# Dell laptop 37 Hacker News commenters recommended Dell laptop and 78 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 8 of 13 months; owners who said how long report a median of 6.9 years (12 owners). **Verdict:** People recommend Dell laptops for reliable Linux support, long working lives and easy parts, with frequent complaints about overheating, loud fans and flimsy build quality. ## Why people recommend it - Works well with Linux (7 comments): "I never had any serious problems in Linux with any of the many Dell, HP and Lenovo laptops that I have used during the last 2 decades." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47077474)) "For laptops, I just buy from Dell, with Ubuntu preloaded, and everything works." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47520084)) "Dell has sold laptops with first-party Linux support for nearly fifteen years" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48113212)) - Long life for many owners (4 comments): "Dell, HP and Lenovo have been phenomenally resilient for us, going back more than 2 decades." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46798970)) "I had a Dell Laptop in 2008 that had 8GB RAM and was my Plex server until 2018." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47070291)) "my 16 year old Dell laptop I used for work back then. Runs great" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46471921)) - Handles everyday work reliably (3 comments): "It's fine for a lot of progamming work (I have built kernel on this)." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47248598)) "it does everything I actually need flawlessly" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47169585)) "They make cheap devices that just work." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47368140)) - Good on-site service (2 comments): "Go with Dell and get their on site support for 3 years" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46159171)) "The service quality was good." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46121284)) ## What people warn about - Recurring hardware and driver faults (5 comments): "There are so many issues with it - keypresses being 10-20 seconds delayed, random window tearing/partial display updates" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46182791)) "The straw that broke the camel's back was a Dell laptop that wasn't working with the Wifi until I turned off IPv6." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48391150)) "the cause of the issue ends up being a connector not being fully plugged in from the factory" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48361381)) - Overheats and runs fans constantly (4 comments): "The other one overheats no matter what, and I have to unplug it for a couple minutes every few hours" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46118042)) "is heavy and has the fans running full speed all the time and only technically works unplugged" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47345892)) "I had a Dell laptop near kill itself waking up while in my backpack and near melting itself." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46391800)) - Flimsy case and hinge (3 comments): "except for the terrible battery life and the fact that the structure was so poor" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47342179)) "I dropped one onto the carpeted floor of my office because I thought it was going into my padded sleeve of backpack and that cracked the case, and broke the screen." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47233946)) "the plastic part of the bottom cover holding the metal hinge mechanism is absolutely terrible" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45831051)) - Battery life falls short (2 comments): "except for the terrible battery life and the fact that the structure was so poor" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47342179)) "lots of things are breaking down and that's not counting the battery which barely last 2 hours now" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46032343)) ## Alternatives hackers recommend - [Apple MacBook Pro](https://hackerapproved.com/p/macbook-pro.md): 928 recommend - [Apple MacBook Neo](https://hackerapproved.com/p/macbook-neo.md): 707 recommend - [MacBook Air](https://hackerapproved.com/p/macbook-air.md): 633 recommend - [Apple MacBook](https://hackerapproved.com/p/apple-macbook.md): 499 recommend - [Framework Laptop 12](https://hackerapproved.com/p/framework-laptop-12.md): 83 recommend ## Where to get it - [See price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Dell+laptop&tag=hackerapprove-20) (affiliate link) - [Official site](https://www.dell.com/) ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "Dell laptop", https://hackerapproved.com/p/dell-laptop/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).