[EN] Mac Hardware????

[eriefisher]

I'm on the hunt for a new to me laptop. I have come across a few Mac books and Mac Book pros. I have never used any Apple hardware so I was wondering if anyone here does??? Anything to look for or avoid? Anything that won't work? Does it even work at all with Siduction/Debian/Linux? This is new ground for me.

I have found a HP Elitebook 8470P as well and may just go for it. I've had really good luck in the past with HP hardware.

[axt]

Do you want to buy a new or very old notebook?

Ivy Bridge have been built-in to the HP EliteBook 8470p - Intel Core i Gen 3, released in 2012. You can still use something like that, but you don't buy it anymore.

[eriefisher]

This particular HP is an i7@2.3GHZ with 8gig of ram. Should be a reasonable laptop for what I need. I'm not a power user at all.

[axt]

Macs are building with ARM-based CPUs for years. (AS = Apple Silicon, M1, M2,...). This is a completely different architecture than x64.

Operating systems are written for a specific architecture. Linux also runs on ARM. But it's not just the CPU alone.

The Asahi project tries to make Linux run on AS. But without support from Apple - and there never will be - Asahi is still very far from normal use.

[axt]

This particular HP is an i7@2.3GHZ

3rd generation Core i, ancient.

There was already a noticeable push with gen4 (Haswell). Even more so with gen6 (Skylake). The other generations up to and including gen11 (Tiger Lake) are based on this, always with further boosts.

The 13th generation (Raptor Lake) is currently available for purchase. That separates galaxies.

i7 alone only says something within a generation, a CPU clock alone nothing.

Should be a reasonable laptop for what I need. I'm not a power user at all.

Then why are you asking about Macs?

[eriefisher]

Then why are you asking about Macs?

Just because a few came up on a search locally. I have since found the HP but have not heard back from the seller.

[axt]

Then the Macs listed there are probably also used and probably Intel-based. But you should have said that.

A 10 years old HP notebook...You don't buy that. Consider, electronics are aging! E.g. electrolytic capacitors (mainboard!), look at the picture on the right side! Displays become dull and distorted, HDDs have to be replaced (to SSD, of course), batteries are dead anyway.

[dibl]

...
I've had really good luck in the past with HP hardware.

That's my experience also, both computers and printers.

Here's a thought, based on my own history. We're not far from Black Friday here in the U.S. Back in 2014, on Black Friday, I found an HP notebook on sale at Newegg.com for about half the normal price, and bought it. That notebook lasted 9 years of daily use, and finally died last year. You might find a new one for not much more than your used hardware, with a warranty.

[fams]

You can run Linux on any Intel Mac with having not more compatibility issues than you may have with another (PC-) Laptop.
I have on old MacPro 3.1 under my desk, just for fun and I love the design. That means hardware design, too. It runs any Linux and Windows very well.
Apple designs pretty beautiful hardware that normall lasts long, as well as using much better (resolution wise) displays as most PC hardware. There are reasons why prices for used Apple Hardware are that high, it is not just a hype.
If you buy older PC Hardware, you should stay with the professional lines, these are build with durability in mind.
I have an Thinkpad Z60m here, that runs XP with old measurement hardware still perfect and looking as new. It's heavy like a brick according todays standards, too.
 

[ReinerS]

@eriefisher:
I am a happy user of an HP Elitebook 8470p. Recently upgraded it to 16GB RAM and a (used) i7-3840QM.
Runs fine.
As an alternative suggestion:
I had recently some experience with an HP ZBook 15 G3/G4. Those seem actually coming out of leasing contracts and might be available to good prices. Maybe it is worth to take a look on those models, they seem still pretty robust.
The one I examined for a friend was an ZBook 15 G3 with an I7-6820HQ-2,7GHz, 32GB RAM, 512GB SSD, Full HD display.
The cost for this device was €320 from a reseller and came with 1-year warranty.

Tested it with an actual siduction live-iso from USB-Stick.

Only problem I encountered was afterward with an extra (second, it is possible to have 2 M2 NVME SSDs and an 2,5" SSD build in) 1TB SSD/SED M2 Drive (self-encrypting (?)) that we added. It was not accessible at all from Linux, but I had not much time to examine that deeply and would have probably to install some extra packages for such a drive. The build in SSD worked well.

regards

Reiner

[eriefisher]

Thank you for all the information everyone.