Hey everyone! I'm in the process of transitioning to Linux and have tried a few beginner-friendly distros like Ubuntu, Mint, and Zorin, but I keep encountering the same issues every time. I'm using an HP OMEN 15-dc1003nl equipped with an RTX 2060 Mobile and an i5-8300H. Despite installing the proprietary Nvidia drivers, I can't seem to play 4K videos smoothly on YouTube, and overall, the system feels sluggish. My laptop's display is set to 144 Hz, which Linux detects correctly, but it sometimes feels more like 60 Hz. Plus, the touchpad is really unresponsive and slow compared to how it works in Windows. Has anyone faced similar challenges or found a good configuration to improve Linux performance on this kind of hardware? Any suggestions would be awesome!
2 Answers
I feel you! Debian and its derivatives can be a bit outdated for desktop use. I recommend giving Fedora or even Arch Linux a shot if you’re up for a bit of a learning curve. As for Ubuntu, try out the latest version instead of the LTS one, since it tends to have better support for newer hardware. For your 4K video issue, it sounds like you might not have hardware acceleration set up properly. Check your CPU and GPU usage with tools like htop or nvtop while playing videos to see if that's the case. Fixing hardware acceleration should help a lot!
Thanks for the tip! I'll definitely check that out.
I totally get what you're going through; I'm in the same boat. My system freezes occasionally too, especially with KDE. I've tried using Mint with the MATE desktop environment, and while it doesn’t crash as much, it still hangs up at times. I’m thinking about switching to Zorin to see if things improve. Otherwise, I might just hold off switching to Linux for a while longer.
I had the same issue on Fedora. It's tricky but it can be sorted out, good luck!