New laptop - Windows Free.

TheSkints

Hi guys. It's been a while.

Finally my laptop has conked out beyond repair so it's time to buy a new one so I am looking for recommendations.

The thing is I want to get away from Windows and try a new OS (Possibly Linux). Does anyone know if it's better to buy a 'clean' laptop with no OS or buy one with Windows pre-installed and then wipe over it with Linux (or another OS).

I have heard various things that you can never truly get rid of Windows as it lurks in the bios (or something).

Regarding cost, I thought it might be cheaper to buy a non OS laptop - but perhaps not (due to it's niche).

As an old schooler I do not do much streaming (apart from Youtube) - so need a laptop with some decent memory storage as I plan to transfer my library from my old HD.

I had to update my previous laptop a couple of times so I wouldn't want anything less than 16gb of RAM and then the memory to be at 1TB if possible (certainly 512 minimum) SSD or a combination of the two. I mainly just watch movies and listen to music . . . so decent graphics and sound card a must. 

Lastly, can anyone foresee any problems with trying a new OS? I will be a beginner at that.

I have read that certain makes of laptop can be a real PITA and not that compatible with Linux etc.

Also is there any better place to buy online rather than Amazon? (Though I guess Amazon is good as you can usually send things back within a month if you have any problems).

Hope this doesn't all sound too waffley. Cheers.

Vitor

Laptops that come with Windows pre-installed have the license key embedded in the BIOS/UEFI firmware so you could say you're paying a small Microsoft 'tax' for that. However, if you decide to use Windows and don't have the embedded key, you'll be forking out for a full retail license (or buying a £10 'special' off t'Bay).

You can buy 'bare bones' laptops with Linux as the only installed OS, these machine have been selected to have the chipsets for WiFi, GPU, Bluetooth etc. which have most support in Linux distros, that said you seem to pay more for less! Buy a Linux Laptop? Preïnstalled with Linux | Laptopwithlinux.com

Of course you can always install Linux to replace Windows, dual-boot, live-boot Linux off a USB or run under a VM  - The 5 Best Laptops for Linux—I Install It on Every Laptop I Test | WIRED

- can anyone foresee any problems with trying a new OS? I will be a beginner at that. - Best bet is to look at some Youtube videos of creating a bootable Linux off a USB. That's non-destructive and will give you a taster of Ubuntu etc.

Eyeful

1. The two Linux operating systems (called distros), for beginners are (a) Linux Mint (b) Zorin. These two will look similar to Windows.

2. I am writing this on a computer that is over 7 years old has BIOS. It is dual boot running both Windows 10 and Linux Mint. 

3.  A friend bought a new Windows computer with UEFI instead of BIOS, they are finding loading Linux Mint on to it a problem.

4. Have you thought about buying a cheap second hand Windows computer (with BIOS) and loading a Linux distro onto it?

5. You can buy computers with Linux pre-installed from "The Linux Shop" or from "Entroware".

6. Chromebooks have a Linux operating systems.

Peter999_2

Linux Mint works fine on UEFI bios, not sure what problem your friend has come across.  I've installed it on quite a few devices with UEFI without issue.       

Personally, if I was you, I would buy a second hand Lenovo Thinkpad laptop.   They are business machines and very well made - I realised a few years ago that new PCs were a waste of money and I've bought second hand thinkpads for years - usually replace them every 3 years with a newer model.  Fortunately I don't ever play games on laptops so that makes it a lot easier.

I'm currently on a X13 Gen 1 Touchscreen with 16GB RAM that I bought a couple of months ago on Ebay for £150 which is great and feels practically brand new.     I have put loads of different types of Linux on and they all work fine (it's a UEFI bios) and Lenovo heavily support linux providing drivers etc.

Obviously my daily driver on it is Windows as linux is jut not in the same league as Windows.  Though every server I run has linux with no gui and it's so lightweight and great for servers.   On the client side, not so much.

outtatune

This is one of the few situations where I would not recommend buying a refurbished Lenovo.

Their screens are made to display emails and Excel workbooks and Powerpoint presentations. Their customers aren't interested in watching movies as the OP says is their use case, so they simply don't have the contrast, brightness and so on to make it a pleasant experience.

RavingMad

The BIOS has nothing to do with the operating system (apart from which drive/partition to boot from) and I'm not aware of any Windows key being embedded in the bios either

Put thoughts of bios out of your head when you're making decisions about purchasing your next computer

As an "old schooler", why are you wanting to get away from Windows? What does Linux offer?

prowla

RavingMad said:

The BIOS has nothing to do with the operating system (apart from which drive/partition to boot from) and I'm not aware of any Windows key being embedded in the bios either

Put thoughts of bios out of your head when you're making decisions about purchasing your next computer

As an "old schooler", why are you wanting to get away from Windows? What does Linux offer?

Windows 10 and 11 do indeed embed the key in the BIOS.

RavingMad

prowla said:

RavingMad said:

The BIOS has nothing to do with the operating system (apart from which drive/partition to boot from) and I'm not aware of any Windows key being embedded in the bios either

Put thoughts of bios out of your head when you're making decisions about purchasing your next computer

As an "old schooler", why are you wanting to get away from Windows? What does Linux offer?

Windows 10 and 11 do indeed embed the key in the BIOS.

Ah fair play. Just had a quick read up. Replaces the actual Windows stickers that were attached to computers back in the day. Surprising seeing as MS do everything digitally these days 

Still, it's only a key to the version of windows that's preinstalled at time of purchase. Shouldn't be a barrier to any decisions on what to buy?

Eyeful

RavingMad said:

As an "old schooler", why are you wanting to get away from Windows? What does Linux offer?

Linux offers:
1. More privacy than Window 10 or Windows 11..
2. Being able to decide if and when I install updates.
3. Not having Copilot forced upon on me.
4. Not having what I am doing on my computer being sent back to HQ every few seconds.
5. Faster loading times for my 7 year old computer. 

sheenas

You could away buy an apple or chrome based system as being the only really viable alternatives IMHO. The issue is your are simply changing from Microsoft to another company i.e. Apple or Google. I have used Linux for over 30 years for various projects and wasted much of my time installing alternative to windows products. If its simply email and browsing then maybe a chrome book, but if that was the case why have a laptop in the first place? 

prowla

sheenas said:

You could away buy an apple or chrome based system as being the only really viable alternatives IMHO. The issue is your are simply changing from Microsoft to another company i.e. Apple or Google. I have used Linux for over 30 years for various projects and wasted much of my time installing alternative to windows products. If its simply email and browsing then maybe a chrome book, but if that was the case why have a laptop in the first place? 

My main PC (which I am using now) is running Linux and it is no more intensive to configure and use that MacOS and Windows.

However, you do implicitly make a good point, ie. are there any specific applications you need to run?

• Most OS's have adequate email & web browsing apps.
• Most OS's have office tools (word processor, spreadsheet), but if you specifically need MS Word and Excel (and no others are 100% compatible, not even MS Office on a Mac), then you need Windows.
• Paint & drawing tools?
• etc.

If you do have oddments you need, then you can use "virtual machines" to run a self-contained computer in a dedicated window.

• I have one running Microsoft Office on Windows 7 and another on Windows 10.
• I even have one running Windows XP, for compatibility with a couple of old pieces of hardware

Of course, that could be meandering into techie-land, but the point is that running legacy applications need not be a ball and chain.