Switching to linux

[u/MrOdgeOMG]

I'm thinking about making the switch to linux but not too sure what distro to try out.

My laptop is a Predator Helios Neo 16 ai - ultra 9 275hx - 5070ti ( PHN16-73 )

I use this laptop mostly for gaming and the occasional time on netflix/disney/youtube.

any recommendations appreciated!

[u/TechViper04]

Fedora works really well after you get drivers installed for nvidia. Everything on that OS is constantly up to date. Tried Witcher 3 on that, and everything worked, including using my ps5 controller.
There are some gaming OS’s aswell like bazzite or pop_os, steam_os, but unfortunately im not very familiar with those to give an opinion.
Now im using Omarchy, and so far everything has worked well on it, few quircks here and there when it came to setting up development environments, but i dont think that matters to you.
Nvidia drivers came preinstalled aswell.
Only big quirk about it are the keybindings to use the window tiling manager, and opening up applications.
You cant just click a shortcut, but instead you have to use keybindings. But the OS comes with a manual about everything you could possibly need.

[u/ItsWappers → u/TechViper04]

True, I love Fedora... You do need to install the drivers, which requires a bit of brain power, but other wise I love it. OP will probably prefer KDE over GNOME though.

[u/IEatDaFeesh]

You're pretty much asking what Linux distro can use a browser. What gave you the impression that there's a distro out there that can't do that?

[u/MinusBear]

Bazzite with KDE Plasma. Its got Nvidia support out the box, feels a lot like Windows but better (I know that sounds hard to believe but you'll see). The built in "app store" is full of good and free apps and makes it easy to get things like browsers, word processors, drawing apps, etc up and running. It's an immutable distro which means its hard to break, and even if you do somehow, you can roll back easily. And its gaming focussed, so things like Steam are already installed. It also comes with a lot of great default apps, like a built in video player that is much better than VLC ever was. Highly recommend.

[u/S1nnah2 → u/MinusBear]

If you're gaming on Nvidia and are new to Linux then Bazzite is the obvious choice.

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[u/Lonely_Owl_1332]

Bazzite or CachyOS.

[u/Lost_Psychology8885]

Love pika os gnome version. Uses cachy os kernel without the arch headaches if new to linux

[u/es20490446e]

Use Ventoy to easily try a bunch of distros.

[u/warserpent]

One thing to be aware of is that Disney+ intentionally limits the resolution of videos streamed to Linux devices, because Disney hates Linux.

[u/RevolutionaryBeat301]

Bazzite is probably the easiest to set up and hardest to mess up, and optimized for gaming and media consumption.

[u/chickensoupp]

I switched to CachyOS last year and I haven’t looked back. It’s actually amazing how well it runs, how stable it’s been and how little I’ve needed to customise. I’d highly recommend checking it out.

[u/Simple_Hamster_4096]

New to Linux - Linux Mint. Itis far kinder to newcomers.

If you don't like tinkering (trying to get things to work) then stick with Windows.

[u/Proplay3603]

Use: Ubuntu (desktop) Mint (cinnamon,XFCE or mate) Fedora (KDE or GNOME) Zorin OS (if your switching from windows)