Recommended Hardware for Kali?

[JTD121]

Hey all,

I have a couple laptops floating about at work, but I was curious, is there a recommended set of hardware that will run everything right out-of-the-box? I was specifically thinking something along the lines of a Chromebook, due to the general low cost and small size/weight. I know they obviously run ChromeOS, though some can be made to run Ubuntu, or some other flavor of Linux, and a few can be made to run Windows (mostly the Intel-based ones).

Thinking of buying an older Thinkpad X120e or similar just to play around with, and Kali is one of the distros I am thinking of installing permanently. If I need to, I can just buy a WiFi card that will work in it, I suppose.

Thanks for any input!

[lillypad]

Personally I would recommend for hardware is any computer that has a AMD Processor, Nvidia Graphics Card, and a build in wireless card that supports monitor mode. AMD and Nvidia are easier to deal with having kali in general because of linux support in general. No specific computer I can state but those are the aspects I look at for any hardware I buy to put kali on it.

[ASGR]

The top three suppliers for linux machines are HP, Dell and Lenovo. They all offer a Linux option and should generally be compatible.
However, I would recommend sticking with a basic system with minimal gimics i.e. no unneccessary hardware.
I'm running Kali on a Lenovo Carbon X1/2G and apart from the finger print reader, everything works OK including wireless monitor mode on Intel Card.

[JTD121]

Sweet! Thanks for the info!

A shame they don't make high resolution subnotebooks anymore (10-12", maybe even 13") that aren't hideously expensive. At least from HP, Dell, Lenovo that I've looked at Either they are stripped down, plastic Chromebooks, or uncustomizable before purchase (for faster/more cores, more RAM, etc).

I am not sure what WiFi card will come equipped in my (future) X120e, but I believe stock it's using a Realtek chipset, so should work alright with Kali.

[wheatley_ind]

I've just picked up a Lenovo X201 - i5 2.4GHz and 4GB RAM for £100.

Bigger than a netbook, small and lightweight, well built!

[JTD121]

Right-o, finally got it installed (not using the 'official' Win32 Disk Imager) on the laptop.

Looks like I'm gonna have to go find a BIOS that has the Lenovo whitelist removed. Thinking of an Intel 6250 for dual-band N; anything better out there? I know I can probably use one of the other antennae meant for the WWAN.

I wonder if I can still find an X240 with a FHD screen for cheap-ish....?

[threeIndexZero]

Hey JT, did you have any issues, or hear of any issues with the install process failing while copying system files to the HDD? I have a thinkpad x120e that i love, but while trying to install kali (currently ubuntu 12.04) i get the same error while its actually in the copy process... wondered if you had the same issue...

[JTD121]

Hey JT, did you have any issues, or hear of any issues with the install process failing while copying system files to the HDD? I have a thinkpad x120e that i love, but while trying to install kali (currently ubuntu 12.04) i get the same error while its actually in the copy process... wondered if you had the same issue...

Not that I can recall at the moment. I did spend a good few weeks tweaking and reinstalling a few times when I messed up. What part are you getting stuck on? What settings are you using before it gets stuck?