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Considerations For Buying a New Laptop (lemmy.blahaj.zone)
submitted 5 months ago by to c/linux@lemmy.ml
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Hey all. I've recently swapped to Linux and I've been really enjoying it so far. I'm still pretty new to basically every aspect of it, though, so I'm not super sure what things I should be wary of with regard to hardware, in particular with Mint.

I was looking at buying a newer laptop to keep up with my main game, but it occurred to me that newer hardware may come with either a host of issues or be less supported than older hardware.

Any advice for laptops in this regard?

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[–] [S] 2 points 5 months ago (1 child)

My go-to is FFXIV, but I run it fairly heavily modded as do most of the group I play with, so I don't have a super firm set of minimum specs since it fluctuates pretty heavily.

Besides that, every now and then, a modern game comes out that I'd like to play on Steam, like Silent Hill F, which is just completely beyond my laptop at this point.

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  • [–] 1 point 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 child)

    Ok yeah that does give me a good idea but what general price range are you thinking about? Also does it have to be a laptop? I can find a desktop that can play basically anything for a good price.

    Let me clearify why I'm reccomending you get a desktop, silent hill f is extremely demanding. I mean the reccomend GPU is a 2080Ti or a 6800XT. Especially right now that's gonna be expensive but I can guarantee if you want that on a laptop prepare to pay several grand, on a desktop however I can find options at or below a grand (keep in mind used because PC prices are insane rn).

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  • [–] [S] 2 points 5 months ago* (1 child)

    Yeah, unfortunately I'm stuck with laptops for now. I've had to move at a minimum once a year for the last six years or so, so I basically don't keep anything I can't put into a pair of hiking bags to lug around with me.

    Without getting into specifics, I am ideally taking a temporary job that will give me a fair amount of disposable income, but I'm committed for a year with an option to do a second year.

    It's kind of a rare opportunity for me and I'm not even certain I'll get it, but if I do, then the price of an upgrade doesn't really matter to me much, within reason. It's essentially going to be my only valuable item for the foreseeable future, for work, play, hobbies, all of it, so I don't mind putting extra money into this to make sure it works well and lives a good, long time. I mean, I'm not gonna throw 4 grand at a laptop, but some of these other pricey ones at like System76 and Framework aren't off the table for me at this point.

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  • [–] 2 points 5 months ago

    Yeah no I understand so here are a few suggestions, their prices, advantages, and disadvantages:

    Framework 16: This is the most powerful laptop they offer and has the option for an all AMD build (great for Linux). Specifically you can get this with a 7700S and a 350, that should be enough for any workflow or even decent gaming (keep in mind its below recommended so you may need to reduce some settings or play at a lower resolution). The way pricing is going these days and depending on how you configure it you can spend anywhere from $2,000 to $3,000.

    Disadvantages: Its not a Linux machine so you wont receive any additional support, its very upgradable means its build quality can at times feel inconsistent, and lastly keep in mind this system doesnt get upgrades very often and new parts are inconsistent. The AMD GPU they offer is still the original one (they did a Nvidia option but Nvidia is a headache) and they have a new CPU option but its still not as consistent as their 13 model.

    Distro: I personally recommend pairing this with Fedora KDE edition

    Gazelle (System76): This laptop well exceeds the minimum specs for silent hill f, the best part is it comes preinstalled with pop_os which is maintained by system76 themselves so you are practically guaranteed a premium experience. It comes with a 5050 which normally would be a pain to set up but they set it up for you. Great software support all around and cosmic is an amazing desktop. It costs around 2k can be more if you want more ram/storage but the default is fine. Overall the build quality seems good and its not particularly large or thick. It also runs on their own open firmware (coreboot based) which gives it some incredible boot speeds.

    Disadvantages: Still uses a barrel jack for charging, GPU is not as powerful as the Framework 16, has Nvidia quarks, and is not as repairable or customizable as framework.

    TUXEDO Stellaris 16 AMD: Great option if you live in Europe but im not very familiar with it

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