Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years.

Thanks,

CNET Support

Question

RHEL developer laptop with customized hardware - how to proc

Aug 9, 2018 4:32AM PDT

I am a novice when it comes to hardware world. If this is not the appropriate site, I request the moderators to redirect me to the correct one and close this question Happy .

My objectives pertaining to the laptop:

Configuration to suit development needs:

16-32 GB RAM
1+TB SSD
i7/AMD equivalent
Motherboard that can handle all the above
Possibility to add RAM, in the future


Only ONE os - RHEL(enterprise or developer, I haven't decided). Dell laptops come loaded with Ubuntu and are 'RHEL certified'. I didn't understand what they meant, also, I want only RHEL, to begin with.

What would save a 'considerable' amount - buying from the provider with above features preconfigured or simply buy the hardware without OS(bare metal) and then install RHEL by myself? If there isn't much difference, I would prefer to buy from the provider.

Discussion is locked

- Collapse -
Answer
Re: Red hat
Aug 9, 2018 5:38AM PDT

- Any current motherboard should work up to at least 16 GB. Check the specs to see if it supports 32 GB or even more if you think you need more.
- A 1 TB SSD is quite expensive. Consider a laptop that has a smaller SSD and an additional HDD for storage.
- I doubt if you can find any laptop preconfigured with RHEL. In that case, you have to install it yourself, but as a seasoned developer you won't find that difficult. It's up to you to compare prices.
- RHEL certified means that it can you can install RHEL on it

- Collapse -
Bare metal?
Aug 9, 2018 6:17AM PDT

In case I wish to install RHEL myself, I would prefer a bare metal machine but I couldn't find any options to buy one. Do the providers like Dell, Lenovo or HP provide machines without OS which I can configure as per my needs and then I can install RHEL, later. ?

- Collapse -
Re: bare metal
Aug 9, 2018 7:50AM PDT

I doubt if they do, but you can ask them. But if they do, the price difference with the same hardware with Windows or Unix installed will be small.

- Collapse -
The price here increases for bare metal.
Aug 9, 2018 9:38AM PDT

The Windows OS is not that high so the price of the machine increases since it's another model and "custom." I've run into folk that will pay more for bare metal but most folk just melt down that such costs more than a mass manufactured unit.

- Collapse -
Answer
Dell does sell a workstation with RHEL or Ubuntu
Aug 9, 2018 9:42AM PDT

ttps://www.cyberciti.biz/hardware/laptop-computers-with-linux-installed-or-preloaded/

One advantage of buying from an OEM like Dell they work with the Linux vendor to certify the drivers on their machines. You won't get quite the same support it you buy a PC with no OS and install it yourself. I know one computer company that you can buy without an OS and it's Sager. Sager is available at Xoticpc.
These are gaming machines. They do have Workstation class laptops but they only come with Windows 10.

https://www.xoticpc.com/sager-np9175-clevo-p775tm-g.html

- Collapse -
Answer
Sorry updated the link
Aug 9, 2018 9:43AM PDT