I’m on the market to buy a new laptop, and Lemmy has successfully coaxed and goaded me to give Linux a serious try.

I’ve never used *nix as my personal OS.

Which hardware/laptop do you recommend? And which OS to pair it with for a Linux newbie?

I’m a software engineer, and quit my job to pursue an MSc in AI. So my uses will be:

  • programming
  • study
  • browsing lemmy
  • gaming
  • SendPicsofSandwiches@sh.itjust.works
    352·
    1 year ago

    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

    • cm0002@lemmy.world
      531·
      1 year ago

      The hardware doesn’t matter too much these days

      WiFi, Bluetooth and Nvidia graphics have entered the chat

      • agelord@lemmy.world
        7·
        1 year ago

        The proprietary Nvidia graphics drivers works pretty well in most distros. Just go to your distro’s driver manager and enable the proprietary driver.

        • cyberfae@lemmy.worldEnglish
          1·
          1 year ago

          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.

    • muntedcrocodile@lemmy.world
      4·
      1 year ago

      I use manjaro xfce but i would reccommend fedora or mint if ya starting out. Fedora seems to just work most of the time hardware wise.

    • Fred@lemm.ee
      6·
      1 year ago

      Second framework. The upgradeable is unmatched… Except if you want to go from the 13inch to 16inch.

    • lud@lemm.ee
      3·
      1 year ago

      Framework seems nice but only 4 ports is a huge deal breaker.

    • jo3shmoo@sh.itjust.works
      3·
      1 year ago

      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.

  • onlinepersona@programming.devEnglish
    171·
    1 year ago

    https://linuxpreloaded.com/ for a longer list

    These are my favorites (EU based)

    1. TuxedoComputers
    2. SlimBook
    3. Star Labs Systems

    Tuxedo Computers can get you a very good dev laptop for ~1500€ (64GB RAM, AMD/Intel CPU, NVIDIA/AMD graphics card). If you will be working in AI, I imagine you’ll need CUDA (?) aka NVIDIA.
    If you don’t go for anything on linuxpreloaded (which I wouldn’t recommend), it’s good to check whether what you’re buying has linux hardware support by checking the Linux Hardware DB. Even if you don’t look, it’ll probably work, but better safe than sorry if you’re going to dump 1/3 or 1/2 of your months salary into something (depending on where you are).

    For a distro, I dunno what level you are, but Distro Chooser can help you out with making a choice. My recommendations:

    linux beginner

    Linux mint. nice desktop environment, looks like a mashup between windows and mac, still missing advanced options, but quite customisable. comes with suitable standard software and cloud integrations (you can connect to a bunch of clouds), relatively up to date

    Ubuntu is well-known, some proprietary companies even consider it “the linux” and only make linux versions for it. It’s quite stable. However, it isn’t my first recommendation anymore as they are going down a proprietary route. I’m not sure if they have ads yet, but wouldn’t surprise me if they started.

    desktop environment

    This is the desktop suite, a bundle of packages that work well together on any distro, with its own look and feel. There are basically 3 camps:

    • windows look n feel
      • KDE: is the most known, is very customisable, has an abundant amount of themes, icon sets, login screens, fonts, and a well-sized userbase. They prefix many app names with “K”. Ubuntu even has a distro version called “Kubuntu” with KDE on it
      • Cinnamon: main user is Linux Mint
      • LXDE and XFCE: look closer to windows 95 and windows XP, consume minimal resources. configuration is through the interface, advanced configuration through files
    • mac look n feel
      • Gnome: they are well known and source of flame wars (gnome vs KDE). windows don’t have title bars, things are very rounded, not very configurable, heavily mac inspired
    • tiling window managers
      • these aren’t desktop environments, but sit more in the middle, they manage windows. best to watch a video about tiling window managers. they are very geeky and perfect if you love using nothing but your keyboard

    CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

  • Marty@programming.dev
    12·
    1 year ago

    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.

    • dave@hal9000@lemmy.world
      9·
      1 year ago

      I have been eyeing a framework laptop. Just curious how you use the modular ports in your case: do you have different ones you swap sometimes?

      • Marty@programming.dev
        5·
        1 year ago

        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 .

        • maxprime@lemmy.ml
          3·
          1 year ago

          Is there any advantage to having extra ports over a dongle with all of those at once?

          • Marty@programming.dev
            2·
            1 year ago

            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.

      • GorgeousDumpsterFire@lemmy.world
        5·
        1 year ago

        I have a “typical” set of ports (2x USB-C, HDMI, USB-A) that’s on my laptop most of the time. I also have the 2.5GbE adapter that I use occasionally.

    • BurnSquirrel@lemmy.world
      6·
      1 year ago

      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

      • Marty@programming.dev
        3·
        1 year ago

        Intel 11th gen. I was in the first few batches when it came out and haven’t had a need to upgrade, but love that I can if needed.

        • blotz@lemmy.world
          4·
          1 year ago

          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?

  • pewgar_seemsimandroid@lemmy.blahaj.zone
    101·
    1 year ago

    uhh ThinkPad yes ThinkPad ThinkPad is linux THINKPAD PENGUIN

    a a a a a a a a a a

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    a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a

    a a

    a a a a.a a a

    fine print: oh yea also framework

  • platypus_plumba@lemmy.world
    134·
    1 year ago

    I’m just here to say that lemmy should have an integration with Midjourney that automatically creates an image based on the content of the text.

  • Grass@sh.itjust.works
    8·
    1 year ago

    I just want a modern AMD apu laptop with coreboot, slotted ram and multiple nvme slots, but like everything these days it would seem I’m asking for too much.

    • voxel@sopuli.xyz
      1·
      1 year ago

      my current dell one has an amd cpu, slotted ram (no soldered on crap) and nvme + sata (with space for a drive); too bad the build quality and the touchpad sucks
      my old lenovo one also had replacable slotted cpus (with Pentium 2020m pre-installed). The lid also just slid off (like on a rail), with only one screw needing removal, no flimsy plastic clips. I broke plastic part of the hinge on that one by just flipping it over, oh well.

  • MystikIncarnate@lemmy.caEnglish
    7·
    1 year ago

    I have a framework. The smaller one. I think they have two now. One of the older CPUs. Got it now than a year ago and it’s been solid. Disclaimer: I don’t run Linux on it, so IDK what that’s like at the moment.

    I’ve used most makes and models of laptops and desktops at some point for some duration… The hazards of being in IT… I can’t recommend anything from Microsoft. Simply too hard to do anything with when anything goes wrong and you’re entirely at the mercy of MS for everything. I personally don’t like Lenovo, I’ve had a few Lenovo’s that have their PCIe slots locked to only accept specific device I.D.s in the firmware. I had to flash a hacked firmware to upgrade the wifi in one. It was an unpleasant experience. It did eventually work, but it was not fun. I also don’t care for their keyboard layouts. That’s been improved recently from what I’ve heard, I’m still equally not a fan of their systems.

    I’ve had the most experience with HP and Dell, and for the most part they’re very similar. Anything from their business lines will perform quite well though graphics may only be whatever comes integrated with the CPU.

    I always push towards business systems because from what I’ve seen, they’re more robust and usually don’t break nearly as fast.

    I’d think about getting an eGPU for gaming since no matter how powerful the system or it’s GPU is, it will be massively outdated long before the system fails or becomes inoperable from age. With an eGPU external enclosure, you can upgrade any time you like to a desktop card for much cheaper than replacing the system. Most eGPU enclosures can also act as docking stations, providing power and even network and other things along with the graphics connection.

    That’s a lot of hardware talk though. I’m not going to tell you what to pick, I’m just making the best recommendations I can given the information available to me.

    Good luck

  • padge@lemmy.zipEnglish
    7·
    1 year ago

    I have a Framework laptop and just installed Ubuntu on it the other day, it works great. Ubuntu and Fedora are officially supported by Framework and there’s a bunch of other distros that are confirmed tested. I have the 13" but the 16" just came out with a dedicated GPU, that’s probably the one to get if you’re going to game on it

  • fr4nk_j4eger@lemmy.world
    6·
    1 year ago

    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.