finally, I’m going to order L15v4 (thanks to sales…). However, I want to clarify few things:
Are there many known successful shipments to Russia? Is it known about any customs issues?
What is the typical boot time (the time between pressing the power button and the login screen appearance) with clean original system?
Is there significant difference in boot time beween SATA and NVMe disks, or SATA SSD is fast enough to make other things (e.g. CPU) a bottleneck in the boot process?
I don’t see HDD as the second drive option, only SSDs. In my understanding, SSDs are still worse in terms of longevity, so I would prefer using SSD for system files and HDD for data. Are my concerns still relevant, or it is perfectly OK to go with SSD?
Boot time is around 10 seconds, but it’s hard to tell, because of encryption. (Ie: you need to decrypt your drive first) I’ve found that Elementary OS boots about 2 seconds faster on the same hardware, but that is an non validated claim. I don’t think there is anyway to make Linux faster than PureOS. I mean it is stripped of nearly all fluff.
There is a significant speed difference between SATA and NVME drives. However, both are fast. The jury is still out on longevity. However regarding your question on whether regular platter drives are better for longevity: I would say that this is no longer a real concern. SSD firmware have come along way. I’ve been using some SSDs for over 6 years now without any problem. Anything after 3 years regardless is susceptible to dying. NAS owners know this.
I think the only reason to go with HDD over an SSD is size and cost. That is to say they cost less and you can get larger drives.
I am imagine the lack of an ethernet port is a sourcing issue. Finding one that is blobless, etc.
I have this other Linux laptop that I bought that has a ethernet port, but it is clever. The port is half closed when not in used, this allows it to exist in a thin frame. When you plug it in the bottom flap is spring loaded and opens up like a jaw to fit the RJ45 connector. Super clever way of making it possible to have a physical jack on a slim design.
I love my L13 v3. I will immediately upgrade as soon as any of the following are included: dual channel, ethernet port, dedicated GPU, shrinking of the case for bezels, or enlarging the screen to justify the bezel space.
However, if I didn’t already have a Librem I would buy one now. My other Linux laptop might have more features, but it just isn’t built as robust. The Librem is a tank, and I love that.
For any type of disk, SMART is your friend. Monitor your SMART data periodically.
sudo apt install smartmontools
In addition to what @2disbetter wrote, your consideration is also about amount of rewriting. You can have masses of storage that is basically only written once (media library) - and it will have no problems of integrity on SSD but it will be expensive; or you can have masses of storage that is rewritten repeatedly (high transaction database) - and you might choose not to use an SSD.
I don’t have a single Linux computer that has a HDD. All SSD for me.
depends on your use case … SSDs have become more accessible in terms of price but still no match for HDD price/storage-capacity.
if you want the fastest boot times then you need an NVME ssd as the /boot /efi /root (check the spec page for the total terabytes written manufacturer warranty) and a separate sata 3 SSD or a large HDD for the /home partition (better total terabytes written numbers here)
for any other OSes you might want to ALSO run on this machine you need EITHER a separate external SSD/HDD (SATA or NVME depending on what you want to achieve) or just configure dual/triple boot on the the same boot SDD/HDD as your gnu/linux distro of choice (better don’t but you can) - all you need is configure multiple partitions (you have to plan for this beforehand)
there are other things to consider when deciding between HDD/SSD. you might want to look that up yourself on the manufacturer web-site and wikipedia.
