➡ The video discusses the increasing lack of privacy in operating systems like Windows, Mac OS, and Google System Safety Core, which now have AI companions that monitor user activity. The only exception is Linux, which doesn’t participate in this AI companion experiment. The video aims to guide viewers on how to transition to Linux, starting with choosing compatible devices within a budget range of $200 to $2,000. It also addresses common fears about using Linux and assures viewers that it’s as easy to use as Windows, just a bit different.
➡ This text discusses the best laptops for Linux users, focusing on Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 5, Dell XPS 13, and Asus Zenbook 14. It also mentions Linux-only computers like System 76, Star Labs, and Tuxedo, but advises against Purism due to outdated models. The text also suggests considering other Lenovo and Dell models, as well as Framework and MSI for those who prefer gaming computers. However, it warns against buying cheap, low-performance laptops, suggesting instead to invest in high-end used units.
➡ Mini PCs for desktops are still popular due to their simplicity and Linux compatibility. However, not all manufacturers support Linux, including HP and Microsoft Surface. When buying a computer, consider its performance, age, and price. Older computers can still function well for standard activities like watching movies or web browsing, but newer machines are needed for more advanced features like AI or video editing. Lastly, join the Braxme community for more privacy-related discussions and products.

You’ve heard me state it already over and over, so I won’t spend a lot of time rehashing it. I’ve given you warnings over a year ago. I said to you that the time is coming when the only chance for privacy is if you move over to Linux. Well, that time is here now. Just recently Windows got updated and finally the full effect of Windows Copilot is here. From now on, your AI companion is always watching your device. It’s Microsoft’s touted see what you see and hear what you hear technology screenshots every few seconds and AI interpreting what you do on screen and storing all this historically, if you think you’re safe because you’re on Mac os, think again.

Apple has been doing client side scanning for many years now and very soon Apple Intelligence will have the same features as Windows Copilot. Google introduced the Google System Safety Core early this year, so that is also the basis of see what you see today technology. So now it is built into all operating systems with the exception of Linux. So Linux is the only choice where we don’t participate in this AI companion experiment. In this video I will start the series which will guide you to moving to the Linux environment. What I will introduce to you here is how you can get started on Linux starting from a low budget and it isn’t as daunting as you think.

First of all, we will focus on which devices can run Linux and run with the least amount of complications, and I will introduce you to computers from a cost of $200 to $2,000. These will be modern devices that will give you a modern experience. Next, these devices I will recommend will all support Linux with no complications out of the box or the acronym I will use is OOB out of the box. So you install it and it should run without any complex driver installations. In upcoming videos, I will then discuss some of the common fears and pitfalls people think they will encounter when using Linux.

Then I will also get into how to properly set up a Linux computer for easiest daily use. Believe it or not, it is no more difficult than using Windows. It’s just a little different, but not that different. So let’s start learning the pieces to this. First, let’s choose the device. Stay right there. What devices will work? What’s different from my advice versus others on this is that I have owned the majority of devices I’m discussing here and many of them are still used in my office. So I’ve had personal experience installing Linux on these. As I stated, my goal here is to avoid complications where your Linux install doesn’t work straight from the beginning or O.O.B.

remember that acronym. To avoid having a negative experience, I will recommend only units that are already proven to be complete completely compatible with Linux, and this is the first reason. I’m not suggesting you try Linux on some very old computer you have unless it’s one of the models stated here. Next, all the recommendations I’m making and sticking to a price range of 200 to 2000 will give you a modern computing experience anyway. Remember the goal the more compatible a device is, the less headaches we will have. Most off the top recommendations are premium thin and light laptops, which were very expensive when new but still perform well even after being purchased used, and they are built sturdier than cheap computers in general.

Older computers typically have Linux compatibility, but we want devices with a premium feel too, so you enjoy the experience. The typical computers compatible with Linux are those running intel and AMD CPUs. While old Intel MacBooks from 2012 fit into this category, those devices are too old to recommend, so don’t buy those unless you already have one. In general, don’t look for any Apple devices like M1 to M4 to run Linux. While those models support one distro Asahi Linux, it is not 100% compatible, so best to avoid that. Another area to avoid are the new Qualcomm Snapdragon x Elite Copilot PCs.

This was heavily promoted last year, but Qualcomm dropped the ball on Linux development, so to this day these devices are not compatible. Move on. Intel and amd computers from 10 years ago and newer are good choices but but generally speaking, AMD is not highly visible in the laptop market. They’re more common on desktops, so we will focus on setting a standard of a desired device using intel measures and you can search for AMD equivalents if they exist. One other thing to consider is that when running Windows, if your newish device seems slow, you might discover that a five year old model will be snappy as a new one if you change it to Linux.

Linux is faster and has a lot less overhead than Windows, so there’s no need to think of five years as the end of life of a computer. Intel Chips the Intel naming convention changed in the last two years. Prior to 2024, the intel family of CPUs for laptops had the moniker Intel Core i7 or i5 and then a series number. The last of this batch was in 2023 with the chip Intel Core i7 14000X series, so it started out from i7 1000 to 14000, the first digits indicating the generation, so the last was generation 14 of Intel Core.

In my experience Intel Core i7 6000 series is still quite functional and that is the oldest I would recommend that’s the reference we will use for the older models. Just to give you a rough timeline, Intel Core 6th generation was 10 years ago. The newer chips have the new naming convention. Last year it was Intel Core Ultra 7 or 5.1XXH Series or Series 1. This was also known as Meteor Lake chips. Then the current model is the Intel Core Ultra 7 or 5.2XXH Series 2 or known as the Lunar Lake chips. The biggest difference between the Intel Core Ultra chips of the last two years versus prior models is not the CPU speed.

Instead the issue is having the ability to do AI locally. So these newer models have an NPU or Neural processing unit and can run Windows Copilot. Then the latest Lunar Lake chips have the added benefit of having low power draws while improving the AI and the internal GPU performance. I just purchased a brand new laptop with Lunar Lake and for the first time I’m able to do video editing on a thin and light laptop using battery power. It is not necessarily more powerful than before. In fact I have a computer from last year which has an Intel Core 14th Gen i7 with an Nvidia 4060 and it is more powerful than the newest intel chip.

But the difference of course is that I can do most of what the old computer can do on a thin and light laptop. AI use As I said, the main benefit of the last two years of intel chips is the support of AI. While many of you who follow this channel are likely anti AI, I’m a big user of AI, but the issue is that I need to run AI locally and have control over it. This is in contrast to the AI companion where someone else is running it and forcing you to use it in their way as well as being spyware.

So what I teach you is that you should use AI locally and I encourage you to use it as long as it is under your control, like using Ollama to run some local LLM. Also, many apps now have AI functionality like Zoom using background Blur, video editing, apps that do noise reduction on audio, photo editing, apps that can manipulate the objects in a photo and so on a computer with AI capability. Future proofs you so your device can run for many years to come. On the other hand, if you’re just starting on Linux and don’t want to invest the money yet, then the AI Capability will not exist on prior intel chip models or they will not perform well with AI.

But then again, the price will be good. Remember, our starting price point is 200, which after accounting for the cost of a new SSD drive is like saying the computer is practically free and you will be able to do what you normally do on the computer that doesn’t require intensive CPU GPU power like video editing, gaming or AI. Recommended Computers I will focus my recommendations on just three specific models of computers. These particular models have proven Linux compatibility and part of the reason for this is that the companies that made them made a choice to support Linux, so they’re trouble free because of it.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon the first recommendation, and this is in order of preference for me, is the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon. In case you didn’t know, the X1 Carbon is the most expensive business focused laptop and big corporations buy this in volume. They’re usually offered in two year leases, so after two years a big dump of this occurs in the marketplace so they become readily available. This is premium, in fact the most premium laptop made for business. I just bought one and if I bought it when it first came out it would have cost close to $3,000.

Now that new models are about to come out, I was able to get one cheaper. But the point is that this is top of the line. If you buy one that’s five years old today, you will just match its performance with one of those cheap laptops for 500 bucks. Given the choice, you’re better off buying a better built used Lenovo ThinkPad than some cheap low CPU new compute. Consider a model from the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 5 which uses an intel i7 6th Gen chip. That’s a 200 price range and you can shoot for a better unit based on your budget.

It stops being a bargain under two years old at that point might as well buy the best new and then on sale. This computer is thin and light. These are typically around 2 pounds in weight and made of carbon fiber and magnesium, so it’s super lightweight weight and very well made. Very easy to upgrade too. By the way, I own a 5th gen X1 carbon and a brand new 13 gen, so I can assure you that the old one is still quite useful. I’ll give performance comparisons later. Number 2 Dell XPS 13 the Dell XPS 13 is one of the standard bearers of the thin and light category.

This type of laptop is typically high end when new and the XPS 13 is very well made I also currently still have an XPS 13 with an Intel 10th generation CPU on it, so it’s around six years old. It still runs fine and regular computing tasks will still run well on it. Although it is highly rated, it is still not as good as the Lenovo, but if you like the styling this is a good choice. The only problem with the XPS 13 is that the newer models deviated and for this reason I would not recommend this new.

For one the newest models are not 100% Linux compatible anymore so Dell loosened up on that next the way the keyboard is designed is more along the failed Apple approaches like no function keys and a strange keyboard layout. And again a reminder not to buy the Snapdragon X Elite models of this from last year and this year. So highly recommended for use especially three years old or older and the prices of these are good in this age. Number 3 Asus Zenbook 14 Asus is another maker of premium thin and light laptops and this is the last recommended brand.

One of the standout features of Asus is that they even have a dedicated place for Linux support issues so they take Linux support seriously. The ASUS Zenbook 14 was highly promoted this past year because it was the first to support the Snapdragon X Elite chip, but that design of the unit was very high end CNC’d aluminum, stiff, nice design and high performance but at a more reasonable price than Lenovo. While Lenovo X1 Carbon hovers near 3,000 new, the Asus ZenBook 14 can be found new near $1,200 and used. Of course they would be much cheaper. However the Zenbook model was only a premium model in recent years, so I don’t know if five year old models would be good.

This is a model that’s best as a target for a new computer or if you find it used from a year ago but unlikely. So this is the better bang for the buck than Lenovo and it is only slightly less premium in quality than Lenovo. But I was actively looking at this. I could have purchased one Linux only models There are manufactured some computers that sell only Linux computers. While these are mostly the same as a production intel or amd, these are usually using older chips, maybe a generation or two older and are typically more expensive due to their low volume.

The advantage of a Linux computer is that you don’t have to learn to install Linux. It already has Linux out of the box oob so that’s a timesaver if you don’t know how to install things, but generally speaking they’re not the best as a high end selection. Here are the choices and I have personal experience with one of these. Number one system 76 system 76 is one of the most popular models in the Linux world and they have some reasonably priced models again maybe a year or so behind in the CPU generation. System 76 also has a privacy and security focus so they’re also focused on the BIOS and using open source elements whenever possible.

System 76 is also the creator of the POP OS Linux Distro which I use myself, so I appreciate that. POP OS runs very well and I use it on my Dell XPS 13. Number two Star Labs Star Labs is a UK company and I owned a Star Labs unit some years back. This company is known for making less expensive Linux models cheaper than system 76. My unit broke once and Star Labs replaced the broken part for me, which is nice considering they’re in the UK and it was done quickly in spite of the distance later on the hinges completely broke on the screen and I didn’t bother getting it fixed.

Again, not the source for high end performance models and so no AI capable versions. Number three Tuxedo I’ve known of Tuxedo for a few years and it is a German company. However, because it is in Germany it is not the best option for my followers who are mostly in North America, but if you’re in the EU this is definitely something to consider. Same as Star Labs, they will tend to focus on CPU chips that are a couple of years old so not a high performance source. Number four Brax Tablet Very soon we’ll be starting a crowdfunding project for a Brax linux tablet on indiegogo.com this is intended to be a high powered ARM tablet running Linux natively and with a keyboard can run as a laptop.

Watch out for this in October 2025. Not recommended in the Linux group. The one that I don’t recommend is Purism. Their models are very old which is probably due to lackluster sales and lack of funds or bulk. I still have a Librum 5 phone here from them gathering dust and unusable even after its high price. The company has a bit of a sketchy reputation over the years, so we’ll leave it at that. Other Models Lenovo Though I introduced you to the Lenovo Think 1×1 carbon, there are actually several models that are very Linux compatible. My other computer from last year is a Lenovo Legion 5 with Intel 14th gen and Nvidia 4060.

This computer is faster than the new X1 carbon. However, it is very heavy and hot and it’s also expensive. So if you’re not averse to weight and are okay with a desktop replacement, then consider the entire Lenovo Legion line with the Nvidia car. They are good for AI. Other excellent Lenovo models to search for in the used market are the Lenovo P1, Lenovo T14, Lenovo X9. Just don’t go too far back to the Trusty old Lenovo T430s and T460s tanks, but too old. Now set a limit of Intel Core Gen 6. Lenovo in general will be Linux compatible throughout its business line.

Not true of all other manufacturers. Dell in the Dell line the other models to consider are the entire XPS series including the XPS 15, but again avoid the very new ones as their design is not good and I have an XPS 15. The XPS 15s came with Nvidia so these are still powerful. The Dell Latitude line is also made for business though heavier and not as sturdy. But these are Linux compatible. The consumer Dell models which is everything else is not recommended. These tend to be in plasticky cases that will tend to break and will have lower CPU performance.

These would typically be sold cheap to begin with. Don’t go for this, buy a high end used unit instead. Framework Framework is made popular by YouTuber Linus Tech tips the Framework line allows you to build a custom unit yourself to whatever specs you want using a modular design. It is not cheap but in theory you don’t have to upgrade the unit and are future proofing yourself since next time you just by the component and you reassemble it yourself. So this is an assemble your own computer format. I see that mostly these use AMD chips and there’s a choice for Nvidia cards.

Performance will not be an issue but it is not thin and light, it will be heavy and you will have to install Linux. But AMD is Linux compatible. I have never tried one so no personal experience unless Framework wants to send me one. MSI MSI makes high powered gaming computers and typically they are big and heavy, but the units are typically metal so they make good desktop replacements. They are not very portable. They are Linux compatible though and I know this because I have two MSI computers myself. In both of the units we have Nvidia cards so they’re still going to perform even after many years.

In general gaming computers have the Power nuc. The Intel NUC format of a mini PC has now grown into lots of Chinese manufacturers and intel itself has left this segment but the main simplicity of a mini PC for desktop is still active because these have no user interfaces, no keyboards, displays, touch devices, hard drives, and so on. They are very Linux compatible. I use Nux for Brax routers and I have several of these myself. Brax routers run Ubuntu so clearly that’s very compatible. You can buy NUCs with close to the latest CPU so they can be an option instead of a used computer.

If you’re okay with with a desktop unit not recommended, here are the manufacturers I do not recommend for Linux. First is hp. While HP makes very nice computers and I’ve used many HP’s in the past, they are not Linux compatible so they are gathering dust over here. HP doesn’t put a priority to supporting Linux, so I have no priority to supporting an HP product. Don’t buy Microsoft Surface is one of the worst choices. Obviously Microsoft has no interest in giving help to Linux, so the Surface device, even old ones, are full of Linux incompatibilities with proprietary devices and drivers that are not sent to the Linux ecosystem.

So don’t think of buying any of these. Some other manufacturers like Acer, Samsung, LG cater to the consumer market and are not known for Linux support, so I would stay away from these and other brands I didn’t mention that don’t have a stated Linux support policy. Performance Comparisons the question many of you will ask is how these recommendations will show themselves in real life. And to highlight this I will perform a benchmark test using speedometer 3.1 from browser bench. This compares browser performance for each computer. Some browsers do better than others, but I’ll try to be consistent and just use Chrome for all all.

I will show you the results on a Lenovo X1 Carbon 5th generation i7 6000 series CPU which is 10 years old. Then a Dell XPS 13i5 10th generation series CPU which is 6 years old and a Lenovo Legion 5 with Intel Core 14,000 CPU and Nvidia 4060 which is 1 year old. A Lenovo X1 Carbon Gen 13 Intel Core Ultra Series Lunar Lake brand new. What do you think? I know seeing raw numbers may not mean much to you, but in reality you will see that even the oldest computer is no more than 1/3 as fast as a brand new one.

So it just tripled in speed in 10 years. That is not a big deal. Year over year improvements have been minuscule in spite of what these companies tell us. Let’s look at ebay. Finally, now that I’ve given you an idea of what kinds of computers to look at. Let’s look at what we find on ebay. If you search for Lenovo X1 carbon you will see that what I said is correct. You will find units as low as 200, which means if they upgraded the hard drive, some of these are actually free but the quality is still there because the choices I’m giving you are based on the better machines.

Now let’s look at the Dell XPS 13 and you will see a lot of choices. But what’s interesting is the number of units that are in the newer CPU category, like Intel 10th gen and higher, but are still cheap. These are definitely very modern processors. Still, if you can afford it though, the Lenovo’s are a bit more sturdy in my opinion. The next one I want to show you are the ASUS Zenbook 14s. These are not as widely available in the older models because there’s no corporate lease source to flood the market. Frankly I wouldn’t classify Asus in the premium laptop category until recently.

So this would be a choice if you want a fairly new model and really the best bang for the buck if you’re buying looking for a brand new one. So there figure out how much you want to spend and even $200 can still give you a nice unit. You can even splurge to the 350 level and get an amazing number of choices. Unless you’re buying new with AI capabilities, you don’t want to spend more than Summary in summary, if you’re not interested in AI or apps needing AI for standard computer activity like watch movies, videos, word processing, web browsing and so on, you can have a nicely functioning machine for 200 to $300 and you can probably even upgrade the SSD very easily.

If you’re interested in fancier features like AI or video editing or gaming, then obviously you need one of the newest machines like the ones using Intel Lunar Lake. Either that or you find some slightly older gaming machines that are still going to be very powerful though very heavy. In the next videos we’ll delve into installing Linux itself and showing you the common pitfalls so you don’t have any fear of Linux. Linux isn’t any more difficult than Windows, it is just slightly different. It’s not that much different, but it is private and that’s a very important requirement.

Folks, thank you for watching my videos. As many of you know, this channel does not have sponsors and we primarily sustain ourselves by just creating products and services that we use to defend our privacy posture. I’d like to invite you to visit our community site Braxme, which has a growing community of privacy enthusiasts. There are people from various walks of life and beliefs and they converge together in the mutual support of privacy issues. We have a store there with products ranging from the Brax virtual phone service, BraxMail, BytesVPN, and other services like flashing and OS. All these are tools used by the privacy aware and and you can even talk to the actual users of the products directly.

Join us. We’d love to have you there and you don’t even have to identify yourself to be part of the community. The very successful Brax 3 phone is also available for pre order on its second batch. The first batch has been sold out. Information about that is on braxtech.net thanks also to those who donate to us on patreon locals and YouTube memberships. You are all appreciated. See you next time.
[tr:tra].

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