I currently have an old laptop, which I am thinking about replacing within the next few years. I am specifically interested in some of this stuff:

• I have heard that Nvidia compatibility was horrible but has improved a lot recently. I know it was horrible (I have an old Nvidia GPU that I can't replace unless I get a new system), but how much has compatibility actually improved?
• I have heard somewhat mixed things about AMD. How is the support for AMD GPUs and APUs? If the support is good, I'll consider them as well as Intel.
• I have heard somewhat mixed things about support for switchable GPUs, such as Intel Integrated Graphics and an Nvidia dGPU in the same system. How well does this kind of setup work?
• How well do hot-swappable GPUs that output to the main screen, such as the Surface Book performance base work on Linux? I'm not going to buy a Surface device for several reasons, but I am kinda curious about how well that GPU setup would work on a similar device.
• What about external GPUs that connect over Thunderbolt? I don't think I'll need one, but I still want to know if they'll work.
• Does USB-C including alternate modes fully work?
• Are infrared face cameras, fingerprint sensors, and other methods of biometric authentication supported? If so, can I easily install an extension into KDE to make them work seamlessly?
• How well are touchscreens supported? Are the active stylus things supported well? I want to get a 2 in 1 device (I don't plan on using an active stylus unless it is better than a regular capacitive stylus), and I would like to know how well it will work.
• Does screen rotation (both based on accelerometers/gyroscopes and hinge position) work?
• How well does Bluetooth, especially Bluetooth audio, work? My current system doesn't have bluetooth, so I can't test.
• How good is the battery life? My current system has better battery life on Linux than it does on Windows because of how much power the CPU uses when doing much of anything, but I understand that modern laptop CPUs use a lot less power, making other things that do not have their power management 100% supported in Linux much more significant. Can I expect to be able to find something with 8-12 hour battery life on Linux?
• Is connected standby still a thing on laptops? If so, does it work properly on Linux? If not, can it at least be disabled properly?

It would be better to ask about specific hardware models (and where practical chipsets for hardware components), as otherwise only general answers can be provided. I'd recommend researching laptop models and keywords such as linux, ubuntu, fedora etc to turn out blogs and threads detailing users experiences with such hardware.

You may want to look at some spec sheets for System76 laptops, considering they build them specifically for Linux - may give you some ideas about good hardware combinations. I have an AMD APU based laptop running Xubuntu - been rock solid. My new desktop is a fairly new AMD Ryzen 7 2700x paired with Nvidia 1060 and blisteringly fast in Linux (Ubuntu just because it is so fast you can't tell it is heavy!).

I can see in your other thread that you are not a fan of Nvidia, but as far as I know, AMD + Nvidia has always (in recent years) been a reliable combo for Linux (and that has been my experience over the past 5 years - when I started using Linux as a daily driver).

Laptops are of course much more sensitive. For example, my work laptop was "upgraded" to Windows 10 (in fact 2 of them - one Dell, one Lenovo) - now they are both unreliable, some USB hardware says there are no drivers - this is Windows! The same hardware works fine on all of my Linux machines, new and old...

I can address a few of your points.
> New Nvidia support is fine, according to what I hear.
> AMD is fine: I'll be using AMD when I upgrade my desktop this year.
> The Intel/Nvidia swapping is a pain. Windows does it automatically, according to what software is running, but for Linux you need to switch manually.
> Distrowatch tested touch-screen support a year ago and decided that Gnome gave the best results.

But the best bet is to draw up a list of the computers you fancy and then search for web for "linux whatsitsname" and see if there are any cries of woe.

Modern, to me, is anything that works with today's web browsers/internet.

I did buy a really modern desktop, an SBC, does all I need of it, it first appeared about 3 years ago.

I can also use a Raspberry Pi3B or 3B+ to do just about everything I want to too.

But most of my Linux/(BSD) computers are quite a bit older, about 8 years old, (one is from 2008).

So basically, it is hard to find general information and I need to get a list of specific computers and research their individual compatibility. This kind of stuff makes me wish laptops were somewhat standard like desktops are. Unfortunately, a desktop is not an option for me because I will need portability when I upgrade. I will still try to avoid Nvidia because I'm still mad at them, but I won't simply refuse to buy a machine with Nvidia.

Does the intel/nvidia swapping being a pain mean that it is unreliable, hard to do, or requires a reboot? If it causes crashes or requires reboots, that will be a major turnoff. However, if it actually works reliably but just isn't automated, I'll automate it myself. I think I just want the integrated graphics on battery power and the discrete graphics on AC regardless of the applications running.

Are touchscreens on KDE truly awful or just not as good as GNOME? I don't like GNOME that much and don't really want to switch to it just to make a touchscreen work well.

I still have a few questions:

• How well do hot-swappable GPUs (Thunderbolt eGPUs or Surface Book style) work on Linux? I'm not going to buy a Surface device for several reasons and don't need an eGPU, but I am kinda curious about how well those things work.
• Does USB-C including alternate modes fully work? I'll avoid USB-C only systems if there are issues.
• Are infrared face cameras, fingerprint sensors, and other methods of biometric authentication supported? If so, can I easily install an extension into KDE to make them work seamlessly?
• Are active styluses supported well?
• Does screen rotation (both based on accelerometers/gyroscopes and hinge position) work? Some sources say it works and some say it doesn't.
• How well does Bluetooth, especially Bluetooth audio, work? My current system doesn't have bluetooth, so I can't test.
• How good is the battery life? My current system has better battery life on Linux than it does on Windows because of how much power the CPU uses when doing much of anything, but I understand that modern laptop CPUs use a lot less power, making other things that do not have their power management 100% supported in Linux much more significant. Can I expect to be able to find something that isn't a Chromebook with 8-12 hour battery life on Linux?
• Is connected standby still a thing on laptops? If so, does it work properly on Linux? If not, can it at least be disabled properly?

Also, not really related, but are there any laptops at all with delete, home, end, page up, and page down keys that don't require me to press fn+another key? I use those keys a lot and not having them is frustrating. I've been using chromebooks for school for almost 3 years and still haven't gotten used to not having those keys. And is there anything decent with physical trackpad buttons, socketed RAM, and removeable batteries? I can live without those (as long as the battery can still be removed with a screwdriver), but I really don't want to support planned obselescence.

Look at laptops with bigger displays (15.6" upwards), as they usually offer keyboards with separate numeric and additional dedicated keys as you mentioned. For example my HP ProBook 450 G3 has such a keyboard (and backlit too which is a bonus). The Dell 15 3000 series laptop I've just ordered has a similar full-key layout.

http://www.notebookreview.com/howto/...good-keyboard/

Are you sure? Most 15.6 inch laptops that I can find do not have those keys. They only seem really common on the stupidly big 17.3 inch gaming machines. I am willing to use a 15.6 inch machine, so I'll look at some of them. Do bigger machines also tend to have things like removable batteries and socketed RAM? I'd like the battery to be removeable without disassembling the machine, but I can live with one that can be removed with a screwdriver. I am unwilling to buy a machine with a battery that requires heating, prying, and other stuff like that to remove.

I think HP do 15.6 inch laptops with those separate keys and even separate numeric pad. They also do laptops with AMD graphics and shipped with Linux, so again, compatibility should be good. Now that I look into it, Lenovo also do Linux laptops - seems like everyone is into it. You cannot beat a Thinkpad keyboard for feel at least!

The only manufacturers that I can find making Linux laptops are Purism, System76, and Dell. The only "Linux" laptops offered by anyone else (including HP and Lenovo) are chromebooks, which have unusable keyboards and tend to be low end.

The HP laptops I've owned (or been provided with for work) have all been fine with Linux (I'm a long time openSUSE user). Over the past 2-3 years this has been ProBook models, all totally fine. In the past I also had a Z61m ThinkPad dual booting with Windows and Linux - 100% compatible with my favourite OS. I don't like Chromebooks anyway.

Someone was saying that all manufacturers, especially HP and Lenovo, sell laptops shipped with Linux. But it is good to know that HP laptops work with Linux. I really don't like Chromebooks either.

Yeah, I went onto the HP and Lenovo websites and found laptops shipping with Linux, and I had seen them there for quite a few years actually.

You should try second-hand rugged laptops like Toughbook and others.

Samsonite2010, are you outside the US in a location where they are required by law to offer multiple OSes or something? When I go to their websites, HP only offers me Windows 10, a greyed-out Windows 7 option, Chrome OS, and "Other." "Other" offers me a computer mouse and a few Windows 10 laptop + peripheral bundles. Lenovo only offers Windows 10 home, Windows 10 Pro, and Chrome OS. I was on https://store.hp.com/us/en/vwa/lapto...ed_na_6_181216 and https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/c/LAPTOPS.
Stéphane Ascoët, I'll consider those too.

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