Conflict Free Computing 2016 Laptop Buyers Guide
Info
Some corporations fund human rights abuses to obtain essential minerals. While no company is perfect, many are working to improve their practices. This guide tries to make the right choice simple.
Method
Every computer listed here has at least one report of someone online running Linux as well as at least one HDMI and USB ports. I've tried to slim down the list of excellent developer laptops by their maker's conflict mineral policies rather than shoehorn possibly great machines into preexisting conflict-free manufacturers.
I have bought Thinkpads, but at this point the issues with the newest Lenovo P & T lines, as well as the long-standing conflict-mineral, Superfish and Chinese BIOS backdoor privacy scandal, as well as generally shitty machines.
The details presented here are based on the details of the highest-priced model that is less than $3000 within each family. Most of these machines can be priced lower than $1100 if you don't want or need some of their more expensive capabilities.
Each of these is from a manufacturer that is has demonstrated a good faith, proactive stance on stopping the illegal coltan and wolframite trade.
Macbook Pro
The Macbook Pro is well-regarded by many developers, designers and engineers. I have omitted it from this guide because of substantial usability concerns that have emerged in response to their latest Macbook Pro product announcement.
If you are considering a MBP in spite of this, Apple has done a considerable work in the past 5 years to rehabilitate their foundries and factories labor practices and are well-regarded in their policies and has actively pressured smelters to abandon conflict-derived mineral sources.
NVidia vs AMD?
If you are on the fence between these manufacturers, I'd recommend AMD.
AMD is a world-leader and a founder of the Public-Private Alliance for Responsible Mineral Trade. NVidia's status is less clear, but does not have any notable violations and is a US company that should be compliant with Dodd-Frank.
Dell XPS 13 9550
Developer Reviews
I have xps 9550 FHD with 512GB SSD and 16GB RAM. I installed Ubuntu gnome 16.10. Everything worked out if the box. I even played steam games on Linux (like firewatch).
– vasilakisfil
I have xps 9550 FHD with 512GB SSD and 16GB RAM. I installed Ubuntu gnome 16.10. Everything worked out if the box. I even played steam games on Linux (like firewatch).
Details
- Price
- $1,149.99
- CPU
- 6th Generation Intel® Core™ i5-6300HQ
- Clock
- 3.2Ghz
- Cores
- 4
- Cache
- 6MB
- Memory
- 8GB 2133MHz DDR4 (1x8)
- Slots
- 2 SODIMM slots
- Disk
- 256GB PCIe Solid State Drive (M.2)
- Drive Bays
- 1 M.2 Slot
- Display
- 15.6” 4K Ultra HD (3840 x 2160)
- GPU
- NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 960M with 2GB GDDR5
- CUDA
- Yes
- Cores
- 640
- Memory Bandwidth
- 80GB/sec
- OpenGL
- 4.5
- Linux
- Out-of-the-box. Manufacturer Supported.
- Servicability
- Standard (No Soldered RAM/HDD, Torx Screws)
- Tenkeyless
- NOG
- Weight
- 4 lbs
- UEFI & Shell
- Yes
- Ports
- 1 Thunderbolt 3
- 2 USB 3.0 / 1 USB 3.1
- HDMI
- SD card slot
HP ZBook 17 G3 Mobile Workstation
Ok, here's the honest truth. I haven't found very much about these guys HN, cat-v or freenode.
Developer Reviews
Ok, I'll put in a word for the HP ZBook Studio. You can have i7 quad-core, dual 1 TB SSD, 32 GBytes RAM (maybe more), backlit keyboard, thin(ish) form factor, and a fantastic 3840 x 2160 screen. Graphics are NVidia M1000M which is desktop class and runs CineBench 11(?) OpenGL test at 93 fps (faster than my NVidia GTX 970). This is by FAR the nicest and thinnest portable workstation-class laptop I've ever used. It's easily carryable-around, which is more than I can say for any previous laptop such as the larger Dell Precisions, HP Elitebooks I've previously used in this class.
– watmough
Not sure on the battery life, but check out the HP ZBook G3. We have the G2 at work and it's quite nice. It's got a lot of horsepower and I can go 4-6 hours on battery.
– greggyb
Details
- Price
- $2,799.00
- CPU
- Intel® Core™ i7-6700HQ
- Clock
- 3.5Ghz
- Cores
- 4
- Cache
- 6 MB
- Memory
- 16 GB DDR4-2133 SDRAM (1 X 16 GB)
- Slots
- 4 SODIMM slots
- Disk
- 512 GB PCIe SSD
- Drive Bays
- 2 M.2 slots & 2 2.5”
- Display
- 17.3" diagonal FHD Touch UWVA IPS LED-backlit (1920 x 1080)
- GPU
NVIDIA® Quadro® M3000M (4 GB dedicated GDDR5)
HP also services an alternative: the AMD FirePro™ W6150M configuration exists
- CUDA
- Yes
- Cores
- 1024
- Memory Bandwidth
- 160GB/s
- OpenGL
- 4.5
- Linux
- Manufacturer Supported
- Servicability
- Standard (No Soldered RAM/HDD or Major Components)
- Tenkeyless
- No
- Weight
- 6.2 Lbs
- UEFI & Shell
- Yes
- Ports
- 2 Thunderbolt 3
- 1 USB 3.0 (charging)
- 2 USB 3.0
- 3 USB 3.0
- HDMI
- VGA
Acer TravelMate P6 (658/648)
Developer Reviews
As for me the only decent laptops on the market are HP Spectre x360 (second generation, recently updated, comes with Kaby Lake) and Acer TravelMate P648. Unfortunately not the Dell XPS laptops due to the widely known coil whine problem and in general a quality control issue.
– vladimir-y
Details
- Price
- $2,799.00
- CPU
- Intel® Core™ i7-6500U
- Clock
- 2.5Ghz
- Cores
- 2
- Cache
- 4 MB
- Memory
- 8 GB DDR4-2133 SDRAM (1 X 8 GB)
- Disk
- 256 GB SATA
- Display
- 15.6" LCD (1920x1080)
- GPU
- NVIDIA® GeForce® 940M (Up to 2GB)
- CUDA
- Yes
- Cores
- 384
- Memory Bandwidth
- 16GB/s
- OpenGL
- 4.5
- Linux
- Reports of Successful Out-Of-Box Install
- Servicability
- ???
- Tenkeyless
- No
- Weight
- 4.6 Lbs
- UEFI & Shell
- Yes
- Ports
- 1 Thunderbolt 3
- 3 USB 3.0
- HDMI
- VGA