Hi everyone!

I need to buy a new laptop to replace my 12 years old laptop. I didn’t look after hardware for a while for some personal reasons.

I will buy something new. My needs are:

  • photo editing
  • video editing
  • vector graphics editing/creation
  • good battery life (I don’t want to worry about)
  • web navigating, docs, spreadsheets
  • USB-C charging would be nice

I don’t game, and Framework isn’t available where I live.

I would be happy to have some recommendation on what is a good hardware for this use and good brand.

Thanks!

  • @the16bitgamerEnglish
    6•4 months ago

    Too many choices to help narrow it down for you. But you need to keep your own workflow in mind when picking out your CPU and GPU, for the software compatibility.

    I use Davinci Resolve for my video editing, one of the few Professional NLE officially supported on Linux. Intel’s iGPU is incompatible with the software at this time. There are hacks and unofficial patches which are pointed out on the arch wiki, but the work required isn’t easy.

    If you are using Adobe software you might need more power so you can run Windows in a VM, or has up-gradable storage so you can comfortably dual boot.

    Good Battery is an cross x86 issue. While Intel and AMD are now trying to compete with Apple Silicon in terms of power and battery life. Stand by battery drain is still an issue. Google “Windows Modern Standby” if you want to get informed. If I remember correctly the laptop needs to have S3 Sleep enabled on it, and it’s usually not specified on a spec sheet.

    Another battery saving tool is a CPU limiter like Slimbook Battery. My Laptop has a terrible fan curve and I need to throttle the CPU back, else the machine overheats. But it’s also good for the battery life too.

    Software support is down to the Package Manager. Flatpak is your friend for most of this, but if you wanna dive into the deep end, so is the AUR if you installed Arch.

    USB-C Charging is down to the laptop manufacturer. Here is a good infographic on the ones you need to look for. Intel Laptops are a safe bet.