The Breaking Point: When My ThinkBook Finally Snapped (And So Did I)

The Linux Laptop Quest: One Man’s Search for a Daily Driver That Won’t Betray Him — Part 1

There’s a moment in every tech person’s life when their laptop does something so profoundly stupid that it forces a full existential reset. For me, that moment came courtesy of my ThinkBook 16 G6 ABP — a machine that, on paper, should have been a dependable workhorse, but in reality behaved like it was auditioning for a role in a cyberpunk horror film.

If you’ve never had your laptop wake from sleep by detonating a full‑screen flashbang, congratulations. You’re living a better life than I was. Mine would snap awake like it had just been kicked, blast my retinas with a white‑hot supernova, and then occasionally freeze for good measure. It was like owning a laptop that wanted to keep me humble.

After the third or fourth “surprise flashbang,” I realized something important:
I can’t live like this anymore.

And just like that, the Linux laptop hunt began.

Why I Didn’t Just Buy a Desktop and Call It a Day

In a different universe — one where I have a dedicated office, a door that closes, and maybe a plant I haven’t killed — I’d absolutely buy a desktop. A big one. With a tower that glows like a spaceship and fans that sound like a jet engine.

But that’s not my universe.

We live in a modest home. Not cramped, but not “let me dedicate a corner of the living room to a permanent workstation” either. Every surface in our house has a job already, and none of those jobs are “hold Chris’ giant PC tower.”

Plus, portability matters. I teach. I write. I run multiple websites. I troubleshoot tech for a household of seven. And a few times a year, we hitch up the camper and head out — sometimes boondocking, sometimes crossing entire time zones, sometimes just trying to find a quiet place where no one asks me where their shoes are.

A desktop can’t do that.
A laptop can.

So the mission was clear:
Find a Linux‑friendly laptop that fits my life, my space, and my budget.

The Budget Reality Check

Let’s talk money.

I’m trying to stay under $500. Not because I enjoy suffering, but because I’m a teacher, a parent, and a person who would like to buy groceries this month.

Could I stretch the budget? Sure.
Should I? Probably not.
Will I? Only if a laptop promises to solve all my problems and maybe also cook dinner.

So the $500 ceiling stays.

The OnePlus Pad: My Outdoor Sidekick

Before we go any further, I should mention the device that keeps me sane: my OnePlus Pad.

This thing is my outdoor companion. It’s my stylus notebook, my sketchpad, my “I’m sitting outside and don’t want to risk my laptop on this wobbly picnic table” device. It handles bright sunlight like a champ, and it’s so light I sometimes forget it’s in my bag.

Because of the OnePlus Pad, my laptop doesn’t have to be an outdoor warrior. It just needs to be comfortable indoors, reliable on Linux, and powerful enough for teaching, writing, and editing.

That clarity helped narrow the field.

The ThinkBook’s Final Betrayal

Back to the ThinkBook.

It wasn’t always bad. In the beginning, it was fine — not great, not terrible, just fine. But Linux compatibility is a fickle beast, and the ThinkBook decided to express itself through chaos.

It wasn’t just the suspend brightness bug. It was a touchpad that locked up, causing pages to zoom in and out wildly. It was kernel crashes. It was wake ups that froze.

I tried everything. Kernels. Distros. Tweaks. BIOS updates. Ritual sacrifices.
Nothing helped.

Eventually, I had to admit the truth:
This laptop is not my friend.

And so the search began.

The First Big Question: What Size Laptop Do I Actually Need?

Before I could even look at brands or specs, I had to answer the most basic question:
14 inches or 16 inches?

This sounds simple. It is not simple.

To settle it, I did something very scientific: I compared my ThinkBook 16 G6 ABP to my school‑issued 14″ 16:10 Asus Chromebook. Same apps. Same window sizes. Same everything.

And the result was immediate.

Could I see everything on the 14″? Yes.
Was I comfortable? Absolutely not.

The 16″ felt like breathing room. Like stretching out after a long drive. Like “oh, this is how my eyes are supposed to feel.”

That one comparison eliminated every 14″ laptop from the running — even the very tempting Dell Latitude 7440 2‑in‑1, which I’ll talk about in Part 3.

The Stakes of This Search

This isn’t just about buying a laptop. It’s about finding a machine that fits the way I actually live and work.

I need something that can:

• Handle Linux without drama
• Survive a full day of teaching
• Edit video without melting
• Fit in a modest home without needing its own room
• Travel with us in the camper without complaining
• Stay under $500
• And, ideally, not blind me when waking from sleep

That’s a tall order.
But it’s not impossible.