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?”
Gaming laptops are actually quite good as portable AI machines, thus installing Linux and some lightweight AI agent would work better than having the Windows 11 setup.
I would say I’m fine supporting Microsoft by buying their laptops, I just don’t want it to be surveiled and capitalized off of through spyware in the OS. I suggest going used instead of new, reason being, you can get really good specs that makes the license practically free. My current laptop is a thinkpad E14, the previous owner loaded it with 40 GB of ram and a 1tb ssd with a ryzen 7 7730. I paid $400 for that machine. If you don’t mind going used with slightly older specs, maybe a haircrack or two, the payout is worth it.
Lenovo Legion. If you pick a configurable one and remove windows they’ll lower the price accordingly (sometimes 100€ for windows pro). Some models offer Linux pre-installed.
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.
Yeah. And Dell bought them a long time ago so they would have a ‘gaming’ brand. Just buy a regular Dell machine and save money, it’s about as simple as that.
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.
Correction, don’t buy a cheap gaming laptop. There are plenty of ones like the lenovo legion and rog strix g16 that have good build quality and will last you years.
The ones with crappy plastic and overheat regularly are usually the ones under $1000
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.
The only reason I’m asking linux is I don’t want my money taken by microsoft. I believe most laptop like dell would work with linux well enough. If I’m good with windows preinstalled, which laptop would have the highest ratio of quality / price?
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.
The System76 Pangolin has an AMD APU that’s pretty powerful. I have the Ryzen7 model, but the newer ones are Ryzen9. Comes pre-installed with Pop_OS!, but they also provide firmware packages for Arch, Ubuntu, Fedora, and NixOS. I’ve also tested Nobara and Bazzite on it with good results.
I can play pretty much any game, as long as it runs in Proton normally, with very little FPS issues. Only games that chug are poorly optimized to begin with, but usually dropping the res to 1600x900 with FSR on will fix most issues.
Also, “most economical” is tough these days with the tariffs and all. I got my Pangolin for $1000 shipped, then a few months later the tariffs hit and the price rose to $1500 before shipping.
Does it support dual-booting Windows and Pop!_OS?
I might still need Windows for a few games.
How hard is it to install Windows and steam and run games properly on this laptop?
Is it basically just using Rufus and clicking through the install?
thank you very much!
You probably don’t, unless it’s for multiplayer anti-cheat. I don’t think I’ve had any significant issues with Linux gaming in 6+months. Basically everything just works now, Cyberpunk very much included.
Not a guarantee of course, but in my experience it’s pretty awesome and I don’t miss Windows at all. Dual-booting for a year was silly and overly paranoid, in actuality I ignored the Windows partition almost entirely.
I’ll never touch Windows again, and stopped using it over a decade ago. I unfortunately don’t have any experience related to this laptop, but when it comes to dual-booting other OS’s it’s no different than any other machine. I can’t imagine it would have issues with Windows, and System76 has some info on installing Windows
I don’t have to do anything special to run games, though. I pirate a lot, and play legit Steam games as well. Only issues I run into are related to anti-cheat, but that’s nothing new for Linux gaming. Once you’re in Windows, it likely won’t be any different than using Windows on another machine.
The System76 Pangolin has an AMD APU that’s pretty powerful. I have the Ryzen7 model, but the newer ones are Ryzen9. Comes pre-installed with Pop_OS!, but they also provide firmware packages for Arch, Ubuntu, Fedora, and NixOS. I’ve also tested Nobara and Bazzite on it with good results.
Thank you I will check it now
Also, “most economical” is tough these days with the tariffs and all. I got my Pangolin for $1000 shipped, then a few months later the tariffs hit and the price rose to $1500 before shipping.
By most economical I actually meant value-for-money option (original retail price) I have edited my post.
I just saw your other comment where you mention wanting to play CyberPunk 2077. FWIW, it runs great on my Ryzen7 model almost highest settings, so I’m sure it won’t have any issues on the Ryzen9.
I just saw your other comment where you mention wanting to play CyberPunk 2077. FWIW, it runs great on my Ryzen7 model almost highest settings, so I’m sure it won’t have any issues on the Ryzen9.
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.
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Gaming laptops are actually quite good as portable AI machines, thus installing Linux and some lightweight AI agent would work better than having the Windows 11 setup.
thanks!
I would say I’m fine supporting Microsoft by buying their laptops, I just don’t want it to be surveiled and capitalized off of through spyware in the OS. I suggest going used instead of new, reason being, you can get really good specs that makes the license practically free. My current laptop is a thinkpad E14, the previous owner loaded it with 40 GB of ram and a 1tb ssd with a ryzen 7 7730. I paid $400 for that machine. If you don’t mind going used with slightly older specs, maybe a haircrack or two, the payout is worth it.
thanks!
I think the current best is either leigion or thinkpad
Lenovo Legion. If you pick a configurable one and remove windows they’ll lower the price accordingly (sometimes 100€ for windows pro). Some models offer Linux pre-installed.
I will look into that!
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.
Yeah I have a gaming laptop and I haven’t used it since I got a steam deck.
Why no Alienware? Is it because they’re extremely expensive and overpriced?
Yeah. And Dell bought them a long time ago so they would have a ‘gaming’ brand. Just buy a regular Dell machine and save money, it’s about as simple as that.
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.
Correction, don’t buy a cheap gaming laptop. There are plenty of ones like the lenovo legion and rog strix g16 that have good build quality and will last you years.
The ones with crappy plastic and overheat regularly are usually the ones under $1000
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.
The only reason I’m asking linux is I don’t want my money taken by microsoft. I believe most laptop like dell would work with linux well enough. If I’m good with windows preinstalled, which laptop would have the highest ratio of quality / price?
I was going to suggest Framework. You can buy them without any OS at all. But it’s going to be easily >$2k with a GPU.
Do your research because it varies by year and components. But if I was going for new I’d be looking at Asus TUF or Strix at the 1.4k price point.
Your option is basically only framework if you want good hardware.
If you don’t mind low end stuff then you have plenty of options.
Framework laptops are really cool, but the modular design seems to make them more vulnerable.
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.
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.
System76 laptops are in my experience worse than frameworks.
But they are also less effort. So pick your poison.
The System76 Pangolin has an AMD APU that’s pretty powerful. I have the Ryzen7 model, but the newer ones are Ryzen9. Comes pre-installed with Pop_OS!, but they also provide firmware packages for Arch, Ubuntu, Fedora, and NixOS. I’ve also tested Nobara and Bazzite on it with good results.
https://system76.com/laptops/pang15/configure
I can play pretty much any game, as long as it runs in Proton normally, with very little FPS issues. Only games that chug are poorly optimized to begin with, but usually dropping the res to 1600x900 with FSR on will fix most issues.
Also, “most economical” is tough these days with the tariffs and all. I got my Pangolin for $1000 shipped, then a few months later the tariffs hit and the price rose to $1500 before shipping.
Does it support dual-booting Windows and Pop!_OS? I might still need Windows for a few games. How hard is it to install Windows and steam and run games properly on this laptop? Is it basically just using Rufus and clicking through the install? thank you very much!
You probably don’t, unless it’s for multiplayer anti-cheat. I don’t think I’ve had any significant issues with Linux gaming in 6+months. Basically everything just works now, Cyberpunk very much included.
Not a guarantee of course, but in my experience it’s pretty awesome and I don’t miss Windows at all. Dual-booting for a year was silly and overly paranoid, in actuality I ignored the Windows partition almost entirely.
I’ll never touch Windows again, and stopped using it over a decade ago. I unfortunately don’t have any experience related to this laptop, but when it comes to dual-booting other OS’s it’s no different than any other machine. I can’t imagine it would have issues with Windows, and System76 has some info on installing Windows
I don’t have to do anything special to run games, though. I pirate a lot, and play legit Steam games as well. Only issues I run into are related to anti-cheat, but that’s nothing new for Linux gaming. Once you’re in Windows, it likely won’t be any different than using Windows on another machine.
thanks a lot!
Thank you I will check it now
By most economical I actually meant value-for-money option (original retail price) I have edited my post.
I just saw your other comment where you mention wanting to play CyberPunk 2077. FWIW, it runs great on my Ryzen7 model almost highest settings, so I’m sure it won’t have any issues on the Ryzen9.
Good luck with the hunt!
thanks for the feedback!
Dell offers Ubuntu on some models.
You might get better answers in a Linux community, since that’s the focus of your question.
Yeah good point, is there a laptop or computer community on lemmy?
There’s a Linux gaming community, that’s probably where you’d get a better answer.
I had a good experience with my tuxedo laptop(i have a Tuxedo Sirius 16)
thanks!
What is your budget?
What size do you want?
What screen resolution?
Which GPU?
And if you want warranty, which country are you in?
“What is your budget?”
“What size do you want?”
“What screen resolution?”
“Which GPU?”
“And if you want warranty, which country are you in?”
Take a look at Slimbook, I’ve had one for many years and very happy.
thanks!
Tuxedo Computers ship Linux 😀
I’d recommend something AMD if you want fast and stable graphics drivers.
I run a tuxedo both at home and for work. Build quality and support isn’t that great but you can’t get more specs for the money
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.
Hm. I’ve got an Nvidia card on Cachyos, and it’s all been fine so far.
I had an issue where an upgrade broke my drivers, but that turned out to be my fault from poor understanding.