Linux does support DVDs and other optical formats, but if you're hoping to play Blu-ray movies, you'll need to get a Blu-ray optical drive that can read and write DVDs. Because Blu-ray involves DRM, you'll need to have the latest versions of and to perform the necessary decryption in an open source environment.

Screen Size, Hard Drive, Battery, and Keyboards

Considerations on these should be much the same as for . Consider your needs and choose accordingly.

Before you begin shopping for a Linux laptop, think carefully about how you plan to use it. This will guide not only your choice of a distro and whether you want to dual-boot, but also which features are most important to you. If there are any "must-have" apps you rely on, double-check up front whether or not they support Linux, or if there are equivalent open source alternatives; if not, you'll be dual-booting for sure.