HP 255 G7 laptop because I got it tor Christmas. It works fine. At least on the OS side. UEFI will reset your boot entries should you boot anything from external drive. You can use Bootice (Windows) or efibootmgr (GNU+Linux) to put the correct boot entries back.

Running Windows, the laptop had issues with HDD powering down and up repeatedly when the screen turned off and laptop wasn't on charger. This wasn't issue with power settings, and searching web I wasn't the only one having this issue. The WiFi was also less reliable on Windows.

Running GNU+Linux, it depends. Linux Mint: All works.
Manjaro: Previously the WiFi card could just die, requiring restart. This stopped occuring about a year ago. But now there's a new issue. Internal USB hub spontaneously dying (rarely also affects external ports) when using Bluetooth (connected on internal USB hub) requiring a restart. The likelihood of that increases if you switch to TTY.

[–] onlinepersona 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You have a peculiar set of issues there 🤔 I wish I could help, but probably the manjaro community might lend a hand. Would you get HP if you had the funds and choice?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

If I had the funds, I'd go for a ThinkPad. Generally they just work, as I've heard, but also it's probably the last line of modern laptops that has good keyboard. I just wish modern laptops still had DVD, or better yet, BluRay drives.

[–] onlinepersona 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

What do you still have on DVD or bluray? BluRay just whizzed past me after I dumped DVDs about a decade ago.

What's a "good keyboard" in your opinion?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I can't describe how a good keyboard feels. You just have to try it.

DVDs, that's the only way I am willing to buy movies. Otherwise, I'll just pirate them. There may be cool extras, but also it's just different being able to physically handle something. If I had a BluRay drive, I would be buying movies on that too. But also it seems like a nice way to do backups. BDXL gives you 100GB, which is fair enough, and I am pretty sure it can outlive flash storage if stored properly.

[–] onlinepersona 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I can’t describe how a good keyboard feels. You just have to try it.

Understood. For me, a good keyboard is one that's quiet, doesn't stick, allows knowing where my fingers are, and split --> not a laptop keyboard. Most laptop keyboards are relatively quiet, but quiet desktop keyboards are hard to find. Took me 10 years.

DVDs, that’s the only way I am willing to buy movies.

Interesting. I didn't know DVD and BluRay drives still existed, much less the their media was being sold at all. You must have a lot of physical storage space. How do you organise them and quickly find what you want to watch? Do you have a system?