I currently have a low end Windows gaming laptop that I was planning to upgrade to Linux before Win10 goes end of life, but my HDMI port stopped working, so now I’m debating buying a new Linux laptop instead. Can anyone provide any recommendations?
I would prefer to have something preloaded with linux. On my current laptop I don’t play anything too demanding because it can’t handle it, instead I either stream more demanding games from my desktop or Xbox. I would likely run a VM with Windows because I need to use MS Office for school and I assume I could use that for streaming Xbox games as well.
I would prefer something that can handle a moderate game load without going nuts on fan noise. I would like to have a decent amount of storage (at least 1-2 TB), so either preloaded with that or easily upgradeable would be important.
I’m still figuring out my budget, it depends on what happens with work this summer. I will either be looking for something below $1k or possibly up to $2k if it seems worthwhile. I haven’t really used Linux very much before and not at all in the last 10 years. Any ideas?
I bought a Tuxedo two years ago. They have affordable (and highly configurable) Linux laptops, some of which are aimed at gamers.
Question: Do you intend to play games with high-fidelity?
Like, the latest gen iGPUs from both AMD and Intel are capable for light gaming (as can be seen on the many pc-handhelds). But, is that sufficient for you? Or, do you need more raw power on your device?
I’ve never cared about running high quality graphics, medium is fine for me. I’m more concerned with fan noise than graphics. My current system is fine for things like Skyrim and Sims 4, but for something like BG3 I’m streaming from my desktop.
I’m gonna recommend Framework to everyone because not only are they built with Linux in mind, but they’re also built with repairability/upgradability in mind. Unfortunately I don’t believe these come pre-loaded with Linux, but honestly, if you’re comfortable using Linux, installing it will be the easiest part.
I’m okay with blank hardware, I’ve done all my desktop builds for more than 25 years (and recently did the SSD upgrade on a SteamDeck). I just never new there was anything similar available on the laptop market. My concern was more with paying for a Windows license or having hardware that was a subpar choice for linux drivers. I will definitely be learning more!
If you want something preinstalled then I would recommend something from system76 or Framework if you are in the US. And unless you are using the full MS Office suite with email heavily you can do all that with Libreoffice or OnlyOffice(On Archlinux there are clients for things like MS teams and stuff, there should be on other distros too).
I have a Lenovo Ideapad3 i3 iIntel processor and 8GB of RAM and play usually light indie games and it works fine with no excessive fan noise.
There is Steam OS which is obviously tailored for gaming so I guess that would be exactly what you need.
Does your current laptop have a dedicated graphics card?
Can you try a USB to HDMI adapter? I don’t recall how they work with a dedicated card. Haven’t used one since Intel i7 gen 2 days, so my reference points are no longer relevant.
Here’s an idea: buy Framework 16. It’s expensive, yes, but if your HDMI port stops working it’s not an issue because internally it connects via USB so you can buy a new insert for hdmi for $20.
Not only that, but the dGPU can be removed and upgraded to a newer model. It’s the only laptop on the market that can do this, and I’m waiting for the next AMD GPUs to actually buy a dGPU for my laptop. The iGPU actually games well too! I think similar to a 1050 or 1050ti in some games.
It doesn’t come preloaded with Linux, but it has excellent support for it.
What about a steam deck?
I actually have one, but I use my laptop as a laptop the majority of the time and the steam deck would not work well for that. I suppose an alternative to buying something new would be to properly setup cloud storage so I could more easily switch between laptop and desktop PCs rather than “docking” (aka KVM) my laptop when I want to use a proper setup at my desk. My poor desktop is essentially unused at this point other than occasionally streaming games to my laptop.
The best deal is probably going to be looking for a used machine with a 3080Ti. There were several of these made with Intel 12th gen CPU’s. That is probably the cheapest way to get a 16 GB GPU. They can be found for considerably less than $2k. Anything with a “3080Ti” where the “Ti” part is super important, has a 16 GB GPU, (the “3080” is 8GB). That was the only 16 GB laptop GPU until the newer Nvidia 4k stuff.
That can play any game, and can run some large models for AI stuff if you become interested. On the AI front, you want maximum system memory too if possible. My machine can only address 64 GB of sysmem. Some go up to 96 GB. I wish I could get like 256 GB.
Just because a machine comes with Linux does not mean the problems are solved. You will find many times when people buy machines that have peripheral kernel modules that are orphaned and not part of the kernel. Orphaned kernels are not real Linux and are like phones. Indeed this is the exact mechanism used to steal your phone and prevent you from using it for its true hardware lifetime.
The real solution is https://linux-hardware.org/. Use that to see what works where. You also need to understand modern secure boot with the TPM chip and package keys. These exist outside of the Linux kernel. If delving into this system is too much for you to deal with or of no interest, just stick to using either Ubuntu or Fedora. These both have a special system outside of Linux that will handle the keys for you. Presently, these are the only two distro choices that do this; not derivatives either, it must be vanilla Ubuntu or Fedora. You won’t be able to change anything in kernel space when going this route, but if the keys issue is unimportant, that probably won’t be an issue.
Wow, looking at some of the system specs I was thinking, “who even needs 64GB of RAM?” I don’t think I’ve ever had a system with more than 16GB. But I suppose there was a time when people thought the same about 512KB. I probably wouldn’t shop used, but maybe refurb. I never buy extended warranties, but I do like having the initial guarantee when I buy a new device.
Everything else you mentioned is way outside my knowledge; I could probably learn, but I would rather just have something that works. I used to love getting into the technical stuff, but now I just want to turn on my device and use it.
