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?

  • cmnybo@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
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    6 months ago

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

    • sevan@lemmy.worldOP
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      6 months 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.

        • sevan@lemmy.worldOP
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          6 months 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?

      • cmnybo@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
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        6 months 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
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          6 months ago

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