[wellylug] Linux laptop for software development

[ian at karearea.gen.nz]

I've had a X1 Gen 5 I spent a bit of time testing (following on from work having some from each the previous generations), and it performs quite well and is lined up as our next standard laptop.

I was initially worried about the USB-C dock and dual external displays, but that appears to be unfounded. Downside to the X1 has been the inability to upgrade RAM, which is why we went to the T550 (now the T570) for our power users or those that wanted a larger screen.

Haven't tested the T470, but based on my experience with the Thinkpad range I would be comfortable saying that it should 'just work'.

I would be wary of the machines that flip about and turn into tablets etc.

Silicon Systems has been good working between us and Lenovo to make sure we can get our laptops without the legacy software people normally get laptops with.



On 4 July 2017 11:22:49 AM NZST, Matt Betts <matt at publons.com> wrote:
>Hi,
>
>I'm looking for some advice on purchasing linux compatible laptops for
>software development. Our team currently use a mix of desktops and mac
>books. Our desktops work well but are not portable and virtualisation
>on
>osx is too slow compared to a native linux (Ubuntu 16.04) setup for
>running
>containers.
>
>We've been looking at the ThinkPad T470. If anyone is running linux on
>this
>machine I'm interested in your experience. Especially around running
>duel
>monitors using USBC and any audio, webcam, fan, heat, sleep issues. If
>anyone has other recommendations our requirements are 16gb ram, good
>webcams (for video conferencing), 14 inch, FHD screens and a SSD.
>
>Matt