What budget gaming laptops work well with Linux?

I’ve seen stuff about Nvidia cards not working well with Linux, is that true?

If one was in the market for a new laptop anyway, would you recommend not getting nvidia and going with AMD?

I’m currently intrigued by the Lenovo LOQ line (full size numpad). Not buying anytime soon, just scoping out good brands and ideas.

*Primary role is laptop productivity, secondary role is maybe patient gaming, so I’m ok with budget gaming. Going Linux is not guaranteed, but maybe in the future because windows keeps getting more nuts. So I’m looking for info to make sure Linux is possible.

*I want this to last a long time, 10 years should be easy.

Pharceface,

I had this hunt earlier this year myself; ended up going with the Acer Nitro 5 15. Its fully user upgradeable with DDR4 RAM, two m2 drives and even a 2.5 in drive. And it has a TB3 port for charging and works with external graphics as well. Everything worked under linux right out of the box.

xoagray,
@xoagray@pawb.social avatar

I bought a Lenovo Ideapad Gaming 3 for $600 US and use it with Garuda Linux. Everything works as expected and the onboard GTX1650 MaxQ handles gaming just fine. The hybrid graphics even work just fine with no fiddling around at all.

TheAnonymouseJoker,
@TheAnonymouseJoker@lemmy.ml avatar

Any AMD dGPU laptop. If you are not running some of the high end games, you can get away with just the iGPU on 5th gen and above Ryzen CPUs with either medium settings or 720p resolution. GTA V included.

droopy4096,

I’ve got Acer Nitro5 this year on sale ($800) and love it. Hidden perk: memory can be bumped to 64G. I do play slightly older titles so can’t say for newer ones.

Helvedeshunden,

When you buy Nvidia for Linux, you’re buying obsolescence. It will work fine for a while and then they’ll hard-drop driver support at a certain kernel version. Your 3d acceleration will last as long as you can run an LTS kernel compatible with it. You may have moved on by then, but I currently have 3 Nvidia laptops that have between limited and zero 3D support in Linux. If I cared to run Windows or MacOS, 3D would still work. MacOS would also be outdated, though. In the future, I’m going AMD only.

someguy3,

How long do they support it typically?

Helvedeshunden,

It varies quite a bit. I have an i5 with a 740M (2013) that is just barely supported. For reference that will run 360-era games fine given drivers. My 320M (2010) gets no love at all.

iliketrains,

My 5 yo acer nitro 5 with nvidia 1050 mobile still gets support (driver update), but it's true that they don't care about their older cards as much. New features like the NVK driver would never support my card.

droopy4096,

I’ve got fairly old nVidia cards (8yr) and running current Fedora. There’s some lag insupport but you still get older drivers supported to a degree

pastermil,

I am on a Thinkpad W530 with K2000M GPU. This one is well supported by the nouveau driver, more of an exception than the rule. Yes, I did researched the driver support before buying. The GPU switching works. One con: it’s heavy as fuck.

sonalder,

I will rather go with a second hand 2-3 years old premium laptop from a Linux manufacturer such as System76 or Tuxedo.

ulu_mulu,

Nvidia cards on desktops work very well, you just need to install proprietary drivers.

The problem with laptops is that they’re not dedicated cards anymore but an hybrid intel/nvidia that can give you a lot of headaches on Linux, I advise against it. No idea how AMD is on laptops.

If being cheap is a priority, I suggest getting a Steam Deck, it’s designed for gaming (unlike budget laptops) and it’s a PC. You can get a docking and connect whatever peripheral you want (mouse/keyboard/monitor/TV/whatever) and it has a desktop mode to be used as a “regular” PC if you need other things besides gaming.

0mega,

@Ulu-Mulu-no-die Just for the sake of completeness, AMD runs smooth even on laptops thanks to open source drivers but nowadays I'd also rather recommend getting a steam deck. My ASUS GL702ZC is more or less becoming a dust catcher since I have one.

someguy3,

Thanks but I’m looking for a laptop for laptop functionality. Productivity is primary role, gaming secondary, that’s why I’m ok with budget gaming.

flashgnash,

There is also a company that makes shell laptops designed to plug into phones with USB c that you could use that I think go for around 100, plug that into a steam deck and it’s a fully fledged laptop

zingo,

If being cheap is a priority, I suggest getting a Steam Deck, it’s designed for gaming (unlike budget laptops) and it’s a PC.

You can get a Legion 5 Pro with a 3060 and SSD 512GB for cheaper than a Steam Deck 512GB in my country, so I can’t say its a cheaper than a gaming laptop.

Kangie,

hybrid intel/nvidia that can give you a lot of headaches on Linux

Nah, nowadays we just use PRIME render offload via prime-run and things “just work”.

The whole hybrid Optimus/Bumblebee graphics switcheroo was a terrible idea and I’m glad it died an ignoble death.

s20,

I’d recommend AMD over Nvidia for a linux laptop, but it’s not as big a deal as it used to be. Most distros have good Nvidia support, although you often have to install the proprietary drivers after installing the OS. Even distros like Nobara that have Nvidia images to DL have to install and update the drivers at first launch.

So either will work, but if you’ve got a choice, go with AMD. It’s just a smoother experience.

drew_belloc,
@drew_belloc@programming.dev avatar

I have a pc with a old nvidia gpu (gt 635), i have only had 2 problems with it, wayland runs really slow and plasma not even open in wayland, the other problem only happens on arch linux where most of my steam games don’t work or don’t work well on the native steam client, but works fine in the flatpak version, but i don’t have that problem in pop os. So i would say that old nvidia gpus may have some problems, but it don’t seem to be a real problem, but if you can go with amd it will be a better option

simple,

AMD does tend to have better support but Nvidia GPUs work fine nowadays. Pretty much any laptop you buy should work fine out of the box, so just get something that has decent specs.

sugar_in_your_tea,

I generally recommend looking for something with Intel Wi-Fi, and it’s not just because Intel Wi-Fi works better on Linux, but because companies that include Intel Wi-Fi generally seem to have better hardware across the board.

nik282000,
@nik282000@lemmy.ml avatar

/cries in Debian

0mega,

/me runs Debian on his gaming laptop

nik282000,
@nik282000@lemmy.ml avatar

So do I, it just hurts sometimes.

someguy3,

Another guy says that long term Nvidia is a problem with Linux. That support is dropped after some years. Thoughts?

simple,

Some years? Maybe if you have a 10+ year old GPU. They’re supported for a really long time. The GTX 10xx series are still fully supported despite releasing in 2016 for example.

someguy3,

Here’s his exact comment:

When you buy Nvidia for Linux, you’re buying obsolescence. It will work fine for a while and then they’ll hard-drop driver support at a certain kernel version. Your 3d acceleration will last as long as you can run an LTS kernel compatible with it. You may have moved on by then, but I currently have 3 Nvidia laptops that have between limited and zero 3D support in Linux. If I cared to run Windows or MacOS, 3D would still work. MacOS would also be outdated, though. In the future, I’m going AMD only.

I am looking to keep laptops for a long long time.

simple,

I’m not sure what GPUs he has but they must be very old. You don’t have to worry about this unless you really care about keeping your laptop for around 10 years or more.

someguy3,

Well I do. Is 10 years a hard line?

simple,

Not really, but it’s a rough estimate. If you want something to be supported for a much longer time then an AMD gpu is probably s good idea since their drivers are open source.

someguy3,

Any brands you recommend?

simple,

Lenovo and ASUS are pretty good. Avoid some of the lower end gaming laptops, they usually have heating issues. Avoid MSI and Dell, I’ve heard nothing but complaints. In general just do research before buying the laptop and you’ll be fine.

radioactiveradio,

Can confirm, I have an mx 130 from like 2017. Still works like it used to. Garbage. But it’s the weak GPU not a driver issue. There are driver issues but dropping support isn’t one of em.

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