PSA: Don’t buy a gaming laptop. They are trash. The plastic case will melt, the wifi card will come loose, the battery will die within minutes. A steam deck is truly your best option.
And never ever buy alienware. Screw them in particular.
Framework 16?
Definitely something to consider in terms of longevity. User replacable RAM, storage, and battery.
And they've now successfully done the first mainboard and gpu refresh.
Linux would not be pre-installed, but it can be purchased without windows.
Framework 16?
I'm choosing now between Framework laptop and System76 laptop. Both seems great, but System76 laptop seems to have a better quality judging by the looks of it?
Linux preinstalled is going to remove a lot of candidates. If you relax your requirements to include known setups/components that work well with Linux then that would help expand your options. The amount that Microsoft gets from the preinstalled license is likely negligible.
The only reason I'm asking linux is I don't want my money taken by microsoft. I believe most laptop like dell would work with linux well enough. If I'm good with windows preinstalled, which laptop would have the highest ratio of quality / price?
I was going to suggest Framework. You can buy them without any OS at all. But it's going to be easily >$2k with a GPU.
Dell offers Ubuntu on some models.
You might get better answers in a Linux community, since that's the focus of your question.
Yeah good point, is there a laptop or computer community on lemmy?
There's a Linux gaming community, that's probably where you'd get a better answer.
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.
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 begin 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.
Welcome to the largest gaming community on Lemmy! Discussion for all kinds of games. Video games, tabletop games, card games etc.
1. Submissions have to be related to games
Video games, tabletop, or otherwise. Posts not related to games will be deleted.
This community is focused on games, of all kinds. Any news item or discussion should be related to gaming in some way.
2. No bigotry or harassment, be civil
No bigotry, hardline stance. Try not to get too heated when entering into a discussion or debate.
We are here to talk and discuss about one of our passions, not fight or be exposed to hate. Posts or responses that are hateful will be deleted to keep the atmosphere good. If repeatedly violated, not only will the comment be deleted but a ban will be handed out as well. We judge each case individually.
3. No excessive self-promotion
Try to keep it to 10% self-promotion / 90% other stuff in your post history.
This is to prevent people from posting for the sole purpose of promoting their own website or social media account.
4. Stay on-topic; no memes, funny videos, giveaways, reposts, or low-effort posts
This community is mostly for discussion and news. Remember to search for the thing you're submitting before posting to see if it's already been posted.
We want to keep the quality of posts high. Therefore, memes, funny videos, low-effort posts and reposts are not allowed. We prohibit giveaways because we cannot be sure that the person holding the giveaway will actually do what they promise.
5. Mark Spoilers and NSFW
Make sure to mark your stuff or it may be removed.
No one wants to be spoiled. Therefore, always mark spoilers. Similarly mark NSFW, in case anyone is browsing in a public space or at work.
6. No linking to piracy
Don't share it here, there are other places to find it. Discussion of piracy is fine.
We don't want us moderators or the admins of lemmy.world to get in trouble for linking to piracy. Therefore, any link to piracy will be removed. Discussion of it is of course allowed.
PM a mod to add your own
Video games
Generic
Help and suggestions
By platform
By type
By games
Language specific