I've spent a lot of time thinking about this lately. My next machine will be a Purism Librem, I think. But I've been a life-long fan of ThinkPads. I currently have a W550s, an X250, and an X1 Carbon. Cannot recommend enough.
The main reasons for replacing the X220 tablet:
- weight - I'd like to get something under 1.5kg, the lower the better
and there are plenty of models between 1.0 and 1.2kg these days.
- screen resolution - the 768 pixel screen height is troublesome for
some applications
X270 will solve this nicely. So will the X1 Carbon. I have two machines with "HiDPI" (the W and the X1 Carbon) and it's very well supported by both GNOME and KDE.
- battery - it is not like new any more
The X270 has a replaceable second battery, so you can carry around as many as you need.
Looking around, though, if I choose a current model laptop (Lenovo or otherwise) it appears there is something of a minefield:
- am I going to run into Secure Boot issues? I've met other people at
events recently who had new laptops and were struggling to get into the BIOS and disable Secure Boot.
I haven't had any issues with this.
- Windows included - can anybody give any tips on how to buy without
paying the Windows tax?
- dongles - many of them favor dongles/expansion ports these days, some
of these dongles only work with the PSU, will the total weight with PSU and dongle really be less than my current laptop?
The X1 Carbon comes with an ethernet dongle, and that's annoying.
Are there any specific models that anybody would recommend in the ultraportable form-factor (e.g. under i7, 16GB or more, 1.5kg, 12.5" - 14", suitable for use on small spaces such as on trains and airplanes)?
If I wasn't nearly certain my next machine would be a Librem, I'd be getting an X270.
Has anybody tried the 2017 models of the X1 Carbon or X270 with any Linux distribution?
I have more than one colleague with X1 Carbon from 2017 (on is an X1 Yoga), and one with an X270. Both claim that support is great. I don't know which distributions they run, but I suspect Ubuntu.
Good luck!
-Steven
Regards,
Daniel _______________________________________________ Discussion mailing list Discussion@lists.fsfe.org https://lists.fsfe.org/mailman/listinfo/discussion