The quantum of technological change over the last two decades was exponential. At the dawn of the 21st century, several middle class households had a dedicated room, often air conditioned, for their brand new computers, running on Windows XP. Some had even displayed them proudly in their living rooms, next to the TV. However, by the end of the 2000s, these gigantic machines were replaced by compact laptops; and it became inevitable to mention whether one means a laptop or a desktop when they say a computer. Several electronics manufacturers ventured into the manufacturing of laptops; and some at very affordable prices for an average Indian user.
This is precisely when I too have shifted from my home desktop computer to a laptop. I had been a recent graduate who was on his first job. I bought a Samsung NP Series laptop, and used the same for both my personal and professional purposes. I must be one of the rarest persons who have been using the same laptop for 10 years, until now. For the record, this laptop is still very much in working condition and runs smooth. Nonetheless, it does not have the power and speed for modern programming frameworks and graphics editing.
This is why I decided it is high time, I upgrade.
I was looking for a budget laptop that does not compromise on performance. Lenovo Ideapad 330 Ryzen 5 was Meenu’s suggestion. She had researched a lot online on a powerful budget laptop for her use. After a lot of discussions, we decided AMD Ryzen 5 is the solution to our specific scenario. I also quoted " Laws of Physics are the same for all " to encourage her to choose AMD over Intel. . However, she got confused between Asus Vivobook 15 and Lenovo Ideapad 330 (both with similar specs). Upon seeing both the machines, she had a hard time eliminating one to choose the other. She went with Asus , because it was much lighter and compact than the Lenovo, but was not very happy with the sound and keyboard of Asus.
I used Meenu’s Vivobook for a week to experience both the laptop and Ryzen5. It runs fine, and is quite efficient for her requirements.It looks and feels premium with its metallic outer lid. However, it does come preloaded with Windows 10. They don’t have the same machine without preinstalled Windows. It did not appeal to my logic that I pay for something that I would immediately replace. Meaning, I am a FOSS enthusiast, and intend to remain one :) This is also one prime reason why I decided to go with Lenovo Ideapad 330, as it comes with FreeDOS instead of Windows. However, this variant was not available with local vendors, and had very limited availability online as well. By the time, we finally purchased the laptop, the price had gone up to Rs. 32,990(which is almost the same as her Vivobook’s price) from 27,990. I got some cashbacks on Flipkart when I placed the order. I eagerly waited for the delivery, while I read through almost all possible linux forums and topics on the user experience of this laptop.
Flipkart delivery was prompt. They packaging was nice. I got the order in just one day’s time. Once the laptop arrived, we unpacked it and inspected for any physical damage or problems. The shipping was satisfactory. The package contained a laptop, power adapter and user manual. Once again, I checked to verify that the product serial no. in the package matches with the laptop. I put it on charging while I prepared for the linux installation.
All these years, I used only lightweight, resource-efficient distros to compensate my low-end laptop. When it came to choosing the OS for my new laptop, it was almost instinctive that I went with MX Linux. Meenu reminded me that I no longer use that old pentium 4 dual core laptop; and I can afford a full-fledged KDE desktop experience. She insisted that I go with Kubuntu 19.04.
I was doubtful. I remembered reading many threads about users facing issues to get ubuntu worked on this laptop. I decided to give it a try nonetheless. I downloaded the latest Kubuntu and Rufus to make live usb with EFI support.
As I turned on the laptop for the first time, it booted with FreeDos. I restarted it with Kubuntu live usb.
The Installation was not buttery-smooth. On first boot, Kubuntu did not pick up the GUI booting. It was getting stuck in between. So the first fix was to boot with ‘nomodeset’. If you’re reading this, you’re probably someone looking to install linux in your lenovo ideapad 330 and you may have come across the same errors as I did. So here is the fix:
- Press ‘e’ upon grub menu to edit
- Add ‘nomodeset’ after the splash word in boot sentence
- Boot
This will fix the booting and the kubuntu will give you option to install or try. I went with install, but you can always choose to try before installing. I successfully installed the OS on my new laptop and got it working.
There have been complaints about Touchpad not working, or right click not functional etc etc. But none of this was a problem to me. Both my touchpad and external mouse I have connected seemed to work very well. I assume, the latest Kernel in Kubuntu 19.04 (5.0.0-13-generic) have taken care of these issues. However, the WiFi was missing a few drivers and it did not work at first. I had to google with my usb tethering as I do not have a wired LAN. I recommend to find out the WiFi Adapter details before looking for a fix. My adapter is Realtech RTL8821CE. So I followed the instructions in this link :
After the reboot, everything seemed normal and functional. I checked my wifi and bluetooth. Tested the sound and camera. I am impressed by the Dolby Sound system.
I must say, this laptop, Lenovo Ideapad 330 Ryzen 5 Quad Core - (8 GB/1 TB HDD/DOS) 330-15ARR is a very good one for a budget laptop for programmers/developers in 2019.
P.S : Now that we have two machines with similar specs running on AMD Ryzen 5, you can expect a detailed comparison soon.