[hack_edu]

The most important thing he can do is railroad through a Nexus-style Ubuntu exemplar hardware platform. All you need is one or two devices.

I'd pay 25% over a comparable Apple for a real Ubuntu-Debian laptop with Apple-quality build and a real software-hardware pairing. I'm tired of flimsy setups from a weekend configuration tutorial hack job or Dell's XPS empty gesture.

[StavrosK]

I hate to recommend this, but my Macbook Air runs Ubuntu pretty much perfectly, and pretty much out of the box.

[hpaavola]

So does Asus Zenbook Prime and many models from Lenovo. I have Zenbook and it's almost perfect. Minor touchpad issues, ambien light sensor does not work and screen is always at max bright after reboot, that's about it. The problem of course is that this is fairly expensive machine and people won't tolerate those quirks when enough money is involved.

[hack_edu]

almost

I have a ZenBook too as my primary Ubuntu machine. It's almost good enough. I also suffer all the points you list, each of which are 100% dealbreakers and perfect examples of how almost it is yet no one goes the extra mile. A little bit of effort/sway from Canonical would go a long way.

[oinksoft]

As they say, "God is in the details."

[kapilvt]

then buy certified hardware. thinkpads work great. or go pre-install with system76 or zareason.. the new system76 (clevo shell) 14.1 pro looks pretty sweet (quad core, 16gb ram, half the price of a macbook pro, ubuntu preinstalled) https://www.system76.com/laptops/model/galu1

[hack_edu]

pretty much

[vacri]

Thinkpads. Thinkpads have good build quality - they pass more military toughness tests than 'toughbooks' do, and they're generally 'just work' when it comes to linux (sometimes you'll need a broadcom driver or similar if you're using Debian)

[hack_edu]

generally... and I hate to be that guy, but Thinkpads build quality has really suffered of late; plastic is not a way to go. And, 'military-grade' or 'passed all one-hundred and whatever tests used to certify for the US Army' are well-known marketing gimmicks used out of context.

[ctb_mg]

Recently bought a thinkpad (Christmas 2012). I didn't encounter any marketing specific to military grade/army use. Perhaps it's different now.

Some plastics are very durable, and the type that comes with the thinkpad is not the cheapo dell plastic. Regardless the plastic shell isn't designed to provide structural strength in the first place. The inner frame is the core strength of the thinkpad; magnesium or some kind of metal (I forget exactly).

Please provide links for your claims of suffered build quality... if only for my sake to perhaps look at other laptop manufacturers.