Linux Mint 19, Ultranote and M.2SSD

Hi, I'm on the edge of ordering an Ultranote - with no OS - for Linux Mint 19 and would value some advice.

If I use a 512GB M.2 SSD (and no other hard drive ) are there any problems getting it to boot up and put the Linux OS on it?

Also - with RAM - I'd like to order 16GB - is it best to have 1x16GB or 2x8GB or doesn't it matter?

This is the full spec of what I'd like


UltraNote Series: 15.6" Matte Full HD 60Hz 45% NTSC LED Widescreen
(1920x1080)
Intel® Core™ i7 Quad Core Processor i7-8550U (1.80GHz, 4.0GHz Turbo)
16GB Corsair 2133MHz SODIMM DDR4 (1 x 16GB)
INTEL® HD GRAPHICS 610/620/630 (CPU Dependant) - 1.7GB Max DDR4 Video
RAM - DirectX® 12

500GB WD Black™ M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3400MB/s R | 2500MB/s W)
Ultra Slim 8x SATA DVD±R/RW/Dual Layer (+ 24x CD-RW)
Internal 9 in 1 Card Reader (MMC/RSMMC/SD: Mini, XC & HC/MS: Pro & Duo)
1 x 40W AC Adaptor
UltraNote V Series 44WH Lithium Ion Battery
1 x 1 Metre Cloverleaf UK Power Cable
Intel 2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® AC-9260 M.2 (1.73Gbps, 802.11AC) +BT 5.0
1 x USB 3.0 PORT (Type C) + 1 x USB 3.0 PORT + 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS
SINGLE COLOUR BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
United Kingdom - English Language
NO RECOVERY MEDIA REQUIRED

Thanks

Unless you definitely know you'll need 32gb RAM, 2x8gb will be better since it runs in dual channel and the price is pretty similar.

The i7 is ~£75 more than an i5 and is basically just a higher clocked i5, offering not all that much extra performance. They have the same cores and threads. Very questionable as to whether it's worth it.

Agree with Oussebon, plus I have not used the WD Black but have Samsung M.2 NVMe PCIe SSDs on two different PCS machines, a 14" Defiance and an Octane V, running Debian on first and Ubuntu and both have been fine.

Oussebon said:

Unless you definitely know you'll need 32gb RAM, 2x8gb will be better since it runs in dual channel and the price is pretty similar.

The i7 is ~£75 more than an i5 and is basically just a higher clocked i5, offering not all that much extra performance. They have the same cores and threads. Very questionable as to whether it's worth it.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice re the RAM

Regarding the CPU - I put the two processors into "PassMark CPU comparison" and got these resulst:

https://www.cpubenchmark.net/compare/Intel-i7-8550U-vs-Intel-i5-8250U/3064vs3042

In that the i7 'scored' 8303 and the i5 'scored 7672 ...... but how significant is that?

(My wife has a Lenovo ThinkPad with an i7-4600U which gets a score of 4102 and I must admit it does seem pretty fast to me)

1) Passmark is somewhat pointless as a benchmark

2) There is a bit of variation between PC chassis as to how exactly the PCs perform, depending on how power limits are handled, from what I understand.

3) Either is an upgrade over the 4600U, by quite a lot in some contexts

4) The real world difference between them for general office type uses might be very small.

For performance benches, see:

https://tinyurl.com/y8b4k8g8

You can see that with the chassis they've tested to get their data, they actually found the i7 in some models to perform no better than the i5 in others.

Unless you're doing very CPU-demanding work (in which case this might not be the right chassis for you anyway) I don't think you'd see much performance difference day to day between the i7 and i5.

That's really useful advice - thanks for that.

I'll put in an order tonight!

Apologies for jumping on this thread - but how did you get on with your Linux installation? I too am considering a machine of virtually identical spec, except I'll take the i5 option as discussed above. I was probably going to install Xubuntu as I've already got that on some other machines, but mint would do nicely as well.

Thanks
Rob

robgee1964 said:

Apologies for jumping on this thread - but how did you get on with your Linux installation? I too am considering a machine of virtually identical spec, except I'll take the i5 option as discussed above. I was probably going to install Xubuntu as I've already got that on some other machines, but mint would do nicely as well.

Thanks
Rob

Click to expand...

Sorry for delay - I hadn't picked this up automatically.
No problems with Linux Mint on this machine - works like a dream.
I also can access Windows via Virtual Box on the very few occasions I need to.

I am pleased to hear that Linux runs fine on this laptop because I am thinking of buying an UltraNote V Series i5-6200U (2.30GHz) 15.6" (1920x1080 screen) to replace an Ultranote III 14" which I have had for nearly 3 years.
The Ultranote III has run the latest LinuxMints & Kubuntu with no problems at all and all the keyboards controls for brightness, volume etc work fine. I would expect the new machine to do the same as is confirmed in these posts.

My reason upgrade are because I would like:
1. a bigger screen physically because 1920x1080 is hard to read on 14" text,
2. a backlit keyboard,
3. a HD/SSD that is removable in a caddy for fast backups. Also the input plug from the CPU to the caddy can probably be used as SATA/eSATA connecter for an external HD/SSD. This requires a little ingenuity but is quite easy: I have done it before with removable DVD/HD caddies. (To remove the internal HD/SSD in The Ultranote III requires the removal of 18 screws which is fine but takes some planning.)

The comments about the similarity in speeds of i5 & i7 in the real world are very interesting. Thank-you.

I have a Service Manual for the Ultranote III which is a Clevo N240JU / N241JU. These models are very similar wi the same manual.

Does anyone know the Clevo model number of the 15.6 Ultranote V?

Kind wishes,
Ian
I look forward to hearing any responses.

Does anyone know the Clevo model number of the 15.6 Ultranote V?

Click to expand...

https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/clevo-laptops/40/ - so N750WU

I don't think the HDD/SSD caddy is removable like a hot-swap if that's what you're thinking of. it just replaces the DVD drive with an internal 2.5" drive.

Oussebon said:

https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/clevo-laptops/40/ - so N750WU

I don't think the HDD/SSD caddy is removable like a hot-swap if that's what you're thinking of. it just replaces the DVD drive with an internal 2.5" drive.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the ref about the Clevo N750WU. Indeed it is widely reported as being fine running Linux.

The HD caddy will slide in the side of the 15.6 Ultranote V just like the DVD. See https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/notebooks/ultraNoteV-15/ > DVD/BLU-RAY Drive > click ? on RHS. You will see the DVD & the caddy. The caddy has to be removed to insert the HD. I have both of these on another old laptop (Samsung Q210). I adapted a blank spacer that takes the place of a DVD to connect to the SATA female socket on laptop. The connector at the front is for the eSATA. The little insert at the top shows the SATA male connector which is on the underside of the device. There is no power connection needed because eSATA has an external power supply. There is a screw on the laptop case which secures the DVD/Caddy insert from coming out but in practice I remove this and the caddy can be slid in & out quite easily. I have found in the Q210 that I can hot swap the eSATA but not the DVD or the HD caddy. Nowadays, since USB3 is so fast I hardly ever use eSATA.
Note that the DVD/HD caddy for Ultranote V is about 9.5mm thick and the older one illustrated is about 12.7mm.

I misunderstood, I thought you meant removing the drive only and not the drive while still in the caddy. PCS would not ship a caddy where it was easy to pop the drive in and out without removing the caddy itself / opening the laptop up afaik

And yes, I also assumed one would not go around with the caddy unscrewed.

It's up to you how you run your backups ofc, it just seems a bit pointless to me versus an external drive via USB 3, or network storage. Each to their own though.