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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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Finally found a decently priced laptop using AMD's 780m iGPU | Lenovo UK Laptop configurator (www.lenovo.com)

submitted 1 year ago by merthyr1831 to c/[email protected]

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The worst part of using a gaming laptop on Linux is that, despite the great work of open source developers and hobbyists, it's still way too clunky to use a hybrid graphics setup imo. Once you want to use an interface that's only connected to one GPU (such as HDMI) you're left messing with switching utilities like optimus-manager which (while very useful!) are usually rarely updated and may not work on certain systems.

At least with a system like this, which is pretty similar to how much I paid for a 1650Ti-mobile (while being faster!) all the graphics are handled by a single driver, which simplifies most of the pain in using a laptop on Linux for anything graphically intensive.

Looking forward to seeing Framework becoming this affordable one day, because I'd much rather go with them over Lenovo, but at least for now I can use Lenovo which lets you refuse Windows and save £90 :)

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[–] jntesteves 5 points 1 year ago (4 children)

You shouldn't generalize your bad experience with NVIDIA's proprietary driver to Mesa. Graphics device switching just works on Mesa, hence laptops with an AMD dGPU are great on Linux.

Typing this from a 2021 Asus ROG Strix G15 Advantage Edition

[–] merthyr1831 2 points 1 year ago (3 children)

And how about hardware outputs ie. HDMI ports? My Nitro 5 (4600H + 1650ti-M) refuses to output to HDMI unless I manually set the dGPU to always-on rather than the usual distro default of PRIME offloading.

[–] jntesteves 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Here's the update, I've got the USB-C/HDMI adapter today. Connected it to the port that connects directly to the dGPU and even during boot Plymouth was already outputting video to the TV. I also tested hot-plugging and it just works as expected.

Now for the problems, I ran benchmarks and the performance was as expected, but frame delivery didn't look as good as when using the HDMI port on this device. It doesn't show on the performance metrics, but looking at the screen, the frametimes looked off, stuttering. I'm still figuring out where the issue might be to report it to upstream. EDIT: For people reading this in the future, I've found the issue to be in GNOME's compositor, Mutter: https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/mutter/-/issues/3070#note_1865351

[–] merthyr1831 1 points 1 year ago

appreciate the update!

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