Hello all,

I’m in the market for buying a new laptop to install Linux on. I’m trying to stay with something relatively cheap (Around $300 and below). I’m getting ready to start a degree program in cyber security and did some research, and it seems Kali Linux would be the best distro for me to install.

I would install it on my current computer, but I only have a 2015 MacBook Pro, and I’ve read that a few people run into some issues installing on a Mac compared to a regular PC.

With the above in mind, do I need to increase my budget or does Linux run fine on low-end laptops?

Thanks!

  • @[email protected]English
    3•11 months ago

    With that budget you should be able to get your hands on a machine with plenty of power. My recomendation would go to a lenovo t480/t480s. I was planning to buy one of those for myself but my current laptop is still good enough. Regardless of the device you choose, I would recomend portability over power: power efficient i5 4 cores, 8gb (idealy 16gb) ram, ssd storage, lightweight and good battery.

    To answer your last question, you shouldn’t be concerned about performance. Linux can give life to old hardware, but you’re not really looking at old hardware.

    As a cybersec student myself, I would suggest starting out with a generic linux distro and just install the tools you need as you go. If you really need kali, install it in a vm. I say this because I expect you’ll use Linux as your daily driver, and Kali is NOT mean to be a daily driver, but a tool for when you need it. And “when you need it” will come with experience I guess.

    • @KuroJOPEnglish
      2•11 months ago

      Thanks, I’ll have to look into installing Kali in a vm. I’ve seen distros such as Linux Mint being discussed. Would that be a good daily driver to use?

        • @KuroJOPEnglish
          1•11 months ago

          Thanks again for the advice! Going to install mint on my Mac and go from there!