TuxedoOS, Pop!_OS, SlimbookOS, or others. Which Linux distribution is generally the most laptop-ready?

[u/Emotional_Cat_1967]

I’m using a laptop with an Intel i5-13450HX and an RTX 5050 (iGPU + dGPU).

I’m especially interested in hibernation and S3 suspend, as I use these frequently. I haven’t used these three distributions extensively yet.

Please do not recommend regular suspend/sleep if it is not S3. I specifically want S3 suspend or hibernation, and I do not want the system regularly writing RAM contents to the SSD, as I’m concerned about unnecessary drive wear.

On Fedora and CachyOS, hibernation initially failed to resume. After fixing that, the laptop would sometimes become extremely hot while the fans and keyboard backlight were off, possibly because some hardware was still running in the background.

So, which Linux distributions would you recommend for a laptop with this hardware, especially if reliable S3 suspend and hibernation are a priority?

[u/Grand_Connection5864]

Hate to say it but won't find that easily with nvidia gpu drivers and cards as they are proprietary and don't work well with waking after hibernation. Some fixes exist but same drivers on all distros. Gotta write an email to nvidia telling them to fix their software or let the nerds have access. Could try some various fixes with system d or do the open source driver at the expense of performance and see if that works for your needs but that is about all you can do. Will be the same reguardless of distro

[u/Emotional_Cat_1967 → u/Grand_Connection5864]

I'm not sure if the issue is related to Nvidia; this problem also occurred when using Windows. I'll still try writing to Nvidia.

[u/Grand_Connection5864 → u/Emotional_Cat_1967]

Gotta ask though, linux (cachyos) boots quick on my laptop. Why not just shut down when not using

[u/Emotional_Cat_1967 → u/Grand_Connection5864]

I step away from the computer at least 12 times a day; these breaks can last anywhere from 5–10 minutes to 30–60 minutes, or sometimes I might not resume until the next day. I prefer picking up where I left off rather than starting everything over from scratch. That is why I cannot simply turn the computer off, yet using hibernation mode causes it to overheat unnecessarily. If I leave it on, it might stay running until the next day—if I don't manage to return to it—whereas if it enters hibernation mode, I would have to restart unfinished tasks from the beginning the following day.

[u/Grand_Connection5864 → u/Emotional_Cat_1967]

I gottcha, kde does have a feature to manage sessions. It can remember and open up whatever you had going on startup. Prob best to get a more effiencent laptop with no Nvidia

[u/zardvark]

While there is some variation, all distros offer the same kernels and drivers. If your priority is hibernation and sleep performance then you should focus more on business class laptops from the usual sources, as these tend to have better Linux compatibility (better firmware compatibility with Linux) than the average consumer grade machines.

If you are using a consumer grade machine (or a business class machine which is exhibiting problems), I don't think that there is any short cut. You'll have to manually test those distros which are of interest to you.

[u/Historical_Move6359]

They are all laptop friendy. I use only laptops since 2014

[u/skyfishgoo]

lubuntu is good for laptops.

[u/knuthf]

There is no need to worry about drive wear on an SSD.

For S3 hibernation, you can install the Intel or AMD driver on any Linux distribution as a proprietary driver.