Techhon advice please (/g/ is scary). My term desposit is about to mature, and I want to buy a laptop which I'm going to install linux on because Microsoft gives me the big ick. Is this a good laptop? I need it to last me 4-5 years. https://www.pccasegear.com/products/71588/gigabyte-gaming-a16-pro-core-7-rtx-5070-ti-16in-gaming-laptopAlso which linux distro is best for gaming with the proton thing? Please don't be mean to me I'm trying my best.
>>44032704all linux distros basically work the same with different quirks. you need to immediately install gentoo with full disk encryption, it's actually really easy these days if you can follow instructions thanks to ugrdthe keyboard looks like doodoo but ive never liked the massive gaper between the keys thats been popular for a decade now. 16in is kinda big unless you mostly intend to use it stationary at home..and 32gb is a decent amount but nvidia hardware is a hard pass. they do a terrible job with hardware support and drivers and while there is a nouveau(open source) driver it sucks and the proprietary driver also often sucks and im never surprised when nvidiacucks are constantly complaining about their hardwaremeanwhile ive been buying radeons for a decade and never had a hiccup ever, the amdgpu driver has even been ported successfully to work under the openbsd kernel.
>>44032901>nvidia hardware is a hard passAMD doesn't seem to do laptop cards tho. What's urgd?
>>44032704im not really kidding about gentoo btw but nixos might be a bit simpler with tangentially related goalsdo not listen to anyone who tries to tell you to install debian, ubuntu, anything related to debian, void linux, arch linux, anything related to arch linux, or fedora. especially avoid arch linux, their average users are so retarded they keep managing to install malware their community allowed to proliferate in the AUR
>>44032925Can you stop making it scary tho? I don't want people to call me a retard just because I'm retarded.
>>44032913so basically your operating system is made up of a bunch of somewhat independent moving parts that your computer doesnt really know to do anything with on boot from bios, so we put a tiny little unencrypted image and a smaller subset of what you'll actually need so your computer has just enough instructions to show you, for example, a boot menu, a disk password prompt, read the filesystem, and start the linux kernel. ugrd is a framework to make that setup process easier so you dont really have to think about any of it>>44032937its okay to be retarded its just not okay if you set up your community packaging system in such a way that randoms can take them over after like a year and stuff malware inside them. nothing you really need to worry about, just a systemic problem with a bad distro.anyway i dont use steam anymore but i used steam for many yil on gentoo with proton and its no different than anything else. i will say its better to use the steam flatpak version because of valve's insistence on using a multilib ubuntu chroot for everything and native packaging required a bunch of annoying system changes i dont want to make.
Only 32GB for all those dollars? I know times are hard but damn.Also on the nvidia issue. If you end up with an nvidia card the pitfall is drivers. You need the proprietary ones. Don't settle for anything less. Your distro is probably going to try to install something that sucks shit. If you insist on FOSS as Stallman intended it's a bad route but I had no issues dealing with it at work.
>>44032961>if you set up your community packaging system in such a way that randoms can take them over after like a year and stuff malware inside them.I don't want to be a community, I just don't want to use windows any more because they're big jerks. >i will say its better to use the steam flatpak version because of valve's insistence on using a multilib ubuntu chroot for everything and native packaging required a bunch of annoying system changes i dont want to make.I don't know what this means but it sounds really important that I do.
>>44032967Even the highest end laptops only ship with 16gb these days. The whole reason I picked that one is because it has the same ram as the desktop I built in 2014. And like I told the other anon, AMD doesn't seem to do laptops and I need a laptop because I want to travel.
>>44032977when i say "community" im referring to "program packages maintained by the collective community of users rather than by the same maintainers that built the base distro"but yes microsoft products are literally spyware and have been for 20+ years now.>I don't know what this means but it sounds really important that I do.thats fine but the nice thing about doing it with the flatpak version is its even more painless for ppl that dont know much about their computer yet.
>>44032995>the flatpak versionSo what is this, and how do I get it?
>>44032704That laptop you’ve linked is very powerful, but for a similar price you could get a top of the line machine from https://frame.work which is both repairable and upgradeable. If you want something that will last I’d honestly consider that over anything elseThe nona telling you to use Gentoo or Nix is fucking with you and you shouldn’t listen to them. They’re both distros that have a very high skill floor for ideological and technical reasons which are valid but if you just want to play vidya and browse the web it’s going to ruin your experience. You can install SteamOS on anything now which is Valve’s custom distro designed to work especially for Steam/Proton, start there and if you care to learn more about Linux you can always install something else later.32GB RAM is fine and Nvidia cards don’t have issues like they used to, the drivers used to be a major painpoint but in the last couple of years things have improved massively and they kinda Just Work now.source: my desktop runs Gentoo with a 4070
>>44033003https://flathub.org/en/apps/com.valvesoftware.Steam
>>44032704imagine spending that much money on a laptop instead of buying a used thinkpad
>>44033031>They’re both distros that have a very high skill floorwhat is this 2004? gentoo with fde is literally so easy my retarded ex could install it without my help.nothing but the best for troonsalso apparently framework sucks? and "repairable" is *delusional* as they are perpetually out of stock of some of the most obvious things like fking chassis components. the person fucking with them is the one suggesting buying a used thinkpad. that person has profound autism.
>>44032901>you need to immediately install gentoodon't do this. it just makes updating and installing hardware way slower. use fedora. arch if you want rolling, debian if you want old but stable packages. most ditros are ultimately based one of the three anyway, so configure it from there. configuring during install is a fucking disaster and slows everything down even for things where the sane default is fine and you didn't need to manually set something you were never gonna change, anyway
>>44032704if you want a machine that'll last you could get one of the fancy framework ones.
>>44033031>You can install SteamOS on anything now which is Valve’s custom distro designed to work especially for Steam/ProtonOkay that's really helpful. I thought steamOS was like an after you pick your distro thing. Yeah I'll just do that. It can still do like a word processor and email and stuff tho right? >>44033055I have profound autism and you are scary!
>>44032925NixOS overcomplicates everything what the fuck is wrong with you sick demons. yeah, users who are unsure what to pick love repeatedly editing a giant configuration file instead of just pkg install code. and they love compiling everything on a laptop with gentoo
Get a M1/M2 Macbook and install Asahi on it
>>44033055Gentoo is great but I wouldn’t recommend it to someone new to Linux who just wants a working computer. They’re going to have a bad time. Agreed on the thinkpad guy though.>>44033074>It can still do like a word processor and email and stuff tho right? Yes, it’s a normal OS just optimized for Steam with a console like menu for launching and managing games.
>>44032984I am glad I got in when 16GB was still on the low end (which is what I have.) My old laptop was AMD and I wanted to get another AMD one but there was supply issues. There were actually news articles out with manufacturers complaining that AMD was fucking them by not having enough chips available to them. That was before the current mess! So I ended up with this midrange Intel shit.
>>44033096>Yes, it’s a normal OS just optimized for Steam with a console like menu for launching and managing games.Okay will that does make life easier. I assume it's just a USB stick install?
>>44033092don't do this. the mac has a weird keyboard layout
>>44033103Correcthttps://help.steampowered.com/en/faqs/view/65B4-2AA3-5F37-4227
>>44033115Okay, cool. Thanks nonny! I am 2% less afraid of literally everything right now.
>>44032901GENTOO MENTIONED !!! RAGHHH !!!
>first reply mentions Gentoo and NixOSlelAll I will add to this thread is that installing Steam or another launcher on your average distro is very easy and I wouldn't pick a distro based on that. Whatever distro you pick probably has instructions specifically for Steam, and it's usually no more complicated than installing anything else. I would consider a gaming focused distro if you go with Nvidia though because their drivers can be a pain in the ass. The most painless way to game on Linux is to just have AMD hardware.
>>44033110Uh no? Apple Silicon chips are just the best and for laptops no other brand comes close for build quality or anything really
