Laptop Recommendations?

[SteveRiley]

question tough. Where should I install the grub boot loader? MBR? or none?

Your computer has a UEFI firmware, not BIOS. The partition style on your disk is GPT, not MBR. Therefore, you don't have an MBR. On UEFI machines with GPT disks, the EFI system partition controls booting the machine. Each installed operating system places a boot loader into this partition. Each installed operating system registers the boot loader with the UEFI by creating an entry in the firmware's non-volatile memory (NVRAM). All UEFI machines include a rudimentary boot manager that you can activate by pressing a key during power-up (it's F10 on my Thinkpad T520). This boot manager displays a list of registered boot loaders. When you select one, the boot loader starts the associated operating system.

GRUB knows how to handle this. It sets itself up more or less like a tiny operating system -- it places a boot loader in the EFI system partition and registers with the firmware. GRUB also creates a menu of the installed operating systems that it knows about. Thus, when you start the computer, GRUB is the thing that loads. It presents its menu. When you select an operating system, GRUB hands over control.

On BIOS-based machines, GRUB is a necessity for handling multi-boot. On UEFI-based machines, it's really not required at all. But because so many people are familiar with it, nearly all Linux distributions continue to package it.

I checked the partitions again via Windows disk manager. The partitions are the same as before.But the surprizing thing is that all partitions, except Windows OS, are 100% free (empty) and seems to be non-formated.

Please take a photograph of this and post it here. I'm perplexed.

Also, except C:/, non shows up in Explorer. when I right click on C: partition I get a context menu including "shrink", but on all other partitions a right click shows a one item "help" menu. Could I perhaps delet any of these empty partitions? Or should I make a Windows recovery system and point the distination to the big recovery partition?

Don't do anything else just yet. Let me see that photo first.

I also, noticed that kubuntu live USB does not boot by a simple system start up, although the secure boot is disabled. Later I found out that I need to get into Windows and while holding down the shift key restart the system. This got me into a boot menu with the USB shown as an item. by selecting it I got into Kubuntu and I started to play and check the things out.

You need to disable the fast-boot feature. While you're at it, you also need to make some changes to the Windows clock. See post #4 in my knowledge base article Dual-booting Kubuntu on a Windows machine.

However, I could not get my wireless connected in live USB trial. Also, the invidia graphic card was not picked up in this live trial.

Please show the output of lspci -k here.

As for upgrade to 8.1,the only thing that perplexed me and I detested it, was that through the upgrade process I was forced to register the product by opening a Microsoft account with my email address (from any provider) as User ID and a Password.
Then Upon completion of upgrade at system reboot, the log in screen did not accept my own log-in credentials and instructed me that I must log in with the Microsoft registeration account's uid and pw. By doing such I was then logged in. Now I am wondering who owns and controls this laptop??

You do. This is not some sinister effort by Microsoft to take over your PC. Nevertheless, I think they've made it too hard to discover how to complete the install with only a local account. In the same article I linked earlier, look in post #3. I explain how to create a local account during setup. But you've already gone the Live account route. Fortunately, it's possible to disconnect your Live account and switch to a local one.

[GreyGeek]

... Now I am wondering who owns and controls this laptop??

Whom or whatever you have to register with and log into just to use it.

[marco07]

Steve, thanks for the clear stepwise instructions. I will follow and report back. One
question tough. Where should I install the grub boot loader? MBR? or none?
Mean while, here is what has been transpired since my last post. I ugraded Windows to 8.1 since I was constantly being nagged by the system. The upgrade process went smooth during a 3 to 4 hours time period and all seems to be OK. I checked the partitions again via Windows disk manager. The partitions are the same as before.But the surprizing thing is that all partitions, except Windows OS, are 100% free (empty) and seems to be non-formated. Also, except C:/, non shows up in Explorer. when I right click on C: partition I get a context menu including "shrink", but on all other partitions a right click shows a one item "help" menu.
Could I perhaps delet any of these empty partitions? Or should I make a Windows recovery system and point the distination to the big recovery partition?
I also, noticed that kubuntu live USB does not boot by a simple system start up, although the secure boot is disabled. Later I found out that I need to get into Windows and while holding down the shift key restart the system. This got me into a boot menu with the USB shown as an item. by selecting it I got into Kubuntu and I started to play and check the things out. However, I could not get my wireless connected in live USB trial. Also, the invidia graphic card was not picked up in this live trial.
As for upgrade to 8.1,the only thing that perplexed me and I detested it, was that through the upgrade process I was forced to register the product by opening a Microsoft account with my email address (from any provider) as User ID and a Password.
Then Upon completion of upgrade at system reboot, the log in screen did not accept my own log-in credentials and instructed me that I must log in with the Microsoft registeration account's uid and pw. By doing such I was then logged in. Now I am wondering who owns and controls this laptop??

[SteveRiley]

Because your firmware is UEFI and you have a GPT disk, you don't need to worry about primary vs. extended partitions. In GPT, there are only partitions. You currently have four. You want to add two more, for a total of six. You need to shrink the 451 GB partition to make room.

1. With Windows booted, run diskmgmt.msc

2. Right-click the C: volume and, in the menu that appears, choose Shrink volume

3. Enter the new smaller size you'd like the volume to be. If, for example, you want to reduce it by 150 GB, then Enter the amount of space to shrink in MB will be 153600 (this is 150 * 1024)

4. Click the Shrink button

When the process ends, you'll see that the C: volume is smaller and that you have some unallocated space. This is where you'll place the two additional partitions for Kubuntu.

1. Reboot the computer with the Kubuntu Live USB

2. Start the installation. The installer should detect the free space and offer to create partitions there. You may need to do manual, rather than automatic, partitioning.

If you get stuck, take a picture of the screen and post it back here. It's been a while since I've done this and I can't remember now whether Ubiquity (the installer) can handle automatic partitioning when the blank space is in the middle of the drive (the OEM recovery partition at the end of the drive used to confound earlier versions of Ubiquity at times).

[marco07]

Well, my t540p arrived yesterday afternoon. I spent quite a bit of time last
night and today playing with Windows 8 Pro to learn my way around. So far, I
have been able to clean up windows 8 by removing some unwanted apps and
updating whatever was listed avaiable in the Windows update. I also have the
option to upgrade to Win 8.1. I did not do that since it is over 3.2 GB of
downloads and will take quite a long time with the 3 Mbps download speed I have here at home. What
a hassle it has been!
Anyhow, I feel I am almost ready to venture into the installation of Kubuntu
14.04.1. However, before doing that I thought I'd better see I can gather some
insights & advice here with regard to the installation of Kubuntu.
Via Windows disk management I see that the hard drive has the following
partitions already:
-1000 MB Recovery
-260 MB EFI system
-451 GB Windows, and
-13.24 GB Recovery

Now, this observation sort of set me back and caused some hesitation since I do
not know how to proceed to set up additional partitions (2 plus a swap) on the
hard drive for a multi boot laptop. I feel that I need some guidance here.
So, steve & others please advise.
TIA!

[Feathers McGraw]

The dual-channel memory buffer enables itself only if both SODIMMS are of the same size and speed (1600 in this case). If they differ, then the two SODIMMS are "combined" into a single addressable memory space with a single buffer. This will affect performance a little bit.

I had no idea, thanks Steve!

[marco07]

Wow! Thank you Steve! This seems to be much better than what I expected. To be honest I was somewhat apprehensive, but now I am relieved. I will be in touch.

[SteveRiley]

So, it must be either 2 X 4GB or 2 X 8GB for optimum performance. Do I understand correct?

Yes, and the SODIMMS must have the same capacity, speed, CAS latency timings, number of chips and sides, and matching rows and columns. Now, depending on what you plan to do with the computer, dual-channel memory may not actually help you at all: web browsing, emailing, face booking, that kind of thing won't really care. But if you're doing stuff that's memory-intensive, then it matters.

Great! Does this mean that I can proceed with the installation just the way I did install on the legacy systems? That is, first run partition manager, shrink Windows partition, set up new partitions including a swap partition and proceed with the installation.

Yep.

[marco07]

The dual-channel memory buffer enables itself only if both SODIMMS are of the same size and speed (1600 in this case). If they differ, then the two SODIMMS are "combined" into a single addressable memory space with a single buffer. This will affect performance a little bit.

So, it must be either 2 X 4GB or 2 X 8GB for optimum performance. Do I understand correct?

However, ThinkPad UEFIs are pretty well-designed, and the *buntu installers are now sufficiently capable of handling a machine with Windows already installed. I don't think you'll have any trouble.

Great! Does this mean that I can proceed with the installation just the way I did install on the legacy systems? That is, first run partition manager, shrink Windows partition, set up new partitions including a swap partition and proceed with the installation.

[marco07]

@ chopstick;
Thanks for information. I will be reporting as I progress.

[SteveRiley]

On ram, that is what I was thinking. I plan to get possibly an 8 GB for the second slot. They could be mixed, am I right?

The dual-channel memory buffer enables itself only if both SODIMMS are of the same size and speed (1600 in this case). If they differ, then the two SODIMMS are "combined" into a single addressable memory space with a single buffer. This will affect performance a little bit.

Regarding 32-bit vs 64-bit... Chopstick is correct. Use 64-bit. There's no reason to install 32-bit operating systems anymore.

I know sometimes ago you posted some guidance (how to) in dealing with UEFI, secure boot and disk partition. Could you please point me to that post? Then I can read thoroughly and get familiar with what I should be doing form the outset.

There's a UEFI assistance subforum here -- read through the posts there. However, ThinkPad UEFIs are pretty well-designed, and the *buntu installers are now sufficiently capable of handling a machine with Windows already installed. I don't think you'll have any trouble.

[Chopstick]

64 or should I be using 32 bit

Certainly 64bit, even with 4GB you will need to get 64 bit to use all of it, since, as I understand, some of the address range is used for other devices.

On ram, that is what I was thinking. I plan to get possibly an 8 GB for the second slot. They could be mixed, am I right?

I'm pretty sure it does - I operated my current Thinkpad with a 2GB and an old 1GB stick for some time and it worked well (was all recognized); of course the clockrate defaults to the lower one.
I also have several different sizes in my workstation and it works fine. (For my work, the size of RAM is more important than the speed, because the alternative is swaping to disk, so I put in whatever I can get...)

Regarding triple-boot, I would think it is probably easier to just install either kubuntu or ubuntu, and then install the other desktop environment, so that you can choose at log-in (after boot). I haven't done this with KDE, Gnome, or Unity, but I also have IceWM installed, as a back-up window manage, in case I mess up my KDE installation and need to google something, and I can simply choose IceWM at the login screen.

And finally, please report back with your experience, once you get the machine! I haven't ordered mine yet, because I am waiting for my university bookstore to give me a price quote, and they are takign forever...

[marco07]

It's refurbished -- does it still come with a copy of Windows installed?

Yes. I believe it dose.

Nice config. You'll probably need to add RAM. Get a second 4 GB DDR3 1600 MHz SODIMM and put it in the second slot, to run the RAM in dual-channel mode for best performance. If 8 GB RAM isn't enough, then get a dual-channel 16 GB kit (two 8 GB SODIMMs).

When I saw configuration I could not resist (another benefit of the thread.) Specially, the screen resolution. On ram, that is what I was thinking. I plan to get possibly an 8 GB for the second slot. They could be mixed, am I right?
Steve thanks alot, I believe I need plently of your help when I get to installation. I know sometimes ago you posted some guidance (how to) in dealing with UEFI, secure boot and disk partition. Could you please point me to that post? Then I can read thoroughly and get familiar with what I should be doing form the outset.

[SteveRiley]

It's refurbished -- does it still come with a copy of Windows installed?

Typically, it's best to install Windows first. If the computer comes with it, cool. If not, buy one. After installing Windows, you can add Ubuntu or Kubuntu next (the order doesn't matter), then the other one.

Nice config. You'll probably need to add RAM. Get a second 4 GB DDR3 1600 MHz SODIMM and put it in the second slot, to run the RAM in dual-channel mode for best performance. If 8 GB RAM isn't enough, then get a dual-channel 16 GB kit (two 8 GB SODIMMs).

[marco07]

Hi Folks:
After reading the entire posts on this thread and relying on the experience and expertise of SteveRiley, I went ahead and ordered a refurbished T540p laptop from ebay with the following specs. I am excited & looking forward to its arrival. However, at this time I have no clue as how to handle UEFI, scure boot and how to proceed with the installation of kubuntu 14.04 - 64 or should I be using 32 bit. What I like to do is to have a triple boot of windows 8, kubuntu and ubuntu 14.04.
Therefore, I am back here to ask for and will appreciate any guidance and advice preparing me for initiation & proper installation of the desired sytems. Please help!
Thanks in advance!

Item Description
Lenovo T540p Laptop
Intel® Core™ i7-4600M Dual Core Processor @ 2.9GHz (3.6GHz Turbo Mode, 4MB Cache, 4 Threads),Genuine Windows® 8, 64bit, US English

Processor
Intel Core i7-4600M Dual Core Processor @ 2.9GHz (3.6GHz Turbo Mode, 4MB Cache, 4 Threads)
Operating System
Genuine Windows® 8 Professional, 64 bit, US English
Memory
4GB, DDR3, 1600MHz
Hard Drive
500 GB 7200RPM
Graphics Card
Intel HD Graphics + Nvidia GeForece Gt 730M
Display
15.6" FHD ( 1920x1080 ) LED Backlight 720p HD Camera
Primary DVD/CD drive
DVD RW
Security
UltraNav ( TrackPoint + Touchpad ) with Fingerprint Reader
Networking
Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 7260, Wi-Fi + Bluetooth Combo
Warranty
1 Year Lenovo Warranty valid till July 2015
Primary Battery
9 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
Ports
miniDisplayPort with audio
VGA port
2 x USB 3.0 (1 x Powered)
2 x USB 2.0
SD Card Reader