What is the best current gaming laptop that comes with Linux pre-installed? I don’t want to “pay Microsoft” by buying a Windows-licensed machine. Please suggest the best value-for-money option (original retail price) with 32 GB or more of RAM. I’m willing to upgrade hardware myself, but I want a high-quality, durable machine — I plan to use this laptop for more than five years.
“What is your budget?”
around $1,400 USD, but if there is a $2000 laptop with higher ratio of quality / price I would choose that one.
“What size do you want?”
Any normal size.
“What screen resolution?”
Any, as long as it’s not 720p.
“Which GPU?”
As good as possible, I care more about highest ratio of quality / price
“And if you want warranty, which country are you in?”
I don’t need a warranty.
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Linux preinstalled is going to remove a lot of candidates. If you relax your requirements to include known setups/components that work well with Linux then that would help expand your options. The amount that Microsoft gets from the preinstalled license is likely negligible.
Framework 16?
Definitely something to consider in terms of longevity. User replacable RAM, storage, and battery.
And they’ve now successfully done the first mainboard and gpu refresh.
Linux would not be pre-installed, but it can be purchased without windows.
Framework 16?
I’m choosing now between Framework laptop and System76 laptop. Both seems great, but System76 laptop seems to have a better quality judging by the looks of it?
I went with a Framework 16 and upped it to 48gb ram with the graphics extension. That thing is a powerhouse. I didn’t get it for gaming, but for design work. Still, it can play anything out now on the highest settings and is fully modular so I’m planning to be buried with this thing.
ETA: I also went the Linux route and don’t have any regrets.
Framework laptops are really cool, but the modular design seems to make them more vulnerable.
I had a FW16 for about a year. I got fed up with the poor fit and finish, and utterly unreliable USB-A expansion modules.
System76 sure ain’t perfect either, at least my pangolin 15 leaves a lot to be desired between the shit trackpad, awful battery drain during suspend, and extremely limited BIOS config options. But it’s put together way better than a Framework 16 is
System76 sure ain’t perfect either, at least my pangolin 15 leaves a lot to be desired between the shit trackpad, awful battery drain during suspend, and extremely limited BIOS config options.
Makes sense, I guess it could be better with AMD chips
Tuxedo Computers ship Linux 😀
I’d recommend something AMD if you want fast and stable graphics drivers.
As long as it’s a 3xxx or 4xxx Nvidia card honestly its just as good as Nvidia now as long as you arnt being dumb and trying to use Debian or mint or something that has a massively out of date kernel on a new laptop.
I had a 3060 and the support for wayland was just terrible.
Loads of games didn’t work on proton or ran terribly.
Moment I switch to AMD on Linux I have not had any crashes, and games run out of the box with good performance.
Just my experience, there is no real reason why most people need nvidia GPUs on Linux. The vram is small, and prices often don’t compete well with AMD.
CUDA and other media stuff is usually a strawman as most people literally never it. If you need that desktop with SSH is much better value for money.
What other GPU options are available for Linux? Or does gaming with Proton simply require a powerful AMD CPU?
AMD drivers for linux are simply superior in the same class. See the new Gamer’s Nexus video. The 9070xt beats the 5090 not just once.
The CPU matters, but the drivers on AMD support linux much better.
If you’ve got the dough a AMD 395 with 128GiB is the best thing you can get for mobile linux imo.
PSA: Don’t buy a gaming laptop. They are trash. The plastic case will melt, the wifi card will come loose, the battery will die within minutes. A steam deck is truly your best option.
And never ever buy alienware. Screw them in particular.
Literally every higher end laptop gets called a gaming laptop… It’s a nothing term. Even the absolute least flashy laptop with no RGB and is basically just a glorified Thinkpad with a 4080 mobile in it gets called a gaming laptop just cause of the 4080.
Saying don’t buy a gaming laptop basically means you can’t buy literally any good high end hardware full stop.
It’s a short sighted and frankly stupid piece of advice that just hurts people.
The Alienware bit tho, that’s spot on. 100% fuck em.
whats with alienware? bad quality?
Overpriced, over-hyped consumer hardware that’s loud, obnoxious, and not that much better than significantly cheaper options.
You’re paying for the brand, and a bunch of obnoxious LED lights that are plugged in to every spare inch of the thing.
