Question about buying a compatible laptop

Hey everyone, As I mentioned in some previous threads of mine, I had a HP 15S-FQ5916NV with intel i5 and intel iris xe graphics and I encountered many problems like screen tearing blurry apps, crambled audio and severe slowdown like 16gb ram didn't exist

If I move to a HP 15s eq2017nv Laptop 15.6″ IPS with Ryzen 5 5500U and amd radeon gpu

Will I continue to have the same problems?
And what are the specs you recomended for a fully working compatible linux experience

Im asking because screen tearing will go away with amd, but Im not sure if the slowness and crambled audio is a hardware issue. Basically I realized it doesnt happen only on AC but also when my laptop gets a small taste of pressure like playing mini games, or toggling mic real fast or even just being on a discord tab for no reason at all as well as sometimes when I log in to gnome

A member in a previous thread gave me this link Laptop sound get garbled when ac adapter plug is in - HP Community
which didnt help much. I also read that its because the cpu may be underpowered or even throttle badly
Never the less, would buying a new laptop fix theese issues?

Thanks

Guarantees about compatibility with Linux can only be provided by the manufacturer. You will find that plenty of people have used their laptops from popular manufacturers without any issues, just like you'll find many others that have, as in your case for example.

If you want to be sure there are no problems, I'd suggest looking into a manufacturer that focuses on Linux, or specific devices that are clearly advertised as being fully capable of running Linux out of the box.

You can find some good recommendations here:

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@zenzen
Well, unfortunately here in my country most brands like hp, lenovo, asus, dell are basically built for windows.. Worst part? Most support at HP couldnt help me because they had pretty minimal knowledge about linux and when I tried asking a store stuff member, he had basically no knowledge about linux... A good choice would be a lenovo thinkpad to order online but as a cs student I cannot afford a 1000 euros laptop, and ofcorse its difficult to make a second mistake as I already paid around 530 euros for a laptop that had all of that maufunction discribed above

Other options posted on this thread like clevo, or starbook are not available in my country

Do you think my problem with audio and slowness is hardware based?
Do you think just switching to a simular ryzen model:
HP 15s eq2017nv Laptop 15.6″ IPS with Ryzen 5 5500U
Would fix it? Or its some problem that hp has and I should look for something else?

That's the same everywhere. These companies don't have an incentive to invest money into supporting an operating system that has a small user base, thus not enough customers. Sometimes, they might even take steps to make it more difficult for you to install a different OS, including voiding your warranty...

Lenovo and Dell both have released in the past some models where Linux support was advertised out of the box; with those, you can be sure they'll work fine and you can demand support from the company. I'm not sure if they still do offer them, however.

Again, only the manufacturer can say for sure. Maybe it'll fix some issues, but also come with new ones. I've personally used Zorin OS on an HP without problems, so it's really just a matter of luck for the most part.

If you can, take advantage of the return policy if there is one in your country. You might be able to test the computer for a few days and return it if something doesn't work, with a full refund.

Yea... I asked the stuff and they said that because I installed linux I couldn't return it, nor I could take my money back so it is basically a difficult situation...They told me that because I installed linux, my warranty is rendered usless. But they still accept to make fixes that don't have to do with linux
Mine basically came with bitlocker on the ssd and Installing linux was a pain

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Anywas thanks @zenzen for the advice. I will see what I can do

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You could buy a refurbished business Thinkpad or Dell which is a few years old. I have had good experiences with it.

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I would buy a 45 year old mule before I bought a brand new Lenovo.

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Depending on what you use your laptop for, don't rule out the possibility of simply using Windows for that. At the end of the day, computers are tools and you need to be able to use them. If you keep running into issues and have limited options for getting them fixed, or replacing the computer... just use it as intended. You can sleep well knowing that you've tried :+1:

But you should definitely try second hand markets as well. You probably won't find the latest hardware but it's an excellent way of getting computers for much cheaper than brand new ones.

@zenzen
I basically want to use it for university and software development

That last post from @Aravisian made me look back and remember that HP does have a laptop made for Linux:

It says it's sold out... but reach out to them in case they're planning on releasing something similar soon.

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Why? That doesn't make sense to me. Why should Linux installed be a Reason for not returning it?

@Ponce-De-Leon I dont really know...And they didnt even mention clearly that os change will void warinty...I didnt know that when I got it

Maybe they have mention this in a really long document that no regular user has time to read. But I think such stuff should be mentioned clearly at some part of the screen before you click buy

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That is what the companies take clear advantage of! However, based on my experience, I'd still recommend a ThinkPad, even a second-hand buy, cuz those are awesome. I had a T series ThinkPad and the only issue it had after 4-5 years was a display issue, that too like an year after dropping it from shoulder level onto the tiled floor. That too without any cracks on its rugged plastic body. I didn't get to try Linux on it tho, but it worked excellently on Windows.

Plus, I won't recommend Dell, at all. I've used a $700-800 Latitude and a mid range Dell Inspiron laptop, and both of them heat up EXTREMELY TERRIBLY. Dell does not think about their thermals, even for high priced products. But, the Latitude provided a lot of things, especially the design was flawless, the ports were pretty sufficient. Just the heat was unbearable, sometimes it wouldn't go to sleep mode and would be kept on and heat up within my backpack.

I also have a 7 year old Lenovo IdeaPad 330, still works, no excessive heating, no thermal paste replacement. The body is low quality as expected from like a ~$300 laptop. Currently I don't have the Latitude and the ThinkPad, but it was worth knowing how it worked :grin: