5 ms·

I recently sold my Macbook, bought a Thinkpad, and am running NixOS full time, and I have to say that desktop Linux has gotten pretty excellent since the last t

I recently sold my Macbook, bought a Thinkpad, and am running NixOS full time, and I have to say that desktop Linux has gotten pretty excellent since the last time I ran it full-time. I'm not sure if it's thanks to Wayland, or just improvements to the kernel, or improvements to the desktop environment, or some combination of the three, but at this point I actually think that for the first time I might actually prefer Gnome over macOS. I haven't bothered with Windows since Windows 8, but it does make me happy that Linux holds its own performance-wise, even still. It doesn't look like Linux is categorically better than Windows, but it looks like for the most part they're comparable.

ahartmetz 2y ago
I'm pretty sure that it's improvements in all parts of the stack. Kernel (drivers mostly - the rest has already been fine or hasn't improved that much, e.g. out of memory behavior), middleware and frameworks, desktop environments.
cma256 2y ago
I agree. I attribute that mostly to NixOS though. It reminds me of the old Prince of Persia game where I could make a mistake, rewind time, and try again. I find Ubuntu and others to be pretty fragile still. IMO, technologically Linux has been ready for years. If NixOS were packaged into an actual product experience it would be a great new entrant into the desktop operating system space.
- tombert 2y ago
  Yeah, NixOS is admittedly kind of game changing. It's pretty hard to go back once you've gotten used to it.
- exe34 2y ago
  I hate nixos, but I can't imagine using anything else ever again, because I like that when I screw up while trying to install something, the end result is a nop instead of wiping and re-installing.
  - ericbarrett 2y ago
    Timeshift (included with Mint, but I don't think it's exclusive to it?) is a much more conventional solution—I believe it uses rsync under the hood—but it works very well for exactly this kind of experimentation. It can revert config changes, package installs, and even OS major version upgrades.
    - Technetium 2y ago
      Timeshift is not exclusive to Mint. It's important to note that it was archived in 2022, and therefore will not see fixes or improvements. I'm a big fan of Snapper as a replacement, and encourage everyone to explore it. https://github.com/openSUSE/snapper https://github.com/openSUSE/snapper
  - mixmastamyk 2y ago
    What does it mean to “screw up installing something”? Don’t think it has generally been a problem, though I could imagine a bad kernel module perhaps.
    - tombert 2y ago
      Can't speak for everyone, but at least in my case, especially when I was first learning about Linux, I'd mess up stuff with my graphics card driver or wifi card driver or something, and I'd get to a state where stuff wouldn't boot, or a GUI wouldn't start up. I'm decent enough now to where I'd be able to fix it, but when I was starting out I would sometimes feel that I had to wipe the hard drive to get it working (particularly before I had a smartphone, so when the WiFi went out I really had no way to look up how to fix it). NixOS is nice because if you get to a situation like that, you can simply reboot and choose a previous generation, and then figure out where you went wrong.
      - mixmastamyk 2y ago
        Ok, so like filesystem snapshots. However, since LiveCD/Flash images became a thing, I stopped worrying about the OS at all, just keep a recent backup of my /data partition.
- dizhn 2y ago
  Ubuntu Tumbleweed with Snapper gives you btrfs based snapshots integrated into grub. I think this is the better solution for most users since nix is not the most straight forward distro to use.
staindk 2y ago
Have you not had any of the classic Gnome/Linux/Wayland issues? Electron apps running slow/freezing, weird scaling issues, screen recording issues, display output/detection issues, sound and Bluetooth issues, ... Some of these may be due to my laptop's shoddy support for Linux but I also had issues on my Lenovo ThinkPad X1 a couple years ago.
- tombert 2y ago
  I don't know that I actually have any Electron apps installed on my computer, unless VSCode is Electron, in which case that one hasn't given me any issues. I haven't had any scaling issues, I haven't tried screen recording. Sound mostly works fine, though it occasionally gets pretty confused by HDMI sound output (though that's usually resolved by re-plugging the cable). Bluetooth worked fine for me without any headaches, I even got Airpods to work without much trouble. The only issue I've really had with Gnome, and I have no idea what this is and it's probably a bug in Firefox, is that for some reason the web interface for Transmission Server will crash the entire desktop. I need to muck about with dmesg or journalctl to figure out why and then file a bug report, but it's definitely that page (I've recreated it with just Firefox open on the Transmission Web page). Otherwise, it's been great, I really like Gnome right now.
  - vetinari 2y ago
    Scaling issues and screen recording are application side problems. Fractional scaling works only for native wayland applications. For X11 applications running under Xwayland, they run at classic 96 dpi and are upscaled to the given fractional scale. Obviously, upscaling and bilinear filtering means blurry applications. (Even vscode has to be forced to use wayland - it is capable of doing so, but it still uses x11 even on wayland system by default). Screen recoding problems are also legacy issues. All these application that have problem (Webex, looking especially at you) are trying to screengrab using XGetImage at x11 window, root window for entire desktop; which obviously doesn't work (and it ever worked under X11 only due PCs using global framebuffer without any overlay planes in the past). The proper way is to use Pipewire, which Chrome or Firefox has been doing for ages already. Just some apps think, that what they were doing 15 years ago is fine today too, why bother updating.
sandworm101 2y ago
You see improvements because Linux is still trying to get better. Linux wants to win over windows users. Windows is long past trying to win new users. Windows has moved on. Windows development now seems focused on how to better track and monetize users. Step away from windows for a few years and you will come back to something worse than when you left, similar to how airlines seem to be getting worse year on year.
- binkHN 2y ago
  I couldn't agree more. The first time I used Windows 11, I was absolutely horrified with how anti-user it is and how much of a vehicle to sell Microsoft services it has become. It's so bad that it was affecting my normal workflow and it forced me to look for greener pastures. While Windows 11 has some great technology under the hood, I installed Linux for the first time as my production desktop and I couldn't be happier. It's an environment designed for the user first and foremost and the experience, while it has some warts, is leaps and bounds better than the latest that has come out of Redmond.
  - sandworm101 2y ago
    I think it was around 2007 when I was setting up a new netbook for someone. I plugged a mouse, an old Microsoft USB mouse, and got a popup saying that windows needed a network connection in order to download the driver for my new USB device. That was the day I abandoned all hope for windows as a user-friendly OS.
  - fuzzfactor 2y ago
    >the latest that has come out of Redmond. You may not even know about the latest from last week, it's the long-awaited Windows 11 24H2 general release. Among other things, now you get bitlocker by default upon installation, and it automatically encrypts (not only) its own partition, plus any others within the realm of its default autoencryption settings. This can be a little bit of an ordeal to recover from even if you have a Microsoft Account. If you have already made the effort to maintain a Local User instead, it can be accomplished but naturally you wont be able to decrypt using any online credentials. You would barely notice anyway since there are no notifications about bitlocker of any kind, much less autobitlocker with a fury. So you don't actually have any decryption keys at this point either. Other popups will occur though, nothing very useful as usual. Plus when booted to the newly installed W11 24H2 you're an authorized user so you can access your C: volume and every other volume like normal. So you would never guess there's a problem until you boot that PC to some other volume, like one having up-to-date W10 installed. And it wont boot because that whole partition has been stealth encrypted and the undamaged bootfiles no longer recognize it. It can only be accessed when you are already booted to the new 24H2 volume but bitlocker is still not "complete" on any other volumes without a Microsoft Account, so on each encrypted volume there is only an option to turn bitlocker "on" not off. You can muddle through and obtain a local decryption key but it does not work in a straightforward way (and perhaps maybe never the first time), plus decryption takes a bit of time. So it ends up being faster and easier to reformat the encrypted volume and recover the contents from backup. To correct this, action needs to be taken in advance before the installation of W11 24H2 like no Windows before, you must make sure no other disk volumes are exposed and that the install setup process can only "see" the target volume you are intending to install 24H2 onto. Otherwise you really need to use the latest RUFUS app to tweak and adjust the Windows install routine so you can disable things like autobitlocker in your customized USB Windows install device. Before you subject a multipartioned PC to unbridled mayhem like never before. Not just a multibooter. This finally adds up with other creeping challenges to make the latest Windows more fiddly and in need of arcane command-line intervention more so than Linux for the first time. Not like it was since the beginning of Linux up until a week ago. And it's a big leap.
ta1243 2y ago
I've run ubuntu for most of the last 20 years and my desktop has barely changed. It was excellent in 2006, it is excellent now. It gets out of my way and doesn't change from one year to the next (or if there are changes they are so gradual I don't notice) Installation of ubuntu went seriously downhill since they moved to subiquity though, but its something I can live with once every 5 years or so when I get a new laptop.
- mixmastamyk 2y ago
  I switched to Mint Cinnamon due to the “technical enshittification” of Ubuntu.
  - ta1243 2y ago
    Ahh, comes with an xfce edition, great. I moved from blackbox to xfce about the time I moved from a desktop to a laptop, mainly for things like access to wireless etc, I don't see a particular need to move again, will try to remember it next time I get a new laptop.
adam_arthur 2y ago
I switched to Ubuntu recently on a Thinkpad Z16 and had some compatibility and battery life issues. I think Linux is great for more mainstream models that have already been out for a few years, but unfortunately I can't recommend if you're buying a new or more niche machine. It's really a shame, as I absolutely don't like the direction either Microsoft or Apple is going. I keep ending up back at MBP due to overall polish/hardware quality, but I prefer linux to MacOS. I hope Asahi Linux can get fully up-to-date with latest models and resolve the various QoL issues
- tombert 2y ago
  Cannot speak for all Thinkpads, in my case it was the Thinkpad P16s Gen 2 AMD (rolls right off the tongue). It was pretty painless to get everything set up for me.
- alecsm 2y ago
  Then buy laptops made with linux in mind like Slimbook or Tuxedo. Slimbook Execute, Slimbook Excalibur, Tuxedo Infinity and Tuxedo Pulse are amazing machines.
  - thewebguyd 2y ago
    They're still held back by the chips. RaptorLake gets close (and beats) the M3 in performance in some areas, but not in heat or fan noise. No doubt they are all great machines, but after using an air for the last few years I can't use anything else that's not as cool or as quiet. I'm holding out for Asahi Linux, or some better (and Linux supported) snapdragon elite offerings. The new surface laptop 7 is pretty close hardware wise (except the keyboard) but it can't run Linux, sadly.
    - alecsm 2y ago
      I think Slimbook is releasing a Snapdragon laptop next year. I'm not a big fan of ARM in the desktop but I'm genuinely curious about it.
    - Wytwwww 2y ago
ktosobcy 2y ago
> I recently sold my Macbook, bought a Thinkpad, and am running NixOS full time, and I have to say that desktop Linux has gotten pretty excellent since the last time I ran it full-time. I'm using MBP with macOS since 2013 and I'm quite happy... don't need all that much speed (I upgraded my mbp2013 to MBP with M1 in 2021) but rather that it's "fast enough" and stable and is silent :) While I like Linux on the server I had weird issues with it on the desktop (network lost, not waking up…) so I'm a bit weary... though I fathom that my next machine will have Linux (most likely with ARM) but that's still 3-5 years in the future :)
- tombert 2y ago
  I had a 2019 i9 MacBook Pro, which I actually really liked, but it always had issues with thermal management, and I was afraid that Apple would stop supporting the Intel Macs in the near-ish future, so I wanted to replace it while it still had some eBay value. I bought the Macbook when I was still working at Apple, so I had a considerable discount at the time which I do not have anymore, and so I looked at other computers outside of Apple this time around. I'm really happy with my Thinkpad. It's pretty fast, light, one of the most pain-free Linux installs I've ever had, and reasonably priced. I'm not overly sold on the keyboard nipple but it's easy enough to ignore.
  - ktosobcy 2y ago
    Mine was i5 and I had issues with thermals while connected to external display... turned out that over the years it accumulated so much dust that it was virtually clogged. Given it was way past over any warranty (it was around 2019) I opened it, cleaned it up and all heating issues went away :) When I got M1 I was on a fence with getting a linux machine but in the end the device was sponsored and ARM (cool and silent) won me over (I can't stand the nosie). I think that it's almost certain next machine will be Linux as apple and macOS are utterly annoying...
bmurphy1976 2y ago
It's definitely not Wayland, although maybe Wayland has forced tech debt reduction in other areas. I've been running Desktop Ubuntu 100% of the time for the last ~3 years and I still can't consistently use Wayland. On the other hand old school X11 mostly just works for me these days. I get some occasionally glitches when changing DPI settings (usually when switching between my desktop monitor and my large 4k TV) and the annoying flashing when logging in/logging out which I can easily live with. Best of all, all the games I care about run on Linux now and in many cases they run better on Linux than they ever did on Windows!
hollerith 2y ago
The 6.10 kernel that comes with Fedora 40 (months after its release) proved so buggy on one of my computers that I assumed the hardware was faulty (the same kernel was stable on my other computer) so the computer gathered dust for 4 months till I saw a comment here about how the issue affects certain hardware models, but not others. (The hardware is stable under version 6.11.) Aside from time-wasters like that though, I agree: I prefer Linux over Mac -- but Mac is more secure.
postexitus 2y ago
It's also hardware - even the worst of laptops have decent mobile CPU+GPUs, of course with improving kernel and driver support, it's helping the OS.
porphyra 2y ago
I really want to get the new Thinkpad X1 Carbon Gen 13 Aura, which has Lunar Lake, is incredibly light at 980 g, and has a beautiful high resolution OLED display. But my 2018 Thinkpad X1 Carbon Gen 6 running Linux is still alive and kicking, though its CPU is a bit weak for my C++ compilation stuff...
odiroot 2y ago
Systemd, Pipewire and Wayland all contributed a lot to the desktop experience.
Wytwwww 2y ago
> but it does make me happy that Linux holds its own performance-wise IMHO those benchmarks doesn't necessarily say much without any power usage data. Not sure what the current situation is but historically it wasn't uncommon for battery life to drop by 2x or so in Linux without extensive tweaking.
winrid 2y ago
I was going to write a comment agreeing with you but then my audio started to get scratchy for no reason this morning

ahartmetz 2y ago

I'm pretty sure that it's improvements in all parts of the stack. Kernel (drivers mostly - the rest has already been fine or hasn't improved that much, e.g. out of memory behavior), middleware and frameworks, desktop environments.

cma256 2y ago

I agree. I attribute that mostly to NixOS though. It reminds me of the old Prince of Persia game where I could make a mistake, rewind time, and try again. I find Ubuntu and others to be pretty fragile still. IMO, technologically Linux has been ready for years. If NixOS were packaged into an actual product experience it would be a great new entrant into the desktop operating system space.

tombert 2y ago
Yeah, NixOS is admittedly kind of game changing. It's pretty hard to go back once you've gotten used to it.
exe34 2y ago
I hate nixos, but I can't imagine using anything else ever again, because I like that when I screw up while trying to install something, the end result is a nop instead of wiping and re-installing.
- ericbarrett 2y ago
  Timeshift (included with Mint, but I don't think it's exclusive to it?) is a much more conventional solution—I believe it uses rsync under the hood—but it works very well for exactly this kind of experimentation. It can revert config changes, package installs, and even OS major version upgrades.
  - Technetium 2y ago
    Timeshift is not exclusive to Mint. It's important to note that it was archived in 2022, and therefore will not see fixes or improvements. I'm a big fan of Snapper as a replacement, and encourage everyone to explore it. https://github.com/openSUSE/snapper https://github.com/openSUSE/snapper
- mixmastamyk 2y ago
  What does it mean to “screw up installing something”? Don’t think it has generally been a problem, though I could imagine a bad kernel module perhaps.
  - tombert 2y ago
    Can't speak for everyone, but at least in my case, especially when I was first learning about Linux, I'd mess up stuff with my graphics card driver or wifi card driver or something, and I'd get to a state where stuff wouldn't boot, or a GUI wouldn't start up. I'm decent enough now to where I'd be able to fix it, but when I was starting out I would sometimes feel that I had to wipe the hard drive to get it working (particularly before I had a smartphone, so when the WiFi went out I really had no way to look up how to fix it). NixOS is nice because if you get to a situation like that, you can simply reboot and choose a previous generation, and then figure out where you went wrong.
    - mixmastamyk 2y ago
      Ok, so like filesystem snapshots. However, since LiveCD/Flash images became a thing, I stopped worrying about the OS at all, just keep a recent backup of my /data partition.
dizhn 2y ago
Ubuntu Tumbleweed with Snapper gives you btrfs based snapshots integrated into grub. I think this is the better solution for most users since nix is not the most straight forward distro to use.

staindk 2y ago

Have you not had any of the classic Gnome/Linux/Wayland issues? Electron apps running slow/freezing, weird scaling issues, screen recording issues, display output/detection issues, sound and Bluetooth issues, ... Some of these may be due to my laptop's shoddy support for Linux but I also had issues on my Lenovo ThinkPad X1 a couple years ago.

tombert 2y ago
I don't know that I actually have any Electron apps installed on my computer, unless VSCode is Electron, in which case that one hasn't given me any issues. I haven't had any scaling issues, I haven't tried screen recording. Sound mostly works fine, though it occasionally gets pretty confused by HDMI sound output (though that's usually resolved by re-plugging the cable). Bluetooth worked fine for me without any headaches, I even got Airpods to work without much trouble. The only issue I've really had with Gnome, and I have no idea what this is and it's probably a bug in Firefox, is that for some reason the web interface for Transmission Server will crash the entire desktop. I need to muck about with dmesg or journalctl to figure out why and then file a bug report, but it's definitely that page (I've recreated it with just Firefox open on the Transmission Web page). Otherwise, it's been great, I really like Gnome right now.
- vetinari 2y ago
  Scaling issues and screen recording are application side problems. Fractional scaling works only for native wayland applications. For X11 applications running under Xwayland, they run at classic 96 dpi and are upscaled to the given fractional scale. Obviously, upscaling and bilinear filtering means blurry applications. (Even vscode has to be forced to use wayland - it is capable of doing so, but it still uses x11 even on wayland system by default). Screen recoding problems are also legacy issues. All these application that have problem (Webex, looking especially at you) are trying to screengrab using XGetImage at x11 window, root window for entire desktop; which obviously doesn't work (and it ever worked under X11 only due PCs using global framebuffer without any overlay planes in the past). The proper way is to use Pipewire, which Chrome or Firefox has been doing for ages already. Just some apps think, that what they were doing 15 years ago is fine today too, why bother updating.

sandworm101 2y ago

You see improvements because Linux is still trying to get better. Linux wants to win over windows users. Windows is long past trying to win new users. Windows has moved on. Windows development now seems focused on how to better track and monetize users. Step away from windows for a few years and you will come back to something worse than when you left, similar to how airlines seem to be getting worse year on year.

binkHN 2y ago
I couldn't agree more. The first time I used Windows 11, I was absolutely horrified with how anti-user it is and how much of a vehicle to sell Microsoft services it has become. It's so bad that it was affecting my normal workflow and it forced me to look for greener pastures. While Windows 11 has some great technology under the hood, I installed Linux for the first time as my production desktop and I couldn't be happier. It's an environment designed for the user first and foremost and the experience, while it has some warts, is leaps and bounds better than the latest that has come out of Redmond.
- sandworm101 2y ago
  I think it was around 2007 when I was setting up a new netbook for someone. I plugged a mouse, an old Microsoft USB mouse, and got a popup saying that windows needed a network connection in order to download the driver for my new USB device. That was the day I abandoned all hope for windows as a user-friendly OS.
- fuzzfactor 2y ago
  >the latest that has come out of Redmond. You may not even know about the latest from last week, it's the long-awaited Windows 11 24H2 general release. Among other things, now you get bitlocker by default upon installation, and it automatically encrypts (not only) its own partition, plus any others within the realm of its default autoencryption settings. This can be a little bit of an ordeal to recover from even if you have a Microsoft Account. If you have already made the effort to maintain a Local User instead, it can be accomplished but naturally you wont be able to decrypt using any online credentials. You would barely notice anyway since there are no notifications about bitlocker of any kind, much less autobitlocker with a fury. So you don't actually have any decryption keys at this point either. Other popups will occur though, nothing very useful as usual. Plus when booted to the newly installed W11 24H2 you're an authorized user so you can access your C: volume and every other volume like normal. So you would never guess there's a problem until you boot that PC to some other volume, like one having up-to-date W10 installed. And it wont boot because that whole partition has been stealth encrypted and the undamaged bootfiles no longer recognize it. It can only be accessed when you are already booted to the new 24H2 volume but bitlocker is still not "complete" on any other volumes without a Microsoft Account, so on each encrypted volume there is only an option to turn bitlocker "on" not off. You can muddle through and obtain a local decryption key but it does not work in a straightforward way (and perhaps maybe never the first time), plus decryption takes a bit of time. So it ends up being faster and easier to reformat the encrypted volume and recover the contents from backup. To correct this, action needs to be taken in advance before the installation of W11 24H2 like no Windows before, you must make sure no other disk volumes are exposed and that the install setup process can only "see" the target volume you are intending to install 24H2 onto. Otherwise you really need to use the latest RUFUS app to tweak and adjust the Windows install routine so you can disable things like autobitlocker in your customized USB Windows install device. Before you subject a multipartioned PC to unbridled mayhem like never before. Not just a multibooter. This finally adds up with other creeping challenges to make the latest Windows more fiddly and in need of arcane command-line intervention more so than Linux for the first time. Not like it was since the beginning of Linux up until a week ago. And it's a big leap.

ta1243 2y ago

I've run ubuntu for most of the last 20 years and my desktop has barely changed. It was excellent in 2006, it is excellent now. It gets out of my way and doesn't change from one year to the next (or if there are changes they are so gradual I don't notice) Installation of ubuntu went seriously downhill since they moved to subiquity though, but its something I can live with once every 5 years or so when I get a new laptop.

mixmastamyk 2y ago
I switched to Mint Cinnamon due to the “technical enshittification” of Ubuntu.
- ta1243 2y ago
  Ahh, comes with an xfce edition, great. I moved from blackbox to xfce about the time I moved from a desktop to a laptop, mainly for things like access to wireless etc, I don't see a particular need to move again, will try to remember it next time I get a new laptop.

adam_arthur 2y ago

I switched to Ubuntu recently on a Thinkpad Z16 and had some compatibility and battery life issues. I think Linux is great for more mainstream models that have already been out for a few years, but unfortunately I can't recommend if you're buying a new or more niche machine. It's really a shame, as I absolutely don't like the direction either Microsoft or Apple is going. I keep ending up back at MBP due to overall polish/hardware quality, but I prefer linux to MacOS. I hope Asahi Linux can get fully up-to-date with latest models and resolve the various QoL issues

tombert 2y ago
Cannot speak for all Thinkpads, in my case it was the Thinkpad P16s Gen 2 AMD (rolls right off the tongue). It was pretty painless to get everything set up for me.
alecsm 2y ago
Then buy laptops made with linux in mind like Slimbook or Tuxedo. Slimbook Execute, Slimbook Excalibur, Tuxedo Infinity and Tuxedo Pulse are amazing machines.
- thewebguyd 2y ago
  They're still held back by the chips. RaptorLake gets close (and beats) the M3 in performance in some areas, but not in heat or fan noise. No doubt they are all great machines, but after using an air for the last few years I can't use anything else that's not as cool or as quiet. I'm holding out for Asahi Linux, or some better (and Linux supported) snapdragon elite offerings. The new surface laptop 7 is pretty close hardware wise (except the keyboard) but it can't run Linux, sadly.
  - alecsm 2y ago
    I think Slimbook is releasing a Snapdragon laptop next year. I'm not a big fan of ARM in the desktop but I'm genuinely curious about it.
  - Wytwwww 2y ago

ktosobcy 2y ago

> I recently sold my Macbook, bought a Thinkpad, and am running NixOS full time, and I have to say that desktop Linux has gotten pretty excellent since the last time I ran it full-time. I'm using MBP with macOS since 2013 and I'm quite happy... don't need all that much speed (I upgraded my mbp2013 to MBP with M1 in 2021) but rather that it's "fast enough" and stable and is silent :) While I like Linux on the server I had weird issues with it on the desktop (network lost, not waking up…) so I'm a bit weary... though I fathom that my next machine will have Linux (most likely with ARM) but that's still 3-5 years in the future :)

tombert 2y ago
I had a 2019 i9 MacBook Pro, which I actually really liked, but it always had issues with thermal management, and I was afraid that Apple would stop supporting the Intel Macs in the near-ish future, so I wanted to replace it while it still had some eBay value. I bought the Macbook when I was still working at Apple, so I had a considerable discount at the time which I do not have anymore, and so I looked at other computers outside of Apple this time around. I'm really happy with my Thinkpad. It's pretty fast, light, one of the most pain-free Linux installs I've ever had, and reasonably priced. I'm not overly sold on the keyboard nipple but it's easy enough to ignore.
- ktosobcy 2y ago
  Mine was i5 and I had issues with thermals while connected to external display... turned out that over the years it accumulated so much dust that it was virtually clogged. Given it was way past over any warranty (it was around 2019) I opened it, cleaned it up and all heating issues went away :) When I got M1 I was on a fence with getting a linux machine but in the end the device was sponsored and ARM (cool and silent) won me over (I can't stand the nosie). I think that it's almost certain next machine will be Linux as apple and macOS are utterly annoying...

bmurphy1976 2y ago

It's definitely not Wayland, although maybe Wayland has forced tech debt reduction in other areas. I've been running Desktop Ubuntu 100% of the time for the last ~3 years and I still can't consistently use Wayland. On the other hand old school X11 mostly just works for me these days. I get some occasionally glitches when changing DPI settings (usually when switching between my desktop monitor and my large 4k TV) and the annoying flashing when logging in/logging out which I can easily live with. Best of all, all the games I care about run on Linux now and in many cases they run better on Linux than they ever did on Windows!

hollerith 2y ago

The 6.10 kernel that comes with Fedora 40 (months after its release) proved so buggy on one of my computers that I assumed the hardware was faulty (the same kernel was stable on my other computer) so the computer gathered dust for 4 months till I saw a comment here about how the issue affects certain hardware models, but not others. (The hardware is stable under version 6.11.) Aside from time-wasters like that though, I agree: I prefer Linux over Mac -- but Mac is more secure.

postexitus 2y ago

It's also hardware - even the worst of laptops have decent mobile CPU+GPUs, of course with improving kernel and driver support, it's helping the OS.

porphyra 2y ago

I really want to get the new Thinkpad X1 Carbon Gen 13 Aura, which has Lunar Lake, is incredibly light at 980 g, and has a beautiful high resolution OLED display. But my 2018 Thinkpad X1 Carbon Gen 6 running Linux is still alive and kicking, though its CPU is a bit weak for my C++ compilation stuff...

odiroot 2y ago

Systemd, Pipewire and Wayland all contributed a lot to the desktop experience.

Wytwwww 2y ago

> but it does make me happy that Linux holds its own performance-wise IMHO those benchmarks doesn't necessarily say much without any power usage data. Not sure what the current situation is but historically it wasn't uncommon for battery life to drop by 2x or so in Linux without extensive tweaking.

winrid 2y ago

I was going to write a comment agreeing with you but then my audio started to get scratchy for no reason this morning