I have no experience with Linux, but I’d like to give it a try. I’m looking at the System76 Meerkat and Thelio with the Pop!_OS option.

I don’t see myself gaming on it because I have a Windows machine for just that. I’d mostly be using it for learning Linux and doing basic things like web surfing and word processing (Libreoffice perhaps).

Any recommendations or advice? Thanks!

  • CosmicFjord@lemmy.worldOP
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    1 year ago

    Thank you everyone for their input! I’m impressed by how thoughtful you all are here on Lemmy. I will read up on the links some of you provided and I’ll give a shot at trying Pop!_OS on a VM on my windows machine. If all goes well, I’m still leaning on either a Meerkat or Thelio since I know they will work out of the box. Again, thanks everyone!

    • constantokra@lemmy.one
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      1 year ago

      If you want a cheap option, I just installed pop os on one of lenovo’s education edition thinkpads with zero issues. Everything just worked. They’re usually on sale, with the highest spec ones going for about $250. Even has a touchscreen with built in pen. It’s not blazingly fast, and is missing some bells and whistles (backlight keyboard, high res display, USB c charge port) but it has a rather good keyboard, it’s durable and cheap, and it will even boot off a micro SD, so you can try booting different linuxes without even touching your local install. And with linux, it’s fast enough you won’t know it wasn’t a fast machine unless you’re deliberately doing something you need speed for, like transcoding video or something. Oh, it also has an Ethernet port.

      Anyway, I highly recommend them for learning linux on.