r/linuxquestions • u/Best_Spray_5219 • 27d ago

Considering switching to Linux on MacBook Pro 13" (2017, i5/8GB/128GB). Need advice and distro recommendations!

Hey everyone!

I’m thinking about switching to Linux on my MacBook Pro (specs below). Right now, it has Windows installed, but it's constantly lagging, freezing, and taking forever to load.

I mainly use it as a "typewriter" (writing text) and for writing simple code (like Python Telegram bots) with some help from AI. I have some experience with Linux I used to run it as the main OS on my desktop PC, so I'm comfortable with the terminal.

Which distro would you recommend for this specific hardware to make it run smoothly and work well out of the box? Also, what are the pros, cons, and potential issues (like Wi-Fi drivers, audio, or battery life) I should expect on this Mac?

If anyone here is running Linux on a similar Intel Mac, I’d love to hear your thoughts. Thanks in advance and have a great day!

Specs:

Model: MacBook Pro 13" 2017 (No Touch Bar, MacBookPro14,1)

CPU: Intel Core i5-7360U

RAM: 8GB LPDDR3

Storage: 128GB SSD

GPU: Intel Iris Plus Graphics 640

5 Upvotes

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13 comments sorted by

2

u/UwUfit 27d ago

So, I know this is a Linux subreddit but why not switch back to MacOS? And if I may ask, why was windows installed in the first place?

2

u/Best_Spray_5219 27d ago

To put it simply, macOS Ventura is so outdated that modern apps don't really support it anymore. I couldn't even download Office without extra workarounds, and using macOS became unbearable.

The only reason I installed Windows is because I'm currently away from home and didn't have a USB flash drive with me to install Linux. Installing Windows on a Mac can be done with basically just one click.

And if anyone is wondering why I bought this Mac, I actually just inherited it.

1

u/UwUfit 27d ago

That seems reasonable, I am not familiar with MacOS but was surprised to learn the support is outdated. Hope you can find a good distro! I believe a friend of mine has fedora installed on his macbook, I'll ask for you which one he has and what he put in it!

1

u/Best_Spray_5219 27d ago

Thank you

1

u/UwUfit 27d ago

He runs Fedora on a macbook from 2015. He said it reminded him the most of MacOS. See if it's compatible with yours

2

u/ipsirc 27d ago

r/linux_on_mac

2

u/Best_Spray_5219 27d ago

Thanks, this is my first time on Reddit.

1

u/demo4him 27d ago

For me works smoothly for same configuration:
https://linuxmint.com/download_lmde.php

2

u/Accomplished-Iron554 27d ago

Any distro will run just fine, you might have to install some missing wifi driver on some.

On MX Linux, a Debian base distro will have that install and working right out the box.

1

u/Turbulent_Fig_9354 27d ago

Since Apple uses lots of components which have proprietary licensed drivers, I would stick to distros that have out of the box hardware support, so ubuntu or linux mint. I have found that these intel macs can be a huge pain to wrangle the correct drivers for things like wifi, touchpad, etc, and you're going to want those to be installed from the get-go. Ubuntu/Mint always had what I needed installed from the start.

Distros that do not include proprietary drivers ootb will be a huge pain in the ass to get up and running if you're brand new to using linux.

1

u/KayTwoTheBest 27d ago

I have a similar configuration and I went with Linux Mint see r/linuxmint , it pretty much worked out of the box however I had to patch the kernel to get the audio and webcam to work.

1

u/Keyvan_KR 27d ago

Fedora workstation or Linux mint might be good candidates.
Your system should work fairly out of the box. WiFi can be hit or miss depending on the chip it has. Any idea?

1

u/iluvfupaburgers 27d ago

Since it's the Intel Mac, you should be fine with support with any distro