New laptop

Hi everyone!

I need to buy a new laptop to replace my 12 years old laptop. I didn’t look after hardware for a while for some personal reasons.

I will buy something new. My needs are:

  • photo editing
  • video editing
  • vector graphics editing/creation
  • good battery life (I don’t want to worry about)
  • web navigating, docs, spreadsheets
  • USB-C charging would be nice

I don’t game, and Framework isn’t available where I live.

I would be happy to have some recommendation on what is a good hardware for this use and good brand.

Thanks!

the16bitgamer,
@the16bitgamer@lemmy.world avatar

Too many choices to help narrow it down for you. But you need to keep your own workflow in mind when picking out your CPU and GPU, for the software compatibility.

I use Davinci Resolve for my video editing, one of the few Professional NLE officially supported on Linux. Intel’s iGPU is incompatible with the software at this time. There are hacks and unofficial patches which are pointed out on the arch wiki, but the work required isn’t easy.

If you are using Adobe software you might need more power so you can run Windows in a VM, or has up-gradable storage so you can comfortably dual boot.

Good Battery is an cross x86 issue. While Intel and AMD are now trying to compete with Apple Silicon in terms of power and battery life. Stand by battery drain is still an issue. Google “Windows Modern Standby” if you want to get informed. If I remember correctly the laptop needs to have S3 Sleep enabled on it, and it’s usually not specified on a spec sheet.

Another battery saving tool is a CPU limiter like Slimbook Battery. My Laptop has a terrible fan curve and I need to throttle the CPU back, else the machine overheats. But it’s also good for the battery life too.

Software support is down to the Package Manager. Flatpak is your friend for most of this, but if you wanna dive into the deep end, so is the AUR if you installed Arch.

USB-C Charging is down to the laptop manufacturer. Here is a good infographic on the ones you need to look for. Intel Laptops are a safe bet.

Pantherina,

Do you know if the intel Xeon GPUs are also not working with Resolve?

Pantherina,

Do you know if the intel Xeon GPUs are also not working with Resolve?

the16bitgamer,
@the16bitgamer@lemmy.world avatar

No clue. According to the arch wiki you need a nodded Intel computer runtime

wiki.archlinux.org/title/DaVinci_Resolve#Installa…

Pantherina,

Do you know if the intel Xeon GPUs are also not working with Resolve?

danielfgom,
@danielfgom@lemmy.world avatar

Does it have to be a laptop? You’ll get better hardware and performance on a desktop plus a better screen and seating position.

BananaTrifleViolin,

True, but the focus on battery life suggests mobility is a must.

They could dock the laptop for a desktop experience at home, including a dedicated keyboard, mouse and screens, with a good desk and seating arrangement. A USB C equipped device would be the way to go for this.

But absolutely agree for price, desktop only is better value.

BCsven,

Desktop also performs better than laptop with “same” spec cpu, gpu, etc

possiblylinux127,

Desktops are not replacements for a laptop. I have a portable power efficient laptop for school and around the home. Laptops way more flexible.

moitoi,
@moitoi@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

It as to be a laptop. I’m mostly in my new activity, working outside my home. I’m using mostly trains as we can go everywhere with them. It also allows working while going somewhere.

witx,

Can I take my desktop with me anywhere? The screen and seating positions, at home, are an artificial problem…

jlow,

Have no idea if they’re any good but since you ppstwd this in Linux maybe one from the people that do PopOS:

system76.com/laptops

JoeyJoeJoeJr,

I would not recommend them. I bought a Galago Pro in 2020, and it’s been a huge disappointment. Pop!_OS was very buggy, and their support was not helpful. I ultimately installed Ubuntu, and it’s now significantly more stable, but I’m left asking the question “why did I pay a premium for a clevo, when I’m not getting anything out of the custom software or support?”

Even with Ubuntu, it’s not a good laptop. The speakers are worse than my phone, a fully charged battery will die completely in less than a day when the laptop is suspended, it runs unbelievably hot. As a developer who depends on this machine for daily work, it’s been intensely frustrating.

possiblylinux127,

That’s not the experience I’ve had. Maybe they have gotten better as my battery life is a full day and the speakers are great. I wish it had more thunderbolt but that may be fixed if or when they release there own hardware.

JoeyJoeJoeJr,

The battery life and speakers will certainly be model dependent. The quality of the machine I received and the lackluster support, given the price I paid, are what I find most frustrating. The computer would be fine for ~$600, but I paid over $1000. I paid a premium expecting System76 to hold themselves to a high standard, and so far, they’ve let me down in multiple ways.

I do recognize with a different model, the experience could be 180°, but if buying from them is a roll-of-the-dice, for me personally, that’s enough to buy from someone else next time.

possiblylinux127,

I have this device and it works well. Keep in mind there support is based in Denver Colorado so if your international you may have a issue.

Pantherina,

Gaming is not important if you do video editing. Hardware doesnt need to be very powerful if you dont do 4K or something, which tbh is not needed.

I would say look for a Clevo NV41 laptop as they are supported with Coreboot by 3mdeb, Novacustom, System76, Nitrokey etc. But flashing coreboot requires some knowledge and a hardware programmer.

I cant recommend other brands really. Thinkpads are just a name, good Linux support but their support is nonexistent if you dont pay, and the software updates are not long.

You may want AMD graphics, but I have had bad experience with amd mobile CPUs.

You will want to use

  • tlp
  • system76-scheduler (or this power management thing)
  • autocpufreq

Either one of these.

As a Distro I highly recommend ublue.it they are supporting many models with custom setups like Razer etc, but also main (intel, amd, no extras) or nvidia (proprietary drivers).

Especially if you go with an NVIDIA card, which has advantages, I recommend the system76 tool for switching between internal GPU and dedicated one. And I also recommend only ublue’s *-nvidia images, as you can rollback if an update with the drivers breaks something.

John,

I will allways go for used Thinkpads. Best value

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