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Self employed and expecting to work from home on and off. Will need to be able to use a variety of remote software including but not exclusively logmein and awayfrommydesk. Won't have time to try out etc and will get little if any IT support I expect so thinking I'll get a Windows laptop with i5 and 8GB RAM. I can either get a solid one of those/standard screen etc which would be cheaper. Or get one I can dual boot with Linux (don't mind which flavour but preferably as easy to try a few as possible), with nicer FHD screen, 13-14 inch screen, lightish and runs cool enough for lap use. The latter would seem less wasteful as I could use it longer term. Used as I'm aiming for <£500. I'm used to running in the cloud so 128GB SSD would be fine as minimum. I'm newish to Linux.
I've done some reading but could spend weeks on this before deciding... so any suggestions welcome...out the box ability to run Linux ideally....I don't mind a bit of fetling but not too much. I've looked at Dell stuff (Inspiron/Latitude/older xps), Lenovo (Thinkpad, X2** series, older X1 carbon), and older HP Elite (eg G2) but am now stuck in indecision!
See this thread from yesterday:
https://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/apologies-what-laptop-spec-home-schooling/
... as for Linux, hardware compatibility has come a long way in recent years, it's not the trauma it once was.
What are you using Linux for? If it's just occasional use you can install Linux into Windows these days and just fire bash from the command line rather than the faff of dual booting. I can give you more details if this might be of interest.
Thanks .. I don't use Windows at all other than work, and that's just to run the primary care software (TPP in this case). So I've no interest in using it at home. Except from what I can see its either Windows or Mac OS for the remote software (I couldn't find what awayfrommydesk system requirements are though so I'm assuming safest / cheapest option is Windows) As I'll need to run eg TPP on the other side I've heard that 8GB RAM is really necessary (rather than the 1-2 it states on logmein). Hence the Windows side is just to ensure I can secure access.
I'm using GalliumOS on an Asus c302 chromebook as my main driver now (for 6 months) and like it (ex Mac user) so figure if I'm going to shell out for a laptop it may as well run Linux when its not being used for remote working....
Ah right, fair enough.
Checked that thread thanks. Anyone have any other seller recommendations for refurbs?
Not used them myself, but this lot seem to be kicking out half-decent hardware at sensible prices.
https://www.bargainhardware.co.uk/
I'm a Linux fan boy but on my laptop still use Windows but I have Linux subsystem installed and also several Linux virtual machines. This works well for me. If you can stretch the budget go for a laptop that will taken 16gb ram even of it's not installed.