What budget gaming laptops work well with Linux?
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.
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.
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.
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.
@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.
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.
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
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.
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.
There is no such thing as a budget gaming laptop. Usually you're better off getting a Steam Deck or a PC and a laptop.
Good "budget" gaming laptops are still about $2000. If you buy a good used laptop and a low range gaming PC you pay the same but don't have to lug around a 3kg laptop with loud fans and lots of heat output, bad battery life and next to no repairability, just to still have less FPS than a similarly priced PC+laptop combo.
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.
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'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
How long do they support it typically?
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.
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.
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.
I will rather go with a second hand 2-3 years old premium laptop from a Linux manufacturer such as System76 or Tuxedo.
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.
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
*I want this to last a long time, 10 years should be easy.
LOL.
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.