For those who’re currently looking for a nice new device: shown are (from Top Left to Right):
- NovaCustom (NL)
- Star Labs (UK)
- System76 (US)
- Juno Computers (US)
- UbuntuShop (BE)
- Slimbook (ES)
- Tuxedo Computers (DE)
- Entroware (UK)
- MiniFree (UK)
- Nitrokey (DE)
- Laptops with Linux (NL)
- Purism (US)
Not mentioned but also selling Ready-to-use Linux computer:
- Dell
- Lenovo
You can get external USB ones of those, which opens things up. Downside is that it’s another thing to carry, and you gotta plug it in when you sit down. Upside is that it lets you put the antenna wherever you want (which doesn’t matter much for Bluetooth, but can be nice for WiFi). Desktops these days with integrated BT/WiFi tend to have external antennas that you can place where you want, but laptops don’t have that option outside of USB.
That being said, I’ve gotten several exotic USB WiFi adapters for which I needed to compile in support; support wasn’t packaged and in the base kernel. So given the context of the “just works” standpoint, that could be a tripping spot.
Indeed, I got myself a mid-grade Netgear USB antenna. It works much better than on-board, but like you said it’s an extra thing with a wire. Doesn’t help with BT, but at least my mouse has an RF dongle for that.
It’s just a bit of a bummer that the price is what it is and the BT/WiFi is one of the cheap components.