What would you recommend for a Linux laptop. Will multiboot with Windows 11.

Both with i5 10th gen. T490 with 24gb ram and 5410 with 16gb ram.

$200 USD for the dell and $260 USD for the Lenovo.

Just want to do basic office/web stuff. Only gaming would be Minecraft. looking for a quiet laptop with good thermals.

I personally would get Lenovo, but both should be just fine. Just drop the multiboot and you're good to go ;)

Purely from a manufacturer perspective, I would go Lenovo. Ive had more problems with Dell hardware than with Lenovo hardware.

In terms of what can run, both are capable. I'd lean towards more ram in general, and the 4 laptops I have are lenovo workhorses, the newest of which is ~5yrs old, the oldest ~10yrs old, all happily chugging along just fine.

So I'd vote Lenovo.

I was messing with some 5410s at work recently. Seemed decently built, but the trackpoints are pretty bad

Lenovo

lenovo. replaced my old dell precision laptop with a T480 and I'm loving it.

dell pros:

• fast
• solid gpu for the time
• clean look
• came with linux.

dell cons:

• battery swelled up, made the trackpad and keyboard not work. replaced the battery a lot.
• keyboard wore out well before lenovo
• chassis screws fell out and then the hinge broke as a result. this is not a thing with lenovo.
• front edge was too sharp and slightly cut into my wrists. not a show stopper but annoyed me the whole time I owned it.

For your situation 16G may be adequate. But 24 is better.

T490. i personally had issues with dell laptops a few times. (hinge problem, coating on palmrest/trackpad peeling) also, i don't like dell laptops' keyboard layout but this is just personal preference.

and 8gb more ram for $60 seems decent in todays prices. (afaik it's soldered so not even upgradable?)

Everyone is saying lenovo, and while I don't disagree, I really wish my T480 had a nicer bottom clamshell. If you want to swap a drive or ram you have to take the whole bottom off. Cue tiny plastic clips breaking.

I've seen decent laptops with the cutouts and a single screw on the bottom for swapping ssds and ram. Those are awesome. Lenovo should do that.

I say this because I like to distro hop on my laptop. I wish I could keep a drive with a linux OS that I like and have setup, but then swap out blank drives for distro hopping, play around, and go back if I want. But the bottom prevents me from doing it easily.

Ive had more problems with Dell hardware than with Lenovo hardware.

i was going to say the same thing -- my years in IT have made me aware that dell is only good if you buy the most premium ($$$) of support tiers from its eco system.

The 5000 series from Dell is worse than the T series thinkpads. I'd say the 7000 series would be comparable.

I had a 7280 (IIRC) which was great for years, I really like the mobile Dell keyboards. I wouldn't touch a 5410 though, rather a 7410.

So out of these two, the Thinkpad seems like the better deal.

Older ThinkPads have that, my T440p has three drives, one easily swappable where the DVD was and one NVMe in the WWAN slot (actually the fastest), great for hopping. For the T480 you can do the WWAN NVMe trick, or use an external TB3 drive (enclosure maybe), which is fast enough to play around.

yup

The Lenovo, only because the price is similar to Dell's with more RAM.

If you don't like fascists go for Lenovo since the CEO of Dell has put money into Omarchy that is made by a fascist.

They are both old, used options. No company will see a cent from this.