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’re looking for something that can handle AAA games, I’ve had a great experience with my Dell G5. Linux Mint had everything working out of the box, including the dedicated Nvidia GPU (though I agree with others, AMD is easier in Linux).
My laptop also has the advantage of allowing you to do weight training every time you move it, so there’s that to consider.
I use an asus rog g15 from 2021. It actually has pretty great linux support with asus-ctl but I can’t recommend it in good concience for professional purposes, it is decked out with rgb also asus has a pretty bad reputation of customer support.
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.
No no no no. I love the pinebook pro. But please don’t suggest it to anyone as a newbie hardware choice trying to get anything done. There are so many little quirks on hardware this slow and moreso having to deal with arm repos and all of the incompatible software/workarounds.
A few examples.
If you want to watch YouTube you basically have one browser option. Chromium. Additionally if you want to watch any drm content then you need to install a docker container that runs chromium that has drm enabled.
App images and flatpak software repos are nowhere near complete which can be not great for someone who is just trying to get some work done. Really not great when some devs are exclusively distributing via flatpak.
No virtualization. It just doesn’t have the capability. Sure there are docker containers but that isn’t exactly virtualization.
I love my pinebook. It’s a great machine for just have a very cheap low spec thin client with a decent keyboard and screen but I would never ever recommend it to a newbie.
Not a laptop, but I replaced my old laptop with a micro PC from minisforum EM680 and I’m very happy running Linux Mint in it. If you tend to use your laptop on the same spot, it’s a great way have a more performing and ergonomic PC for the same or lower price.
I can power it from my monitor, so I can have only one cable at the desk. Bluetooth and wifi working out of the box.
At any rate, I suggest you stick to AMD graphics as they have native open source support.
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.
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.
Since you do want to game, I’d recommend going with a computer with an amd DGPU. Nvidia is mostly fine from a driver standpoint. Also Nvidia does have cuda so you might actually want to get one with an Nvidia dgpu.
Get something with an Intel wireless card, that’d be the best case scenario. I’ve had weird issues with both realtek and Broadcom. Lots of amd laptops come with mediatek based wireless cards, idk if they work well in Linux.
Tbh I’d rec any laptop that fit your requirements and install your distro of choice. (bunsenlabs for me).
What tinkering do you think a framework laptop requires? Even the diy option is basically just install RAM, put case together. It’s an hour of work max if you’re being REALLY meticulous
Lots of good Rocco’s, but if you need to balance price and still get a high end machine, Lenovo Carbon. Runs fantastic out of the box, including S3/etc.
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