[orca-list] A good laptop for linux

[Cory Samaha <csamaha86 gmail com>]

Hello,

I am not sure if this is considered off topic. If so, please flog me with a stick or something. :) I began 
playing with Linux again about a month ago. I only had my Mac computer with virtualization software. It 
became apparent to me that if I wanted to start getting serious about learning and regularly using Linux that 
I would probably need something better than just virtualization software. I tried to resurrect my mom’s old 
Windows 7 laptop for this purpose and wanted to install Debian Mate. Unfortunately, this didn’t bring me much 
luck, as it wouldn’t recognize the wifi adapter. In Windows device manager there are about four network 
adapters that seem to refer to wifi - an intel centrino adapter, intel wimax adapter and some Microsoft Wifi 
adapter bridge. Yes, you can probably tell that this computer is quite old. Of course the Cintrino line from 
Intel has been discontinued, and I doubt a linux driver ever existed anyway. In any case, I didn’t know if 
anyone had some suggestions for a good laptop. All I really need is for the hardware, including sound and 
networking to work properly. Seems like System76 is a popular Linux computer brand. I have also heard of 
Purism, a company that takes privacy into consideration which I appreciate. Of course, I could just go with a 
regular Dell or HP setup and hope everything works. I know at least Dell has a configuration that they 
advertise works with Linux. Basically I want to be able to run something like Debian, and occasionally boot 
into Tails. I’m not sure if anyone has any thoughts. As I said, if this is off topic I do apologize in 
advance. But, I would appreciate any contributions if anyone has them. Thank you so much in advance.

Kind Regards,
Cory