My first reaction when I saw the touch bar was "Ugh this is going to cause a world of headaches when runnning Ubuntu". I was relieved to see you can still get a MBP with physical function keys[1]. (semi-off topic: any Linux users want to chime in and recommend a 14" or 15" laptop with build quality similar to a MBP?)

[1] http://www.apple.com/ca/shop/buy-mac/macbook-pro?product=MJL...

edit: thanks to everyone for the recommendations!

edit 2: there's some more recommendations here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12815183

Dell XPS 15. It has great build quality, a 4k screen option, 4 core CPU option and a touchscreen option.

I'm quite happy with mine, having switch over from the Asus line of high end ultrabooks.

I was thinking of getting one of these, but in Canada, their canned options aren't the greatest (I checked their home and small biz sites). You can't get the 4K touchscreen with the quad i7 and they don't seem to offer true BTO here any more.

It's kinda ironic to me that Apple outdoes Dell at online BTO these days.

That is interesting, because I purchased my XPS 15 from dell.ca with an i7, 4k touch screen, 16gb ram and 512gb ssd.

As someone who switched from Dell to Asus a few years ago, I'd like to know what you think of the XPS's touchpad?

I have the XPS 13 and the touchpad is really good, probably the best I've ever tried on windows.

I'd consider a recently updated HP Spectre x360 with newest Kaby Lake CPU. In my opinion it's a better device than Dell XPS (XPS machines still do have very well known and annoying "coil whining" issue). Mentioned it yesterday in Makbooks related topic https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12808431

See details http://store.hp.com/us/en/mdp/Laptops/spectre-x360-211501--1 and video review https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZLEm3o9R5A and another one http://www.notebookcheck.net/HP-Spectre-x360-13-w023dx-Conve...

Also take a look at the Acer TravelMate P648 http://www.notebookcheck.net/Acer-TravelMate-P648-M-757N-Not... Though it's more like a solid working laptop than a fancy Macbooks competitor, but looks like a good device.

System76 has a variety of options that ship with Ubuntu: https://system76.com/laptops

Never heard of these. Thanks for the link! Definitely looks very promising.

Many people, myself included, love the Dell XPS 13.

If only Dell would add some keys to that keyboard! Just an extra column at right with Del / Home / PgUp / PgDn / End would make it so much more comfortable. Why copy Apple and remove things many users like?

The XPS 13 Ubuntu version seems to not be available. Does anyone know what's up? I tried to do a comparison yesterday with the new Macbooks and wasn't able to. The Windows version is still available.

http://www.dell.com/us/business/p/xps-13-linux/pd

You can find it on this page:

http://www.dell.com/us/business/p/xps-13-9360-laptop/pd

The most straightforward way is to select "Ubuntu" as the "Operating System" filter at the top of the models list.

Outside the US you should follow the links in this article:

https://bartongeorge.io/2016/10/04/the-new-xps-13-developer-...

UK Site - I can't see any way to configure with anything except Windows 10 Home.

In the Configurations section (where you see the first 4 models), you have to push Next until you are at the end of the list. The last 3 models mention Ubuntu (last 4 in the US).

Here you go: http://www.dell.com/us/business/p/xps-13-9360-laptop/pd?3x_n...

You have to use the normal XPS 13 page and choose Ubuntu from the OS filter.

Thanks, not sure what up with that other page. As I feared, Dell still only offer the standard def screen on the lowest end model. I do not want a touch screen and I do not want the high dpi screen, if only for the extra power required. Why Dell thinks the high-end screen is desirable on a developer laptop is beyond me.

Every time I go to the Dell website I curse how difficult it is to navigate.

I really want a 1920x1200 matte screen option...

I really like the sounds of the XPS 13 but I'm really wary of going to a 13" screen. I currently use a 17" MBP...

X1 Carbon is also pretty good. I miss previous generation Thinkpad keyboards, but I reckon the island one looks good and feels great on the X1C.

No Thunderbolt 3 support, not even a single port, right? Lenova is outsider on the market having no TB3 support.

So was Apple yesterday.

Agree, presented Apple laptops look more like mediocre devices.

I was looking at that model last night, and it appears to come with max 8GB of memory. Which seems like a complete non-starter.

I'm using an XPS 13 with 16GB of RAM right now and I certainly didn't solder in 8GB extra so that might be regional issue :)

Probably, I was viewing the UK store.

Razer Blade, about the same price and look, but more black and green, and an Nvidia GPU.

Also has near perfect Linux support, only driver other than GPU that you need to install is wifi, which someone wrote a script to setup for you.

Note that the version with function keys has a 2.0 GHz processor and 1866 MHz RAM, compared to the base touchbar configuration with 2.9 GHz and 2133 MHz.

You can configure it up to a 2.4 GHz i7 for $300, bringing it to the same price as the 2.9 GHz i5 and touch bar. I don't know how those two processors compare.

Looking closer, I'm pretty sure that the non-TouchBar model is just the previous model.

It has the 4th gen processors where the TouchBar models have 6th gen processors. The non-TouchBar model also still has the "smaller" touchpad and the same ports & layout as the previous models. The body itself even has the same finish as the older model. So yeah, I'm pretty sure it's just the previous model.

Not sure where you're looking, the non-touchbar model is physically identical to the touchbar except that it has a function key row and two less ports. Definitely the new model, it's the same thickness, same screen, same trackpad. See the tech specs if you want to confirm: http://www.apple.com/macbook-pro/specs/

Pardon. I was looking at the 15", which doesn't offer a non-Touch Bar model:

http://www.apple.com/shop/buy-mac/macbook-pro?product=MJLQ2L...

At the time, I wasn't aware that there was a new 13" non-touchbar model.

The non-touchbar model also has a 5kwh larger battery.

Not a bad deal for $200 cheaper.

I am duel booting ubuntu 16.04 and Windows 8 on my asus ROG-G501VW

Fantastic laptop with some amazing specs. The price was just right. https://www.asus.com/ROG-Republic-Of-Gamers/ROG-G501VW/

The only problem I have with it is the battery life. I am using this for around 5 months now, and the battery life when running Ubuntu is 2-3 hours only. I installed ubuntu on the ssd and windows on the hdd.

I can play almost any game on this one (of course not many on ultra).

Looks nice but no way can I live with that battery life.

Thinkpad P series

Purchased a p50, IMO best choice for upgradeablity.

I am running Debian on my Thinkpad T460. Works great.

Since the Touch Bar is essentially separate from macOS, running its own pseudo-OS, it will work in other OS'es like Windows and Linux just fine. You'll just have a static function row and no context-relevant buttons.