Submitted 2 hours ago by happeningtofry99158@lemmy.world to games@lemmy.world
What is the best current gaming laptop that comes with Linux pre-installed? I don’t want to “pay Microsoft” by buying a Windows-licensed machine. Please suggest the most economical option with 32 GB or more RAM. I’m willing to upgrade hardware myself, but I want solid quality, I plan to use this laptop for more than 5 years
What is your budget?
What size do you want?
What screen resolution?
Which GPU?
And if you want warranty, which country are you in?
“What is your budget?”
around $1,400 USD
“What size do you want?”
Any normal size.
“What screen resolution?”
Any, as long as it’s not 720p.
“Which GPU?”
As good as possible, but I’m fine with something reasonably priced. I just need to play Cyberpunk 2077 on medium or high settings at around 90 FPS.
“And if you want warranty, which country are you in?”
I don’t need a warranty.
The System76 Pangolin has an AMD APU that's pretty powerful. I have the Ryzen7 model, but the newer ones are Ryzen9.
https://system76.com/laptops/pang15/configure
I can play pretty much any game, as long as it runs in Proton normally, with very little FPS issues. Only games that chug are poorly optimized to being with, but usually dropping the res to 1600x900 with FSR on will fix most issues.
Also, "most economical" is tough these days with the tariffs and all. I got my Pangolin for $1000 shipped, then a few months later the tariffs hit and the price rose to $1500 before shipping.
System76 Pangolin
Does it support dual-booting Windows and Pop!_OS? I might still need Windows for a few games. How hard is it to install Windows and steam and run games properly on this laptop? Is it basically just using Rufus and clicking through the install? thank you very much!
I'll never touch Windows again, and stopped using it over a decade ago. I unfortunately don't have any experience related to this laptop, but when it comes to dual-booting other OS's it's no different than any other machine. I can't imagine it would have issues with Windows, and System76 has some info on installing Windows
I don't have to do anything special to run games, though. I pirate a lot, and play legit Steam games as well. Only issues I run into are related to anti-cheat, but that's nothing new for Linux gaming. Once you're in Windows, it likely won't be any different than using Windows on another machine.
The System76 Pangolin has an AMD APU that’s pretty powerful. I have the Ryzen7 model, but the newer ones are Ryzen9. Comes pre-installed with Pop_OS!, but they also provide firmware packages for Arch, Ubuntu, Fedora, and NixOS. I’ve also tested Nobara and Bazzite on it with good results.
Thank you I will check it now
Also, “most economical” is tough these days with the tariffs and all. I got my Pangolin for $1000 shipped, then a few months later the tariffs hit and the price rose to $1500 before shipping.
By most economical I actually meant value-for-money option (original retail price) I have edited my post.
I just saw your other comment where you mention wanting to play CyberPunk 2077. FWIW, it runs great on my Ryzen7 model, so I'm sure it won't have any issues on the Ryzen9.
Good luck with the hunt!
MentalEdge@sopuli.xyz 17 minutes ago
Framework 16?
Definitely something to consider in terms of longevity. User replacable RAM, storage, and battery.
And they’ve now syccesfully done the first mainboard/gpu refresh.
Linyx would not be pre-installed, but it can be purchased without windows.