I’ve been quite happy with my Steam Deck - both as a gaming console and as a secondary computer when it’s docked, but for newer titles I picked up a Rog Zephyrus M16 (2023) last year.
Now that Windows is going off the deep end with AI, I’m looking to dual boot/trial Linux on this laptop with the goal to give Microsoft the boot.
It’s a beefy laptop:
- 13th Gen i9-13900
- 32GB Memory
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070
- 1TB NVMe (Windows)
- 2TB NVMe (Linux)
I added the second drive to avoid any issues with dual-booting with Grub/Windows Bootloader - instead making the Linux device the primary boot device and spamming Esc if I want to change to the Windows drive.
For distributions, I’m most familiar with Debian/Ubuntu - it’s the daily driver for my work laptop, and the vast majority of my home lab VMs are Ubuntu. With the Steam Deck, I started to get more into Arch with the Steam Deck, and now it’s the OS of choice for my HTPCs for simple streaming/Plex media player. I’ve also messed around with ZorinOS (basically a fancy skinned Ubuntu).
I need some advice on what to throw on this laptop - and some suggestions on how to squeeze the best performance out of this (Optimus vs. Proprietary NVIDIA vs. Open source drivers).
NobaraOS. Comes with laptop specific fixes OOTB. Gaming fixes OOTB. Nvidia OOTB. Zero problems.
I tried nobara with my lappy and it just did not work with my GPU (gtx960m). No matter what i tried and installed it just wouldn’t work. I switched over to pop-os and it’s been working like a charm since. So YMMV with whatever os you try so don’t be afraid to switch it up to another if one isn’t doing it for you
Good point, the key is don’t give up! There’s so many options one is bound to be the right fit
Doesn’t Nobara still not supporting Secure Boot and requiring it to be turned off for Nvidia support?
I second this. I distro hopped for quite a while before I found Nobara and have stuck with it ever since. Based on Fedora, but with a bunch of fixes and QoL improvements. If you’re a gamer, I highly recommend Nobara. Created by the guy that made GE-Proton, so he def knows what he’s doing.