[HN Gopher] All-AMD Ryzen Notebooks for Linux Gamers: USB4, AMD ...
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       All-AMD Ryzen Notebooks for Linux Gamers: USB4, AMD GPU? and PCIe-
       Gen-4.0
        
       Author : opengears
       Score  : 17 points
       Date   : 2023-09-10 10:03 UTC (12 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (opengears.medium.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (opengears.medium.com)
        
       | littlecranky67 wrote:
       | I am eagerly waiting for the Framework 16 AMD-based Laptop. First
       | production shipments and thus independent reviews should be
       | available Q4 2023.
        
         | gtvwill wrote:
         | Dead set. Until other companies get ontop of their
         | waste/longevity/upgrade paths. They can duck right off. Frame
         | work laptops or nothing. Ethics of waste > everything else.
         | Apple is a e-waste machine along with dell and hp. Their
         | e-waste for profit should be considered criminally negligent
         | given today's climate.
         | 
         | Gross companies are gross. I love that frame.work is providing
         | some option/fight back against the toxic businesses of
         | yesteryear.
        
       | clircle wrote:
       | What is this insane full page ad on mobile...
        
       | cracauer wrote:
       | Disappointing that this test doesn't report on how well
       | suspend/resume works.
        
       | lhl wrote:
       | One note, while the author recommends the 1000-nit HP Sureview
       | display, those SureView panels have significant downsides. A
       | short summary from a Notebookcheck review:
       | https://www.notebookcheck.net/HP-EliteBook-865-G9-Laptop-rev...
       | But basically, with Sure View, viewing angles are extremely
       | compromised even with the privacy off, brightness and contrast
       | can change w/ head motion/position, there's graininess to the
       | display (due to the Sure View layer itself), and at least last
       | gen's model had a <60Hz PWM, which is awful for eyestrain.
       | 
       | While it has an older Zen 3+ CPU, for those looking for an AMD
       | GPU model that plays decently well with Linux, I've heard good
       | things about the 2022 Asus Zephyrus G14. The big bonus is that
       | being last year's model, they're usually on clearance if you can
       | find them in stock.
        
         | opengears wrote:
         | Afaik here the suggestion is to get the ASUS TUF Gaming
         | Advantage A16, but the ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 also looks nice!
         | (it is missing USB4, but has AMD Radeon RX 6700S and PCIe 4.0)
        
           | deaddodo wrote:
           | > ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14
           | 
           | I have this laptop, it works wonderfully for Linux gaming.
        
           | lhl wrote:
           | Hmm, are you sure that's what the suggestion is because the
           | first line of the Verdict says: "If you want an amazing 1,000
           | nits (IPS) LCD -- go for the HP EliteBook 865 G10, Ryzen"...
           | 
           | My comment directly talks about why the Sure View display is
           | objectively not amazing, and has a lot of downsides. Also, I
           | have an older Ryzen laptop with a 250 nit display and to me,
           | it's basically too dark unless you work exclusively in low
           | lighting (even sunlight from office windows made it
           | unpleasant to work with) so I think the TUF would also be
           | hard to recommend unless you really were someone who never
           | looks at their screen (but then, why get a laptop?).
           | 
           | The G14's display I'd say is significantly better than either
           | the TUF or the HP's. Personally, I think 350 nits would be my
           | minimum. The G14 has a 500 nit display. It's also DCI-P3 and
           | Pantone validated making it much more color accurate. It's a
           | matte display, supports HDR (largely irrelevant to Linux I
           | know), and supports 120Hz and VRR (it can actually be tweaked
           | to 144Hz and 30-144Hz VRR, which _is_ actually amazing to me
           | [1]). Notebookcheck of course has a review on the display:
           | https://www.notebookcheck.net/Asus-ROG-
           | Zephyrus-G14-GA402R-G... (much faster pixel response, PWM at
           | 27KHz only at <35% brightness).
           | 
           | USB 4 is available on the 2022 G14 via a beta BIOS:
           | https://rog.asus.com/us/support/FAQ/1049059
           | 
           | [1] https://www.reddit.com/r/ZephyrusG14/comments/w9k8p3/my_g
           | 14_...
        
         | kwanbix wrote:
         | I worked for IBM for 10 years in the outsourcing branch. We
         | acquired lots of "business" hardware. By far the more horrible
         | to deal with, was HP's.
        
       | pella wrote:
       | all-AMD : posted on July 9
       | 
       | There are now 85 configurations available in the EU featuring
       | Zen4 and DirectGPU
       | 
       | https://geizhals.de/?cat=nb&xf=18367_001+-+(dGPU)%7E19538_17...
        
       | sfn42 wrote:
       | Well good luck with that. I'm sure the dozen or so Linux laptop
       | gamers in the world will be ecstatic.
       | 
       | I mean why wouldn't you buy a machine incapable of sufficiently
       | cooling itself under load, with an operating system for which
       | only a small fraction of games run well, to play games? /S
        
         | G4E wrote:
         | Yeah because as everybody knows the steamdeck, which fits
         | exactly your description, was a huge failure.
         | 
         | /s.
        
         | wiseowise wrote:
         | > I'm sure the dozen or so Linux laptop gamers in the world
         | will be ecstatic.
         | 
         | https://omdia.tech.informa.com/pr/2023/04-apr/omdia-steam-de...
         | 
         | And that's only Steam Deck.
         | 
         | > only a small fraction of games run well, to play games?
         | 
         | ?????
         | 
         | You mean most games from previous gen consoles and thousand PC
         | games?
         | 
         | https://www.protondb.com/explore
        
         | opengears wrote:
         | I guess it depends on the ecosystem. For Steam Linux is more
         | used than Mac OS X (still Windows is the most popular).
         | https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/08/linux-surpasses-the-...
        
           | alphabettsy wrote:
           | Likely the result of the SteamDeck almost exclusively though
           | right?
        
             | wiseowise wrote:
             | What difference does it make?
        
         | nonplus wrote:
         | There are multiple Linux powered handhelds at this point that
         | seem to have market traction, they are doing heavy lifting for
         | laptops like this on the software side. I don't know any
         | current figures and don't think quoting forecasts figures for
         | 2027 is helpful.
         | 
         | I do think it's getting to the point where starting a game on a
         | steam deck or holoiso is easier/requires less of a user than
         | windows.
         | 
         | Anecdotally, every time I turn on a windows machine I'm
         | inundated with updates. My machines using holoiso (steamos
         | build for any x86 hardware) I just start up and they work
         | (assuming no required game updates).
         | 
         | https://gifrific.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/There-Are-Do...
        
       | sylware wrote:
       | $215 cheaper without windows?
       | 
       | Why I have been told windows OEM price is around $20 all along?
       | (windows OEM price should be public info).
        
         | opengears wrote:
         | To be fair, Windows 11 Pro is $215. Win 10 or Win 11 are
         | "cheaper", but still significantly more than $20
        
           | sylware wrote:
           | So I have been lied to for a decade?
           | 
           | Need regulation to make that official public info.
        
             | opengears wrote:
             | Who lied to you? Microsoft?
        
               | dijit wrote:
               | I think it might be... us.
               | 
               | People claiming without citation (since it's all secret
               | anyway); that the bundled crapware almost completely
               | subsidises a Windows license. "So unbundled would only
               | save you about $20 anyway", why fight it.
               | 
               | There was also this: https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nyti
               | mes.com/library/tech/99/... which, while massively out of
               | date was netting people $25-$50~ who forced
               | microsoft/OEMs to refund the windows license.
               | 
               | EDIT: The wikipedia page cites several cases where Dell
               | and Microsoft have both claimed $50: https://en.wikipedia
               | .org/wiki/Bundling_of_Microsoft_Windows
               | 
               | Dell of course offering $50 as a discount when buying
               | Linux builds or "FreeDOS" out of the factory.
        
               | sylware wrote:
               | open source software user groups fighting the mass
               | default pre-installation of windows on PCs. As far as I
               | could tell...
        
               | mcny wrote:
               | for reference, I am typing this on a minisforum um560XT
               | which is a small desktop with a Ryzen 5600H mobile
               | processor. The whole thing cost me under USD 500 with 500
               | GB SSD, 32 GB of RAM, and a windows 11 Pro license.
               | 
               | Somehow I doubt there was enough room for Minisforum to
               | pay Microsoft USD 215. I would gladly take the USD 215
               | discount and install an operating system myself if I had
               | a choice.
        
               | opengears wrote:
               | I do not think that the vendor passes on $215 to
               | microsoft, but 215 is what HP is charging their customers
        
       | bubblethink wrote:
       | Despite better paper specs, AMD laptops have numerous issues on
       | linux. Gaming aside, if you want a good productivity laptop, I
       | would advise T/X Intel Thinkpads.
        
         | deaddodo wrote:
         | I use an all-AMD laptop with Linux daily.
         | 
         | I haven't noticed any major issues. And, in fact, I have more
         | issues with my Intel/nVidia laptop, especially with regards to
         | power management.
        
         | redeeman wrote:
         | i have an all-amd laptop, works perfectly with linux
        
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       (page generated 2023-09-10 23:02 UTC)