How The Two Most Popular Laptops On Amazon Run With Ubuntu Linux

To see how the Toshiba and ASUS laptops compare to other systems, see the earlier 7-way Linux laptop comparison. Obviously the Toshiba laptop is a fair amount faster due to having a Core i5 CPU rather than Core i3 while having twice the amount of RAM. Last week were also some more concentrated Core i3 5010U vs. Core i5 5200U Linux tests. The performance-per-Watt results in that seven way laptop comparison were a toss-up between the two models depending upon the particular test.

From the Toshiba laptop, last week I also published the Windows 10 vs. Linux OpenGL performance comparison for the HD Graphics 5500.

New to this article, I did run some performance-per-dollar benchmarks. Those results show that the performance-per-dollar is quite close between the $350 ASUS F555LA-AB31 and the $450 Toshiba C55-C5241.

Then with the overall power consumption, the Toshiba laptop obviously goes through its battery a bit faster due to the beefier components.

At the end of the day these are two fine, lower-end laptops that can play nicely with Linux if you are using a modern distribution such as Ubuntu 15.10. Between the two, I like the ASUS for its HD display and feeling a bit sturdier while the Toshiba has a nicer processor but costs $100 more. Those are the main factors to consider if looking for a sub-$500 laptop, but don't expect too much out of the hardware in that price range (with the exception of Chromebooks). Both laptops can be found at Amazon.com; please use our shopping affiliate link if making any purchases there this holiday season to support future Linux hardware tests at Phoronix. Thanks! Any other questions about these laptops can be routed to our forums.