linuxmemes

Framework, System76, Slimbook and Tuxedo are great choices

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

I have a very similar use case so here is my opinion.

HARDWARE

-No dGPU unless this is your PRIMARY gaming computer. (Reason: better battery life, lighter laptop, with recent AMD iGPU you have decent performance for non-VR/not massive openworld AAA games.)

-recent AMD CPU. (Reason: better performance to watt ratio than Intel which makes a big difference for most of your use cases. Better multi-core performance which makes compiling code much faster. Massively better iGPU for light-medium duty gaming.)

-atleast 16GB ram if not expandable but as much as you can reasonably budget.

-16:10 or taller aspect ratio screen (16:9 sucks on laptop size devices, the extra height makes a big difference for school, coding, browsing, pretty much everything but watching 16:9 movies)

-Resolution: personal preference. IMO 1080p or 1920*1200 for 16:10 is ideal for 14" and below laptops. Lower resolution means better battery and on a small screen the PPI is high enough. If you are OK with a trade off of battery life and want a super crisp display then 2K is the highest I would go. 4K is retarded on laptop sized screens unless you are plugged in 90% of the time and you'll have to fuck with scaling then.

-metal body for stiffness and durability

-decent key travel (usually longer travel means better IME)

If you want to do machine learning/AI work professionally I use and recommend investing in a dedicated desktop with a large memory nvidia (cuda cores) GPU and installing the cuda drivers. Trying to cram commercially viable ai hardware into a laptop is a losing battle and you'll end up with a worse experience for both use cases, wont be able to fit large models in the memory anyways, and end up buying a desktop for AI while being stuck with a laptop that is worse for laptop use)

SOFTWARE

#1 Nobara OS KDE - best OOB experience for gaming IMO. Easy transition from windows. Has kernel fixes and many laptop specific fixes (asusctrl for example) by default which means you have a good chance of extra features like LEDs, fingerprint, etc working without tinkering). Fedora based.

#2 Linux Mint Debian Edition (LMDE6) - best non-gaming distro to learn and grow into IMO. Access to deb packages. Stable. (nobara has been stable for me as well, but it is LMDE's bread and butter). Ease of transition from windows. Can game just as well if you are capable of following simple instructions to configure the stuff done by default on nobara and pop (may need to manually change kernels, drivers, etc to get the best performance on new hardware)

#3 Pop_OS - used it for years, but I prefer Nobara after comparing. Ubuntu based so you have access deb packages without ubuntu's bullshit. Setup out of the box for gaming. I got fed up with failed updates, broken packages, and sluggishness so I swapped to nobara which has been a treat.

EDIT: you can snag some good deals on amazon warehouse deals (used-like new) laptops. These are usually just open box returns and if there is anything wrong you have 30 days to return it.

I recently upgraded to an Asus vivobook S 14x OLED (M5402R) for $780 CAD ($580USD) with a ryzen 7 6800H, 16GB DDR5, a 1TB gen 4 nvme, and it has zero signs of use, slight coil whine under load that I can only hear if I put my ear next to the keyboard and don't have any sound or music on (I suspect this was the reason for the return on mine since its a common complaint for this model. That's what I was hoping for since I'm not that picky and its worth the steep discount IMO.) Everything works oob on Nobara. I believe lenovo also regularly heavily discounts their previous gen thinkpads which are a great option, although the AMD configs are rare. Good luck!

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.

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.

Framework laptop 13

Check out the Framework 16. Ubuntu and Fedora are officially supported. I run Debian on my Framework 13 no problem.

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

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Any used ThinkPad will be an incredible value with Linux installed.

Esp32

System76 and Framework

Which distro makes you wanna rent a penguin and smash your monitor with an apple? What would you reocmmend?

I hear good things about Tuxedo computers. I might give one a try when I’m in the market again. I usually point people at Pop! OS and Mint or something Fedora based if they are into immutable file systems. I personally use Fedora Kinoite and love it. It’s super easy and doesn’t break.

uhh ThinkPad yes ThinkPad ThinkPad is linux THINKPAD PENGUIN

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fine print: oh yea also framework

Thinkpads (p14s are a good example) are really great with everything except probably gaming. Having a good GPU usually just comes at the cost of battery life.

Fedora or Nobara for OS

If you reaaaaaally want gaming, you could look at external GPU via thunderbolt or USB 4

If you want something even lighter, Samsung makes some decent laptops with insane battery life and really thin metal casing. Only issue is they're usually expensive and don't drop in price like Thinkpads sometimes do.

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

Check if your university has a laptop program with sweet discounts, or look for other student discount offerings first. Could be worth it.

ThinkPad cus framework still doesn't have a trackpoint :p

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.

Framework have support for everything, including the built-in fingerprint sensor. So I think my next laptop will be this.

Most stuff has already been said, but I'll just add my 2 cents:

I/O is very important. I got a laptop with a pathetic amount of ports and I deeply regret it. Don't be like me

I have a Dell XPS, very compatible and essentially had no issues. Sleek laptops too, good for being on the road.

Just gonna throw in a recommendation for Nobara as a distro. Based on Fedora, maintained by Glorious egroll who makes great versions of proton. Distro is tuned for gaming but is great for regular use too. Used it for over a year and set my GF up with it as her first Linux desktop.

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

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.

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.

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 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