Hi,
I have a Lenovo Ideapad gaming 3i with a gtx 1650, and I would like to find a more lightweight distro than PopOS that supports (or is easier to set up) nvidia optimus graphics. Any suggestions?
It’s a little more of a setup but you could try endeavour. It’s pretty lightweight and performant, they have every kind of DE imaginable to install during the setup.
Linux Mint Debian Edition is very lightweight and easy to use.
If you want lightweight, void is pretty good. Not sure about nvidia though.
Linux mint has delivered me a consistent experience on the verge of boring (Good for an OS) with great driver support and minimal intervention. I have wandered a long path of distro hopping and can say if you want to screw around, learn linux, and have to care about maintaining it (Like a car or house) try EndeavourOS or other major distros. If you want an OS that works for you without much intervention, give mint a try.
The default Cinnamon DE is quite light, but it also comes with an even lighter XFCE version. I prefer Cinnamon because it just hits the right spot for what I knew computing to be.
I had a good experiences with nobrara. For non gamers it is a bit bloated, but everything worked out of the box or after just one reboot. https://nobaraproject.org/
Sounds interesting. I’ll throw it on a usb. Thanks!
For the best Nvidia Optimus experience IMO go with an arch based distro, something like Endeavor OS, and install and configure Optimus Manager. It has a Hybrid Mode which makes it work much like it does on Windows, were you just launch a game and it uses the dedicated GPU. I like it better that way vs having to be switching modes manually.
Here’s a guide for it: https://discovery.endeavouros.com/nvidia/optimus-manager-for-nvidia/2021/03/