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?

  • cmnyboEnglish
    1·
    28 days ago

    System76 has gaming laptops with Linux preloaded, but they start at around $1700 if you want a dedicated GPU.

    • sevan@lemmy.worldOP
      2·
      28 days ago

      Thanks! I notice that all of their gaming laptops have an NVIDIA GPU, but I see people complaining about NVIDIA drivers here regularly, is that an issue I should be concerned with? I would hope a system prebuilt for linux would have taken that into account, but I don’t know that much about the complaints.

      • cmnyboEnglish
        3·
        28 days ago

        It’s only an issue if you want to use Wayland and that issue will be fixed soon. There’s also the Framework 16 if you want an AMD GPU.

        • sevan@lemmy.worldOP
          2·
          28 days ago

          A DIY laptop???!!! I had no idea such a thing existed, I will definitely be looking into this.

        • sevan@lemmy.worldOP
          1·
          28 days ago

          That’s great to hear, from what little I have picked up from this community, I was leaning towards POP for my first attempt.

        • sevan@lemmy.worldOP
          1·
          28 days ago

          The only AMD model I’m seeing is the Pangolin with a AMD Radeon 680M. That wouldn’t be bad since it is roughly equivalent to the GTX 1650 I have now and probably way more efficient. Or do they have something newer that hasn’t released yet?