I’ve been running Fedora on an XPS 15 7590 for several years now, but just recently the ssd started being not found at boot. While I’m trying to get it working again I just don’t trust it any more so I’m currently looking over my options. I’ll add some more details of the situation in the spoiler below.
ssd issue details
The ssd appears to have died overnight after I believe the laptop overheated. While it is not recognized during boot no matter what I have tried it does show up when I boot to a live usb after I switched the bios settings to ahci from raid which it was apparently on by default.
Oddly, testdisk and other diagnostics that I’ve been able to run claim it is in perfect health. I am thus currently uncertain if the issue is in fact with the ssd or if it is somewhere along the line in the connection to the ssd. This is relevant because it would make replacing the ssd pointless, but I don’t know how to troubleshoot any further to figure it out at this point. Advice would be welcome on this front too.
My questions are:
a) Is it more sensible to simply buy a replacement ssd and hope that solves the problem despite the worries/doubts I have expressed in the above details, or do I accept that computer prices are never coming down again and I might as well suck it up and buy a new laptop now since they’re only ever going to get more expensive.
b) If I am to buy a new laptop now, what should that be? My budget is relatively tight at the moment, but a laptop is a valuable tool that will get much use and is worth investing in. I use one mostly for basic web dev work and light gaming, and media consumption. I have been looking primarily at Framework and System76 options but am open to other suggestion if people have them. I’ll add more details on my thoughts below.
laptop thoughts details
Framework: I understand that the ceo has gotten some flak and that they have given funding to some projects led by unpleasant people. I don’t like that, but I find myself doubtful that any other major laptop companies hands are all that more clean and I’ve got to buy from somewhere. I do also quite like their modularity and upgradability/reparability which could help me avoid a situation like this in the future.
System76: I like what I know of them and even if they aren’t necessarily the most price competitive I do respect that they’ve been a player in pushing linux hardware for some time now and I wouldn’t mind rewarding that. I’m not that interested in PopOS though.
Tuxedo Computer: I also like what I know of them (little as that is) but the shipping from Germany to Canada is killer. That said, I haven’t looked into the current import fees from the states with the ongoing trade bullshit so maybe it comes out in the wash a bit more than I think.
Dell XPS: While it’s done well by me for the most part there are a few gripes I’ve had with my current laptop and I’m not sure if I want to go back to that same well.
Thinkpads: So many damn models I’m a bit lost. I know some people love them though.
That’s all I’ve got in mind but I’d love to hear about any other options people know about that I should consider.
Thanks for any advice!
The Framework 12 is the cheapest out of the bunch, and it recently got a chip bump to the Core 300 series (so better battery life, which is nice!). If you are alright with the awful screen (which is like 60 to 70% sRGB, the reds will look orange), the rest of the laptop seems awesome (reasonable performance, good battery life, repairable, colourful, 2-in-1, fingerprint reader that supports Linux).
The next step up would be the Framework 13 Pro and the System76 Lemur Pro, both of which are new Panther Lake laptops with excellent graphics performance and battery life. The FW13 Pro uses LPCAMM2 memory while System76 has 32GB soldered (though, both have replaceable SSD). The Framework will also have their bits of an upgradeable mainboard, modular ports, DIY edition to build yourself, etc. The FW can ship with no OS (for the DIY kit), Fedora (for kit FW12), or Ubuntu (for kit FW13 Pro), while System76 ships their devices with either Pop!OS or Ubuntu. You can install any OS you would like on either machine by yourself.
If you need a dGPU, you need to look at the Framework 16 and the various large System76 devices (they have a lot of them!). You’ll sacrifice battery life for both of them in comparison to their Panther Lake siblings, but the dGPU could be important for your workflow.
Due to the memory crisis, you might want to opt out of purchasing an SSD with the laptop and get an aftermarket one for cheaper.