Laptop for a living. pure CPU, Linux, desktop replacement

[relleums]

Dearest forum,

 

I use a fully maxed out Lenovo T440p for my work and want to replace it now. I only do CPU workloads. No games. There will only be terminals on my screen. I was wondering if you are aware of a machine that ticks most of my boxes.

 

- Price up to 2700 USD (must be available in Europe)

- Excellent keyboard

- Dimensions from 15.6 up to 17 inches, chassis does not need to be slim

- Weight up to 3kg

- 100Wh battery

- 2560 x 1440 resolution

- no touchscreen

- Linux decent driver support (If such thing exists)

- Only Intel GPU (I had so many trouble with nvidia and my specific Linux) If a dedicated GPU can be truly switched off this would also be fine.

- 512GB SSD

- RAM starting at 16GB, no need for ECC

- CPU cooling for at least 45W 24/7 load (4+ core CPUs are fine, I prefer clock-speed over core-count)

- 1GB RJ45 Ethernet port __in_the_back__

- power connector __in_the_back__

 

I was looking for Dell's precision line (7540, 7740) comes really close except for the screen resolution. Also Dell's Alienware M17 comes really close except for the nvidia GPU, and I am not sure about Linux support.

I started with Dell, because they advertise Linux support. Any suggestions? Any product that comes to your mind?

 

Cheers

Sebastian

 

 

[Firewrath9]

Why not 4K?

[Kallahan11]

Look into Purism or System 76 laptops. they come with Linux so no MS tax, and they have tested drivers for their video cards if they have them.

[relleums]

18 hours ago, Kallahan11 said:

Look into Purism or System 76 laptops. they come with Linux so no MS tax, and they have tested drivers for their video cards if they have them.

Thanks! I did not know those. Will have a look.

[relleums]

18 hours ago, Firewrath9 said:

Why not 4K?

On my desktop I already tested a 28" 4K monitor 4 years ago. But scaling of text did not work well with all my programs. I went back to 1920x1080 for now. On the desktop, I should give it another try with maybe a 32"+ monitor. Software might have improved by now. But on a 17" notebook, I am not sure yet if I can take the risk of bad/non existing scaling for some menu text. I mean when scaling works, it is great. Most command line terminals are good at scaling, and the improvements for reading text are real good. I just thought that 2560x1440 might be a good compromise until I realized that those are not so common anymore in 2019.