I recently got a refurbished Dell 5310 2-in-1 with an i7-10610 and 16GB of RAM and I'm considering trying out Linux on it. However, I'm having some issues with the fingerprint sensor, which seems to be faulty. Since I'm relatively new to Linux (just ran Ubuntu on an old desktop as a media player ages ago), I'm curious whether fingerprint readers typically work well on Linux. Should I return the machine because of this issue? Any tips on whether this laptop is a solid choice for Linux would really be appreciated!
3 Answers
What Linux distro do you plan to use? Make sure to check if the fingerprint scanner is supported by it. Since you mentioned you're still on Windows, it's a good idea to figure out if the sensor is just not working with your current OS or if it's a hardware problem.
Fingerprint readers can be hit or miss with Linux. Generally, many don’t work reliably at all, so you might not be missing much. If the machine is good in every other aspect, consider keeping it regardless of the fingerprint issue.
That's what I was thinking too! If everything else works fine, returning just because of that might not be worth it.
I have a T480 with a fingerprint reader, and I use it regularly on Arch. It works without any trouble for me, especially with sudo commands. So, there's a chance you might have a different experience depending on the hardware and the distro you choose.
I haven't switched to Linux yet since I want to confirm everything works first. I’d probably go for Ubuntu, Pop!_OS, or Mint because they seem user-friendly. Just trying to make sure the fingerprint thing isn't a Linux issue.