caveat; i’ve used linux in the best from debian to fedora to ubuntu to redhat on servers but this is the first time i want to actually switch to using it on my laptop because win11 is increasingly bad but also because i love it.
i’m just lost as to where to start. i’m currently looking at laptopwithlinux.com, system76.com, and thinkbooks. a lot of them come with specific distros, though i’m much more partial to debian than ubuntu. is it generally able to switch between a different one without too much hassle?
i also have an hp envy; https://browser.geekbench.com/v5/cpu/compare/5818425?baseline=5818425 is it wise to get rid of windows and just install linux on it?
i know some hardware but i’m not an EXPERT (with drivers and such)
any thoughts? hopefully this is an alright community for this question; it was the closest community when searching that i could find that seemed like it fit.
I’m kinda curious myself, so I’m just trying to follow this post
I use Mint. I have a separate partition for my home drive than root and I think that makes it easier to try different distros, but the last time I suggested that to someone it turned out to be bad advice for them.
Obviously you can run live usbs.
i also have an hp envy; https://browser.geekbench.com/v5/cpu/compare/5818425?baseline=5818425 is it wise to get rid of windows and just install linux on it?
Yes, this is the preferred way as dual booting will lead to windows eventually messing up something on your Linux Partitions, and linux dosent need special hardware. However if you load up a USB stick with live images you can boot into Linux from the USB and test out the distros on your hardware to be sure it’s working before installing.
I recommend the following
- backup your data on any disk connected to the PC you want to install on.
- install ventoy as it will allow you to make a multiboot USB that supports UEFI. Then all you need to do is load the USB with isos and boot into it either through your BIOS or a boot menu before windows starts.
- just incase, you can also try to clone your windows install with clonezilla so if you need it you can just load it back up.
- download any distributions you wish to test. The ones you listed are fine but i would also recommend an arch based distro like EndeavorOS
- to try out distros without downloading, putting them on a USB and booting into them, you can try distrosea to try them in a browser.
thanks! i keep most of my important things in google drive (for now) just for convenience purposes so i can sync back and forth so really the only things i need to do is reinstall all my apps. i do web development and right now i have wsl ubuntu so obviously that is easy to convert. i’m gonna get a usb this week and try this!
I bought my Lenovo Legion a few months back, and the plan all along was to nuke Windows and install Linux Mint on it. Worked like a charm as Mint has done for me for the past 10 years or so.
No compatibility issues, but I chose to install a better wifi driver, but it worked OKish before that too (it was just a bit too slow for my taste).
The Lenovo hotkeys for controlling cooling schema and keyboard lights worked out of the box.
ooh yeah i was looking at lenovo for thinkpads too but i’ll look at legions too.
I don’t see any reason why ThinkPad would be less compatible than Legion.
For reference, I have a variant of this one, only with ISO keyboard and 32GB RAM. I highly recommend it; good screen, good keyboard, nice performance, small and easy for travel, and relatively quiet cooling system. If I had to point at a downside, I wish it had at least one more USB-A port. Plenty of USB-C, though.
Also check Framework laptops. They are modular and have firsthand Linux support. I haven’t owned one, but I admire them.
A lot of people seem to love Arch, but I think that requires a lot of investment in reading docs. Mint seems to be a popular recommendation for beginners, but that appears to be downstream from Ubuntu. I wish I had more and better info for you, but I also use Linux for servers and not on the desktop. But only cause I’m an Apple guy. I’d daily-drive Linux if I had a PC.
