Aravisian, yet again.. You're full of them. I tended to stay away from them, mainly just due to them taking over Gateway, who had some issues. But in retro spec, my old Gateway DX4200 runs pretty darn good with Mint XFCE on it. I'll have to rethink for next time....

JeffK969 wrote:Very good point Aravisian, yet again.. You're full of them. I tended to stay away from them, mainly just due to them taking over Gateway, who had some issues. But in retro spec, my old Gateway DX4200 runs pretty darn good with Mint XFCE on it. I'll have to rethink for next time....

Yes, it is like asking around, "What kind of car should I buy?"

Needless to say, I would respond with "1958 Chevy."

Some people would disagree because it lacks power windows. And blinky lights that tell you when someone is in your blind spot.
And I would say they are crazy and too dependent on the machine to think for them and take their responsibility from them.
And they would call me a luddite.

Then I would punch them in the snoot and break their face and leave them to bleed on the ground. You know, opinions.

We had a yellow 57 Chevy when I was a kid, I can still see it...a real classical beauty.

To answer Jeff, I put installation of Zorin on hold until the wife tells me to ditch Windows 10, which I predict will happen eventually. Maybe by then the wireless issue will have been solved, although I doubt it, since it appears to be a HP thing rather than a Zorin thing. But Swarf had a good tip, which I also saw on the Ubuntu forum, so I think there's a decent chance I will be able to make it work. But getting stalled on the live USB run was enough to put it on hold for now. She's calling the shots on this one, it's her laptop and I'm not about to take the blame for messing it up. not until she tells me to.

Smart man..... Sounds like a man who has a battle scar or two....lol