I second the Framework laptops. I’ve bought 4 Framework 13s so far, and no issues with any of them.

I recommend dual booting Windows and Linux until you’re comfortable switching entirely. Sometimes you need to go back for just one task.

Always back up your files before installing a new OS. Data loss is always possible during installation, and more likely if you don’t know what you’re doing.

The Grub boot manager (included and installed by default with Linux Mint and some other distros) makes it easy to pick which OS to boot each time when turning the computer on.

Check out Lutris for non-Steam Windows games. It uses Wine, but is a lot more user friendly to set up and use.

You can always try the live USB without/before installing. It’s a great way to start getting comfortable or try out several different distros with minimal effort and risk.

Admittedly, there isn’t much overlap between the people genuinely asking and the people actively advancing climate change.

Check out the Creators and Developers section of the Framework Community page for examples of what people have made.

I made a dual USB port because I needed one more port than the laptop had. An adaptor would have been adequate, but I like this solution more.

I haven’t tried PopOS, but Linux Mint runs flawlessly even though it’s only community supported. This community post about PopOS indicates that it may work, but it’s more trouble than it’s worth. I would not recommend buying a Framework Laptop if you really need PopOS. If you’re happy trying a few different distros or picking one that’s officially supported, then a Framework laptop is the only laptop I’d recommend.

I’ve bought 4 Framework laptops so far, and all of them are running flawlessly. I’m actually slightly disappointed that I haven’t been able to test the repairability of them yet.

I think I have graphics driver issues, but it could just as easily be a failing graphics card without testing. Mint has a great driver manager from Ubuntu, but LMDE didn’t seem to have any driver GUI.
The main symptom is about 30 minutes into almost any game the fps drops from 60+ to ~10. Only restarting the game seems to fix it.

I don’t remember the other minor issues, so they’ve either been fixed, or so minor I stopped noticing them.

I think LMDE is good enough to use as a daily driver. The installer is quite nice too.

Installing Plasma should be as simple as “apt install kde-plasma-desktop”, then log out and select plasma from the login screen. I’ve tried other DEs but not Plasma, so I can’t say for certain it will work.

You can always try distros in a VM almost completely risk free. It won’t tell you everything, but it’s an easy way to get first impressions without losing your main OS.

Edit: This forum thread says you can install and use Plasma, but it’s not a great experience. Mint will probably not be the right option for you then.

I’ve been distro hopping for years. After each time trying a few distros, I always find myself coming back to Linux Mint (cinnamon desktop environment). It has everything I need, and just works beautifully out of the box. It might not be flashy or have the latest cutting edge features, but it’s stable.

I’m currently running the Debian edition of Mint (LMDE), and wishing I was back on standard Mint. Nothing major, but a few minor persistent issues that never happened on Mint.

I did try NixOS (immutable OS), but it didn’t seem to have support for all the apps I wanted. I gave up fairly quickly, so you’ll probably have more success.

I wanted to install an extra hard drive in my computer, but the power supply didn’t have enough connectors. I actually had a spare power supply unit, but upon testing, the 24 pin cable was too short to reach the motherboard.

I ended up using both PSUs. Only one had a power switch on it, so that was connected to the hard drives. I had to use a paperclip in the unused 24 pin connector to make it output power. The 2 PSUs had a wire running between the ground pins of a random unused connector, and they were on the same phase circuit.

The hard drive PSU had to be turned on first at the switch. Once that was on, I could press the power button to turn on the computer. I think I used it for about a year before buying enough upgrade parts to effectively replace the entire computer.

I still see this every few months.

I think it’s happening if a key is released at the same time as a window opens or changes to full screen, but it’s too rare to properly troubleshoot. The fix is still the same.

You don’t need to do everything every day. Some days, surviving is enough.