My experience with Proton has been really great so far. Constant steady improvements to their services and UI/UX, I wish I had switched to them sooner.
Yeah, seems like there isn’t a big group of folks that are looking for this kind of solution.
I’ve thought about designing a case to my specs that could be 3D printed or maybe be built with some very basic steel sheet, but that’s more DIY than I have time for right now.
I’ve owned a Thinkpad A485 with touchscreen for years and had several Linux distros on it including Manjaro and Linux Mint which I am currently using.
Never had any issues, touchscreen always works out of the box without me having to do anything extra. In fact, with a few distros, I’ve had issues with certain wireless mice, but my touchscreen always has worked. So I’ve actually had slightly better luck with the laptop touchscreen than some external mice lol.
Now a qualifier: I rarely use the touchscreen, and when I do, it’s always just to click something or scroll on an article or file list. I don’t do any special gestures or fancy touch functions, so I can’t speak to support from that perspective.
Also an option I am considering. I prefer something a little more professional if possible, but not a bad option if I can’t get something else to work.
Back end is open but wall-mounted. If there is a way to mount the case forward a few inches so it leaves a gap in the back, that would be fine with me.
I haven’t found any brackets that seem to do that though.
Out of your price range listed, but I’ll list it for others. Sennheiser Momentum 4. Bluetooth tested on four different Linux devices and all have worked perfectly so far.
Super comfortable, great quality. Headphones I plan on having for a decade or more, I would highly recommend them.
ZorinOS. I tried to install it on my spouse’s computer with all modern, well-supported AMD hardware. Had nothing but problems, to the point that the computer was barely usable. WiFi broken, GUI was laggy, repositories were buggy. When I finally got the system somewhat stable, I didn’t like the interface at all. Styles were bland, icons dull, everything just seemed clunky and awkward.
For a distro advertised as a beginner-friendly and pay-for-polish system, I was very dissapointed.
Might have been a fluke, I don’t think my experience is standard for Zorin, but it was a really terrible first impression and I never suggest it to Linux-curious folks. Mint or Vanilla Fedora are my go-to for newbs.