@gilesgoat yeah, avoid HP laptops. From what I can tell, they only boot the O/S that ships with them, which is somehow fingerprinted to BIOS. So you can't swap the drive out because it won't boot whatever you try to install to the new drive (hence Linux not running), and you can't replace the O/S on the OEM drive. I don't think you can even put the OEM drive in another rig to boot the O/S it comes with.

My HP was just a brick after the drive died. Utter garbage.

Never had issues with my Asus.

@gilesgoat +1 for avoid HP. I hear nothing but bad things about them, especially when something goes wrong and you need customer service.

@gilesgoat I've had acquaintances buy HP Pavilion laptops then come to me some time later with them asking if I can repair them (e.g. broken screen, hinges etc) and even a short time (e.g. 1 year) after purchase, buying replacement parts was impossible, making them effectively landfill.

The poor build quality didn't help - they weren't up to being carried around regularly like you'd expect from a laptop.

@gilesgoat I fully agree. HP below EliteBook is a no go

@gmarkall I had only ONE laptop ( so far ) in all my life I really cherished .. Was a company supplied laptop and was an IBM Thinkpad 1400 ( I think ) . It wasn't fancy ( well it was around 2002 ) but "it was as solid as a tank" and done the job PERFECTLY. I had it going from Europe to USA to Brasil back and forth being carried in all conditions. After I gave it back it was still perfect only the screen ( CF lights ) was a bit dim. I really liked it, it never failed me !

@gilesgoat I really enjoyed my Thinkpad X220 - I loved it because it was the last of the "original Thinkpad keyboards" before they went to chiclets, and it was pretty durable and repairable... I still have it, but it's way too slow for anything I do these days. I am sure it was not as well built as the 1400 (I bet it was indestructible!) but I found it a nice compromise...