Nilesh Patra dijo [Thu, Oct 31, 2024 at 02:58:02PM +0530]:
> Hi,
>
> I’m planning to buy a new laptop soon.
> The ThinkPad X1 Carbon was my top choice, but unfortunately, the Lenovo
> discount for DDs isn’t available in India yet.
>
> Without any discount, it’s quite pricey, and I realized I could get
> a MacBook for much less. It seems like a fun hardware option to try out.
> I plan to run Debian on it ofcourse, but I'm uncertain if using
> Asahi as my daily driver is a good idea.
If you want to get your hands on an ARM laptop, you should consider the Lenovo
Yoga C630. Yes, it's not anymore for sale, but I haven't found it difficult to
locate used. It was produced in 2019, and since I got mine in 2021, it is my
main laptop. I find it quite responsive, unlike those belonging to the
"chromebook" market segment.
I searched a bit for them on Ebay, and found several items starting at ≈US$200.
Hardware support was much spottier when I bought mine, but it has gradually
improved. With Linux kernel 6.11, I built my kernel completely from the upstream
source tree, with no external patches; I haven't tried booting the regular
Debian kernel, but should try that soon. I only keep an older (5.19) kernel
available, as it is the only one I have that supports an external HDMI display
over USB-C (the patch was rejected upstream 🙁). I understand that with 6.11
audio finally works, but I haven't been able to use it.
Suspend and hibernate work correctly. Network connectivity, perfectly. I get
~10hr of continuous use without needing to recharge (I often let the power brick
in the dorm during DebConf). The keyboard is not the best I've seen, but given
the low profile of the laptop, it's the best I would expect. The trackpad is
quite good, and the screen is just lovely. And working on a ~1.3Kg computer with
zero moving parts, not even a tiny fan... is just beautiful!
There are some other laptops with similar specs and level of support. If I
understand correctly, the Lenovo Flex 5G came out just after this model,
upgrading the CPU (from Snapdragon 855 to 8CX) and WLAN connectivity.
I have found most useful the work of the "AArch64 Laptops" group in GitHub. I
first installed my laptop with their fork of the debian-cdimage:
https://github.com/aarch64-laptops/debian-cdimage
I also became a regular at the #aarch64-laptops channel at OFTC. Lots of good
knowledge came from it.
Hope this is useful to you!
