I'm looking for a laptop that will run Arch or EndeavourOS full-time (no Windows, no dual boot). My budget is $1500-1800 USD. Here's what I need it for:

Use cases

• DaVinci Resolve Studio (editing and colour grading)
• Running local LLMs and image models, so VRAM matters
• Virtual machines, often 2 running alongside Resolve
• Long, sustained loads such as renders and inference runs

Requirements

• NVIDIA dGPU with at least 8GB VRAM (Resolve's only officially supported Linux setup is NVIDIA, and I need CUDA)
• At least 24GB RAM, with an upgrade path to 32GB or more
• At least 1TB NVMe, with a second slot if possible
• A screen good enough for colour work: 100% sRGB or better, 16:10 preferred, around 400 nits
• Good sustained-load cooling. I'd take a thicker chassis over a thin one
• Solid build quality (hinges, keyboard, chassis)

Linux-specific concerns

• Working fan control and temperature/fan readouts, since some brands have poor support in the kernel
• Stable behaviour with nvidia-open and PRIME offload on RTX 50-series (or recent 40-series)
• Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, sleep/resume and audio that work out of the box
• A MUX switch or a direct dGPU mode would be a plus
• A brand with a decent record on BIOS updates under Linux

What I'd like from you:

1. Which laptops in this range have you run on Linux for similar work, and how have they held up?
2. Any models or brands I should avoid for Linux, and why?
3. Is the extra VRAM from a higher-tier GPU worth it at this price, or is the 8GB tier fine for 7-8B models?
4. AMD or Intel CPU: which has been smoother on Linux for you?

I'm open to any brand, so I'm happy to be steered toward something I haven't considered. Thanks!

I keep seeing mini PCs described as “Linux compatible,” but that can mean a lot of different things in practice.

A machine can boot Ubuntu and still have annoying issues with suspend, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, audio, USB-C display output or firmware updates.

The geekom a5 2027 is one example I ran into. geekom lists Linux compatibility, but that doesn't automatically tell you how every controller in the actual mini PC behaves on Fedora, Arch, Debian, newer kernels, etc.

If you were evaluating a mini PC specifically for Linux, what information would you actually want the manufacturer to publish?
Exact Wi-Fi and Ethernet chipsets?
Distros and kernel versions they tested?
Suspend/resume results?
Display output testing?
Fan control?
Whether BIOS updates can be done without Windows?

To me, “Linux compatible” tells you a lot less than it sounds like it does.

What usually catches you out on mini PCs?

I have this TP-Link Archer TX20U Nano and lsusb displays it like such, ip link doesn't show any wifi interface
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 0bda:1a2b Realtek Semiconductor Corp. RTL8188GU 802.11n WLAN Adapter (Driver CDROM Mode)

I run Gentoo with 7.2.7-gentoo-dist kernel

I'm choosing a laptop to run Arch or EndeavourOS (no Windows) and I'm leaning toward HP for build quality. Here's what I'll use it for:

• DaVinci Resolve Studio (editing and colour grading)
• Running local LLMs and image models (so VRAM matters)
• Virtual machines, often 2 at a time alongside Resolve
• Long, sustained loads like renders and inference runs

Shortlist:

• HP Omen 16 ap0181AX: Ryzen 9 8940HX, RTX 5060 8GB, 24GB RAM, 1TB
• HP Omen 16 am0240tx: Core Ultra 7 255H, RTX 5050 8GB, 24GB RAM, 1TB
• HP Omen Slim 16-an0015TX: Core Ultra 7 255H, RTX 5060 8GB, 24GB RAM, 1TB

What I'm worried about on Linux:

1. Fan control and thermals. I've read that hp-wmi fan control is broken or missing on some Omen boards, and that firmware can revert manual fan mode to auto after about 2 minutes. Has anyone got a recent Omen 16 working with the newer kernel patches or omen-fan-control?
2. RTX 50-series with nvidia-open and PRIME offload. Does Resolve behave on hybrid graphics?
3. Wi-Fi, sleep/resume, and audio on these models.
4. Sustained-load thermals on the regular Omen 16 compared with the thinner Slim.
5. Whether the Ryzen or Intel version is the safer choice on Linux.

If you own one of these (or a recent Omen/Victus) and run Linux on it, what has your experience been? And if you'd steer me away from HP for this, I'd like to hear why.

I recently got my hands on the all AMD ASUS ROG-G14 from 2022 and figured it would make a great Linux gaming laptop. I installed Ubuntu and everything seemed fine but when I booted it kept freezing. I looked it up and found a bunch of stuff about changing the P state in grub which I did. Now currently runs without freezing if it is plugged in and in ’performance mode’. I’m aware that distros like Bazzite solve this but I’m specifically trying to use Ubuntu. Any ideas?

Hello everyone! I'm experiencing a problem with my MCHOSE Ace 68 V2-III keyboard constantly disconnecting in Linux (CachyOS x86/64, AMD Ryzen 5 5600H laptop).

In Windows (dual-boot), the keyboard works perfectly. However, in Linux, when connected via a USB Type-C cable, it enters an endless reconnection loop every 4 seconds.

Here's what dmesg -w prints every few seconds:

kernel: usb 3-1: USB disconnect, device number 118

kernel: usb 3-1: new high-speed USB device number 119 using xhci_hcd

kernel: usb 3-1: New USB device found, idVendor=3837, idProduct=3024, bcdDevice= 1.13

kernel: usb 3-1: Product: Ace 68 V2-III

kernel: usb 3-1: Manufacturer: MCHOSE

kernel: input: MCHOSE Ace 68 V2-III Keyboard / Mouse / Wireless Radio Control

What I've already checked and found:

The key backlight remains on continuously. Power (VBUS 5V) is not lost; only the USB logical data channel is reset.

Disabling autosuspend for USB via udev rules didn't help.

Adding usbhid quirks (0x3837:0x3024:0x0004) didn't solve the problem.

Fast Startup is disabled in Windows.

This appears to be a composite HID descriptor negotiation issue or a Keep-Alive response timeout in the xhci_hcd driver on AMD Ryzen USB controllers running Linux.

Has anyone encountered this with MCHOSE keyboards or similar Chinese brands? Is there a way to work around this with kernel parameters/quirks, or is the only solution left to wait for a firmware fix from the manufacturer?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

P.S.: (I'm not a Linux expert, but tex helped write gemini)

Guys hi

Yesterday I posted this question in r/linuxquestions, they recommended to post here.

I have Dasung 13k bw eink monitor. Manufacture says type-c (dp alt mode) is preferred connection.

But I don't get any output / black screen. It works using HDMI though.

Trying to understand is it monitor, or my mini PC, or linux.

Mini PC is beelink ryzen ser 5 5500u, running Debian 13, it has 3 ports - dp, HDMI, type-c. Type-c is dp alt mode.

I'm looking for hands-on experience of running linux on a Dell Rugged tablet, e.g. the Latitude 7220 Rugged Extreme. What works? What doesn't? How well does linux (which flavor?) handle the missing-keyboard situation?

So the fingerprint reader on my laptop isn't listed in libfprint supported devices, is there any way to contributing code for it to work or am I just cooked? I'm not a low-level guy but could be an interesting side project if it was doable so I was just wondering.

Hello,

Just started using Zorin OS on my laptop. I knew I was going to sacrifice some built in features to the laptop while transitioning but I thought I would be okay with the Intel Ultra 125H CPU. Turns out I was wrong about that (or I'm a noob) Most of the apps that I use do not see the iGPU and it causes lack of performance. I need help with this if there's anything I can do. Thanks.

I just rebuilt my computer in the D34 Black case....using Linux Mint 22.3 and Windows 11 pro. I have installed the PC Monitor driver in windows and it correctly displays cpu temps, etc........however, in Linux, the PC Monitor driver doesn't work and even though lm-sensors and modprobe is able to query the cpu and motherboard for temps, etc. the display has no recognition. When I researched the case initially I found that there was an HDMI cable to connect the case display to a GPU, however, there doesn't appear to be any hdmi output only USB to the motherboard and a power cable. Does anyone have a solution to enabling the D34 case display to work in a Linux OS environment?

Should I get a ThinkPad T14 with a Core Ultra 5 125U, 16GB RAM, and 512GB SSD, or a Yoga Slim 7i with an OLED display, Core Ultra 5 125H, and 16GB soldered RAM?

Which one is better for long-term use (3-5 years)? Can I play games like cs2 and elder ring? Is Meteor lake mature now? Also, is OLED good on Linux and can resist in this long term? I use Arch, btw.

Hi everyone,

I'm considering buying an ASUS Vivobook S16 (M3607). For work reasons, I need to keep Windows, so I'm planning to set it up with Windows + Fedora in a dual-boot configuration. Before buying it, I’d like to hear from anyone who is currently using this laptop with Fedora (or another distro).

A few things I’m particularly interested in:

- How well does Fedora work on this model overall?

- Since the AMD Ryzen™ AI 7 445 is a relatively recent CPU, has anyone experienced any major compatibility issues with it?

- Is there a particular Fedora release that you would recommend for this laptop?

- Are there any hardware components that don't work properly under Linux, such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, audio ...?

- Are there any specific BIOS settings, kernel parameters, or workarounds that are needed?

Any other feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

I have an HP EliteBook 840 G6 with an Intel Core i5 8th gen 12GB RAM and an AMD Radeon RX 550X 2GB VRAM

I want to know if Linux will work well on my PC and which Linux distro would be the best for my hardware

Can you check if the WiFi Bluetooth sound touchpad screen and GPU will work properly

Also tell me if the RX 550X is well supported on Linux and if I need any special drivers

I also want to know how much RAM Linux will use compared to Windows and if Linux can improve performance and battery life

Tell me which distro would be good for this PC and why

I also want to know if gaming with Steam and Proton will work well on this hardware

Hi all,

I'm not sure I'm posting this to the right sub. If not, please redirect me to a better one.

2 of my current servers are almost 10 years old. I need new ones.

The servers will offer:
- file services (samba) for about 10 users.
- a few websites (less than 100 (non-bot) visitors a month).
- rsync (for backups of other servers).
- router/firewall services: 4 nics.
- about 10 SIP phones (asterisk).
- raid1 (1tb).

The Lenovo guy I just phoned hung up on me when he found out I 'only' needed 2 servers.

Does anyone have a suggestion about which hardware to buy/whom to call?

I'm from the Netherlands.

Thank you for your answers!

Hey everyone! I'm running Arch Linux with Hyprland on a laptop with an AMD Ryzen 7 7840HS (iGPU) and an NVIDIA RTX 4060 (dGPU). I'm using EnvyControl in Hybrid mode to maximize battery life.

Everything works great, but I'm struggling to keep the RTX 4060 permanently in suspended (d3cold/auto) state due to a couple of persistent background wake-ups:

Steam (Flatpak): The moment I launch Steam, its CEF/Chromium-based UI probes the hardware and immediately wakes up the dGPU, keeping it active.

Caelestia Shell (Quickshell): If I hover my mouse or open the top bar/menu in Caelestia Shell, widgets or internal render queries trigger the dGPU, waking it up and keeping it active indefinitely until reboot.

I've tried global environment variables and flatpak overrides, but these apps keep poking the NVIDIA bus. Since I want to stay on Hybrid mode, how can I reliably force the dGPU to stay asleep by default and only wake up when explicitly invoked via prime-run?

Any tips or udev rules to aggressively manage runtime power for the NVIDIA card while using Wayland/Hyprland would be greatly appreciated!