I've been thinking about installing Linux Mint on my old gaming laptop since it's mostly just sitting there running Windows 10 for torrenting and watching movies. I had a great experience switching my Surface Pro 7 to Ubuntu, but when I tried a live boot of Mint on my gaming laptop, it was a complete letdown. The menus were laggy, typing felt slow, and worst of all, the fans ramped up and temperatures hit 90°C while using just VLC and Firefox. This was the opposite of what I experienced with my Surface. I've read that this brand's laptops are designed specifically for Windows, and they don't even support Linux on their machines. I'm no expert with this hardware, and the online support for it seems pretty slim compared to the r/S...Linux community that helped me with my Surface. So now I'm torn—should I try to find a better distro or resources for this setup, or just let it go and use the laptop until it dies?
2 Answers
Check out the migration resources available online! There are a lot of tips on how to make the transition smoother for your laptop. Just remember to be cautious with root access and avoid third-party repos when installing software. Verify your ISOs to ensure everything downloads safely!
Those high temps are surprising, especially since Windows doesn't show them. You might want to clean out your BIOS settings and repaste the thermal compound. Switch to a balanced performance mode on Linux, too. My girlfriend and I found the opposite experience, even undervolting helped us with battery life!
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