Choosing a new laptop

[KShots]

Last november, I took a chance and bought an Alienware M18 R1 (AMD)... this has been a disaster that nobody has been able to resolve. The RX 7900M can't play games newer than 10 years old, the external screens flicker badly... and it works perfectly fine if I reboot it to windows. Evidently AMD decided that the RX 7900M isn't worth supporting under linux, as I STILL can't use this thing after 8 months (and probably never will be able to use it).

To that end, I'm looking to replace it... anyone have any experience with either the System76 Bonobo WS w/ the 4090 or the Framework 16 w/ the RX 7700S? I'm leaning towards them because I'm a bit weary of dealing with hardware that vendors refuse to support under linux. The disadvantage of the Bonobo that I see:

• nVidia graphics - I will (probably) never have Wayland support, which means I will never have per-screen scaling support. True, nVidia occasionally briefly supports Wayland... then breaks that support for months/years at a time. I don't want to play that game... There was a reason I was trying to leave nVidia
  
• Intel processor - The one part that worked great on the Alienware laptop was the AMD processor - fasting thing I've put my hands on. For compiling, it was easily 4-8 times more powerful than my prior 13th gen i9.
  

... while the disadvantages of the Framework laptop:

• No thunderbolt support - found this out the hard way with the Alienware laptop - AMD does not support Thunderbolt, as it's an Intel product. That means I can't plug multiple displays into the TB port, can't drive high-refresh-rate screens at a high resolution, etc.
  
• RX7700S - pretty weak nowadays... Trying to do some unreal engine development, that's kinda a weak point.
  
• Reportedly VERY noisy
  

To that end... is nVidia reliably supporting Wayland nowadays? Are there better alternatives out there?
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Life without passion is death in disguise

[pjp]

As far as "high end" and "I use it professionally to get work done", I've not heard anything good about Alienware, Framework and some other brand I forget.

I have a 2016 era Lenovo T470 because the prior one was still mostly IBM. Based on the T470 and what I've read since, I don't think I'll choose another Lenovo. Which is a shame, because the TrackPoint / pointing stick is something I don't want to lose.

I may be forced to going back to a desktop and some used stop-gap when it I have to replace my laptop.

I don't envy anyone having to replace a laptop any time soon..
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Quis separabit? Quo animo?

[lars_the_bear]

[pietinger]

Yes, the requirements are different, but you can still say a few general things:

1. just never use NVIDIA for Linux
2. notebooks from well-known manufacturers such as HP and Dell can sometimes cause more problems (because they sometimes have very strange BIOSes that are only tailored to Windows) than “no-names” that are tailored by companies that specialize in Linux (such as "Tuxedo" in my country; there are certainly companies in other countries that specialize in Linux).
3. the very latest notebook can sometimes cause problems because not all drivers are updated even in the very latest kernel. sometimes you have to wait half a year ... or buy a notebook that has been on the market for a year.
4. if you don't need gaming, buy a processor with an integrated GPU (works best under Linux).

[lars_the_bear]

[hedmo]

KShots

i have been using my AW area51m-r1 since its release . i say everything works grate but the changing the rgb on the keyboard. that i am doing from the bare metal installation of windows via qemu. i am using nouveau (gsp) nowadays with wayland . ATM steamvr and doom 2016 doeas not work . my game list is all from hexen to red dead redemption . as i dont use thunderbolt i cannot say much there .

regards hedmo