Which recent tablet/notebook convertible PCs run Ubuntu 14.04 LTS flawlessly?

I’m an Ubuntu newbie, and I’m interested in acquiring a tablet/notebook convertible PC that will run Ubuntu 14.04 LTS without lots of hardware incompatibility and driver tweaking hassles.

In researching my options, I notice that there is a section of the official Ubuntu website called...

Ubuntu Desktop certified hardware

» http://www.ubuntu.com/certification/desktop/

...that uses the hardware categories ‘Desktops’ and ‘Laptops’. I note that search terms such as ‘Tablet’, ‘Convertible’, and ‘Hybrid’ return no results there.

Although the ‘Ubuntu Desktop certified hardware’ introduction page says, “Each new release of Ubuntu brings exciting new hardware to Ubuntu users. Take a look at Certified hardware by release,” the only release for which it contains data is Ubuntu 12.04 LTS. While it covers older convertibles, such as the Dell Latitude XT3 (release date: April 2012)...

“The Dell Latitude XT3 laptop with the components described below has been awarded the status of Certified for Ubuntu.

Releases: Ubuntu 12.04 LTS 32-bit.

Certification: This system was tested using the Ubuntu 12.04 LTS Beta 2 image”

» http://www.ubuntu.com/certification/hardware/201104-7784/

...it doesn’t seem to cover more recent convertibles, such as the Acer Aspire R7-572 (release date: November 2013 – only Acer model covered: Acer Aspire One, release date: July 2008), or indeed more recent versions of the OS, such as Ubuntu 14.04 LTS Trusty Tahr. So on first impressions, the ‘Ubuntu Desktop certified hardware’ section seems to be about two years out of date, which prompts me to ask two questions.

  1. Are there plans to bring the ‘Ubuntu Desktop certified hardware’ section of the official Ubuntu website up to date?
  2. Are there more up-to-date Ubuntu-related resources online for gauging which recent tablet/notebook convertible PCs run Ubuntu 14.04 LTS flawlessly?

Solution 1:

Note that not all the compatible laptop/desktop are displayed in "Ubuntu Desktop certified hardware" the lists of components are very long, so you could choose a laptop/desktop by your budget an check if all its components are compatible with ubuntu. You can browse here to check compatibility. Hope this help.

Solution 2:

Testimonial. I'm using a Lenovo Yoga Pro 2 which I have had for about a month. I love it. It is running Ubuntu 14.10 just fine. There is always tweaking. The kernel didn't want to turn on the WiFi in 14.04 and some other things but 14.10 was fixed and works out of the box.

The first thing you will have to do is some dancing around the synaptics touchpad to adjust the settings which I found by googling. syndaemon -i 1 -K -R -d brings the "disable while typing" back to life (bug in Ubuntu configuration). synclient MinSpeed=0.4 and synclient MaxSpeed=0.9 slows the mouse down to usable levels. synclient FingerLow=50 and synclient FingerHigh=55 raises the pressure threshold so the slightest brush doesn't fling the arrow across the screen.

The extreme display resolution has issues with all devices of this type but Ubuntu is getting better and I have found workarounds. The easiest way to handle this is System Settings > Displays > Resolution > 1920 x 1080 (16:9).

I'm using full resolution to do this response which is more involved but you can figure it out. You can scale Ubuntu at Settings > Displays > scale for menu and title bars > set to 1.38 which was best for me. This makes the tool bars and menus readable.

All the similar units to mine will require touchpad and resolution tweaking so you can expect that. Hope this is helpful if you are still tracking this thread.