Hello tribe, I am looking for laptop essentially to run Linux (and going forward, I would like to dedicate one partition for toying around with Armbian/FreeBSD while keeping one partition for dev work). As of now, due to restrictions related to pandemic, I am just thinking of ordering online within India. I am looking for i7 processor however i5 would also be fine. Which brand and config would you recommend? Thanks in advance!

I really love the LG Gram. It's fantastic because of it's portability, features, IO, upgradability, price point, and mega battery life. I still get atleast 16 hours on a full charge on my 2019 model.

Budget? Thinkpads and Dell laptops are good for installing Linux and getting things working out of the box in most cases since they work with non-Windows OS vendors (Ubuntu in most cases) in other markets. So my suggestion would be to shortlist a few models that you like and then google up their Linux support.

I had a similar need, and ended up buying Asus ROG Strix (I5, 8Gb). I'm not a gamer, but there were other merits. Now I'm having a mixed experience, and lot of it has to do with the Nvidia graphics card. I had also shortlisted some HP/Dell laptops, but the next one I buy will probably be a System76 laptop.

Thanks @echoing-sugar-95154 will check that out! seems like a good option! @helpful-gigabyte-47939 thanks for the input. My budget is upto 100k - looking for a lightweight stuff. @icy-animal-10265 Thanks! about System76, I was earlier asked to check. I dont know whether it woudl be advisable to order at this point in time - at least for few more months.

You can install System76's PopOS on any laptop for better compatibility with NVidia drivers