Linux runs on literally anything. The hardware doesn’t matter too much these days, but which distro you pick does. I would say to just load a flash drive with a live image of a distro you think looks cool and see how you like it on a trial basis. Try a couple of them before you reqlly make a decision and then load the full image
Nvidia cards can still be tricky, especially on optimus laptops. It’s not nearly as problematic as it used to be, but I still run into occasional issues with it. If I ever buy a new computer for gaming, I’m going to go with AMD.
I don’t mind telling the game to use a dedicated graphics card and I don’t mind tinkering in general, but I want the graphics driver to work as expected. For example my Nvidia optimus setup doesn’t always play nice with the external monitor and I’m currently dealing an issue where an nvidia specific setting is needed to get some games working, but that same setting causes issues in other games.
I’ve heard great things about system76, never had one of their laptops myself but still have the desktop I got in 2011 (Wild Dog Pro). I personally use the frame.work 13, and it has been working great with Arch installed. I do not recommend Arch, use something like PopOS, or LinuxMint.
2 type c’s and 2 type A USB are in it 99% of the time. I have the HDMI, and display port modules but have rarely used them. I also keep the 2.5Gb Ethernet for when I break the WiFi to get back into the router, and a microsd for when I reflash my raspberry pi’s .
Other than they fit nicely into a pocket in my backpack…no. The main reason I love their product is the reparability aspect, allowing me to swap ports is just a neat feature.
I guess that makes sense, I can still just put the dongle I already have for edge cases like plugging into a DisplayPort monitor, needing Ethernet, etc. Also I didn’t realize until someone else commented that they have extra storage ones, that would probably be one for me
Oh man that’s the same as me! I’ve been having all sorts of issues with reliability with mine so I was curious if it was different generations. I guess I’m unlucky?
I was typing up a reply and realized this said most of what I was saying. The only thing I’d add is that support matters, popularity matters. Supported or popular HW platforms are less likely to have small random niggles than an off the shelf dell laptop. System 76 or tuxedo lines are ideal supported platforms. Think pads area super popular.
PopOS or Mint are as easy to use as ubuntu, but without being chained to snaps, which everyone is moving towards flatpaks except canonical
Any modern Thinkpad will run any Linux distro easy, from bios updates up to gaming with Proton. Dell laptops also have a good linux support. Try to avoid laptops with Nvidia cards though, AMD driver installation is way easier if not completely invisible/painless.
For the software side I would recommend Linux Mint as a great simple starter distro with good support and a nice community. The overall design paradigm is about maintaining familiarity while also making sane defaults and simplifying processes. Because it is Ubuntu based it is also easy to get documentation and support because what works for Ubuntu also works for Mint.
For hardware it really depends on your budget and locality as well as use case. Laptops vary much more country to country than you may think, so it may be worth thinking about what is local to you. For example, I live in Australia so System76 is a bad choice here, same with SlimBook (I think that is the name, European KDE laptop that advertises with that French(?) YouTuber, they don’t ship here.
Also, when looking at laptops the RAM configuration is important. If you have two RAM slots but only one RAM stick you will have really slow memory access. This will bottleneck for both the CPU and GPU if you are using both at the same time, say during gaming or doing AI work. Swapping out the single stick for a matching pair or just adding one more stick that matches what it already has will let both ports work together, making everything faster. Also when I say matching I mean in terms of size and speed. If you put 3200MHz and 2400MHz in the system at the same time the 3200MHz won’t just down tune to match, they will both go slower as far as I am aware. Best to match not only the speed but if possible the brand and ideally model, there are lots of little differences between RAM sticks and honestly it has never been worth the trouble in my experience to have mismatched sticks, I just replace with a matching pair.
If you just want stuff to work with minimal hassle, Linux Mint is an excellent choice. PopOS is also often recommended, especially for laptops. If you really want to get into the nitty gritty, something Arch based might fit the bill.
Choose whatever laptop you like, and do a quick search on the model for incompatibilities. If there’s something critical or long-term, like a very specific hardware module not working well without its proprietary driver, consider changing, but most of the time, Linux will just work.
For distro, PopOS is good. It doesn’t come with a bunch of bloatware, but it is also not barebones. Mint is also a great choice.
Hard to make a real recommendation without knowing your budget and general likes/dislikes. Like screen size, weight, clamshell vs convertible, integrated graphics vs dedicated GPU. I know you said gaming but integrated is great for indie and retro gaming and can handle some.modern stuff but a dgpu is needed if you’re playing AAA titles and care about graphics and framerate, etc.
For everyone who says Linux runs on anything, that’s mostly true but specific hardware components are still problematic. Most fingerprint scanners won’t work if the laptop comes with Windows and you’re installing yourself, the same for any unique hardware feature.
I have the Thinkpad x1 yoga gen 7 and everything works including the OR camera for facial recognition and the fingerprint scanner.
I don’t know if I can recommend framework. I’ve been having lots of reliability issues with their hardware.
I had massive issues a few months in. Lots of weird issues such as SSD randomly disconnects, screen flicker & system crashes, and issues with powering on after leaving the laptop overnight.
Been emailing back and forth with them since October trying out different fixes. All this time I haven’t really been able to use my laptop reliably. It should be getting sorted eventually. Their warrenty is pretty good and they finally agreed to replace the whole thing.
The laptop was nice. The modular ports was kinda cool because you can choose your io. The nice part was being able to open the laptop and upgrade parts without voiding warrenty. I think this is hardware issues rather than linux compatibility issues.
Maybe a Thinkpad would be more reliable for uni work
Can’t tell you what laptop to buy, but distro wise I’d recommend either Pop OS, Zorin or Linux Mint. Zorin is most windows-like, with Mint coming in second. Pop OS is very different but incredibly user friendly.
my brother runs a thinkpad T380. best thing about it is that there is a swappable and a built-in battery. he bought it “refurbished” so his didn’t include the internal one for some reason. but you can open and even upgrade some components.
all for around 300€.
we think these have benn bought by companies for full price (1000+€) and are now being replaced, so the market for used thinkpads is very saturated at the moment.
currently runs windows, but i see no problems with running linux on a laptop, you aren’t gonna game on integrated graphics anyway.
i’ve used Linux Mint Cinnamon a fair bit, i really like it. i’ve heard KDE offers more desktop customization, but i have no idea what that would actually look like. Kubuntu apparently has it.
A couple mentions in here of Linux Mint, I also recommend it having tried out a few distros before landing here. Especially if you go with an external GPU laptop, which might be a good choice for gaming needs, then Linux Mint has been really good about solving all of the annoying driver problems that could come up.
I have a Dell G15 Ryzen (AMD with nvidia GPU), it’s been pretty good but there’s always a trade-off between bulkiness and gaming needs. It’s just a little awkward to lug around to coffee shops, but it’s certainly got enough processing power for me.
System76 was a contender too, I think I just went with whichever was on sale!
I have never had an issue on Linux mint that was not me fucking with the comabd line doing things it warned me I should not, or that wasn’t outright a hardware failure
Another happy framework user. I have the AMD 13. The modularity allowed me to completely disassemble and clean/save the machine when my wife spilled an entire chai latte on a 1 week old computer. Fan can get a little loud, but the machine just works great and there’s a great community around it.
I was so close to buying a Framework and put Linux on it, but unfortunately my job requires me to use macOS, so I got a MacBook. I read a lot about the noise caused by the single fan, but the I’d say it’s worth it for the modular ports.
But I’m glad they got the HDMI output to work. I’m so excited for the release, I’m gonna install it as soon as it drops. I don’t necessarily need Thunderbolt, I just want some kind of video output. USB C display don’t work at this time. I also love their solution for audio: the speaker safety daemon as well as the audio preprocessor.
I’m so excited, Asahi will be great, especially soon with KDE Plasma 6.
This. It’s awesome. I have the i7-1165G7 and my son has the newer intel one. I prefer the smaller one but the larger one has a dedicated GPU. This is all you need… everything is replaceable. But pick the size you most likely need
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