Hi everyone! I have a Lenovo 330S-15IKB with a GTX1050, and I'm trying to figure out which Linux distribution would work best for my needs as a university chemistry student. I need the laptop to be fully functional, meaning I want to make sure the touchpad, keyboard, USB and HDMI ports, camera, speakers, Wi-Fi, and screen all work well. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!
1 Answer
I’d recommend checking out Linux Mint Cinnamon or Kubuntu 25.04. Linux Mint is super user-friendly and doesn’t require much terminal use, plus it has great hardware support since it's based on Ubuntu. I personally use it at university (I'm in physics), and it's smooth!
Kubuntu, on the other hand, offers the KDE Plasma desktop environment, which is similar to what Mint offers but with more customization options and great support for gaming. If you plan to play games, Kubuntu might be a better fit since it has newer packages and a more up-to-date Linux Kernel. Just make sure you install the proprietary Nvidia driver for your GTX 1050! You can do that easily through the driver manager in both Mint and Kubuntu.
I already use Garuda Draconiced on my desktop with KDE Plasma. I’m not planning on gaming too much on the laptop—maybe some GBA emulation and light Steam games. Does Mint auto-update, or is there something I need to do over the next five years?