- A new patch is being quietly pushed to Windows 10 (and 11) PCs
- It’ll force upgrades in certain circumstances to keep the PC in support
- This update will mean more nag prompts coming to your PC
Anyone know where I can buy a gaming PC with linux preinstalled instead of windows?
Pretty much all modern Linux installers offer to wipe the existing drive and overwrite. Just prepare a USB drive and boot from it, then follow the steps in the wizard.
Always remember to disable secureboot and remove bitlocker before installing linux on a oem windows machine. They make it hell to remove that malware from newer machines.
Bitlocker doesn’t mean anything when you delete its partition.
I would recommend keeping secure boot enabled if your OS supports it, and manually enrolling the key if it doesn’t. Boot chain attacks are a real concern.
I get that, and this is likely what I will do for my existing PCs. The reason I ask is three fold: 1) To save time. I don’t have a ton of spare time, so I would rather spend it gaming than messing around with wiping drives and installing stuff. 2) To encourage my friends to switch over, many of whom are less likely to spend time and effort than I am. 3) This is less important, but wouldn’t I be paying for a windows license I won’t even use? Not a fan of wasting the money, not a fan of paying Microsoft for a service I’m actively fighting to get away from.
Nonetheless, thanks, I will try to find some time to fiddle with installing on an older machine I have and see how that goes.
And for those on the other side of the Atlantic, there are several computer shops that will just put a computed together for you without an OS.
Here’s a random example “configure your own computer” from a computer shop in France. In this one the OS (Système d’exploitation) is not included and you have to pay extra for it.
In my experience with custom assemblies like this the OS is never included.
When I live in the UK at some point I’ve even used of these kind of stores there to get a custom notebook.
It’s basically an “assemble your own computer” for people who don’t know how to do it and aren’t confident enough to try (understandable given that the parts value of a whole desktop PC adds up to at least €1000 so there generally is some fear of fucking it up if you’ve never done it before).
Writing this on a Tuxedo Pulse 14 gen 3 - great laptop, flawless Linux support and a coding workstation. Perfect for a bit of eg. Disco Elysium or Crusader Kings 3 on the go, but it’s no gaming machine; it has a lot of pixels for a Radeon 780M to push. They do have a list of gaming laptops, though, if you wanted a speciality machine?
I have a system76 machine. It’s been really good with steam. Or a steam deck, it’s just a PC.
Their laptops are not worth it if I’m honest. They have issues with the hinges. I had two of them give out. They use a very cheap plastic. But you are guaranteed no driver issues if you use PoPOS on their own machines.
Ew and buy components? No thank you, just mine, smelt, and build them, cheaper to boot.
Well…you’re not wrong.
It’s the specialized tools you’ll also need to do all of that that’ll get you, though.
I built one — took about 4 hours once all the parts arrived. My first build. Installed Linux Mint from a flash drive and it worked perfectly. Ended up switching to Zorin OS later — also works fine.
I have been able to play every game I wanted, except one requiring a VR headset.
Yeah, you buy a gaming PC with Windows and you insert a USB stick and install Linux. Otherwise, you’ll be paying a high premium for a company that does basically the same thing. Things to look out for are try to find a PC with Intel networking and bluetooth adapters. Realtek is relatively well supported, but has been known to have issues.
If gaming is top priority. Go all amd, disregard Nvidia. AMD has extraordinary linux support and if it runs on the steam deck it will run on any all AMD machine.
True, but Nvidia has come a long way and I believe announced support in the recent months, but don’t quote me on the last part. I have a desk and laptop both with Nvidia GPUs, and I don’t have any issues. Wayland did not work until 4-6 months ago, but everything is pretty stable now.
As others have mentioned, it’s incredibly easy to install yourself. You just need a flash drive and another device with internet access.
If you’re gaming, I’m using Garuda Dragonized, which is set up for gaming. I’ve liked it and seen many others like it too. Regardless, KDE is probably the DE you want if you’re coming from Windows, but there are plenty of others you may prefer.
You probably can’t get it pre-installed, which I think is probably monopolistic if the only OS choice presented to customers is Windows. That’s how it’s spread so far, not because it’s easier. The issue with pre-installing is they’d either have to let you choose from a ton of options or just limit your choices. It’s easier to let the customer handle it.
