If you select the cheapest GPU option and no RGB, it’s the same as any other non-gaming PC. And even then, some come with midrange GPUs.
So I bought a new laptop, which arrived last night.
It runs well. Windows 11 installed nicely, and then tried to get me onto One drive, which has messed up before, so I was able to decline that.
However, I can’t remove CoPilot. To do so I apparently need to edit group settings, but those aren’t available on Windows 11 Home Edition.
I detest things like this.
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsCopilot
TurnOffWindowsCopilot = 1
I’m tempted to get a System 76 system many times a year, but Linux has basically no professional software and no photo editing software, so all I’m doing is getting yet another box on my desk to futz with, I can’t really replace, just supplement. So Linux desktop gaming is so close yet still so far.
Really? Seems very odd, given it’s been around for what, 25 years.
There is GIMP
but I don’t think it’s considered a serious alternative by the professionals. There is very little overlap between art nerds and linux nerds.
I’ve tried GIMP a few times and it never quite gelled for me - last time I tried it, it was following that ‘lots of floaty little windows’ UX design which I. absolutely. despise. In fairness, even outside of that it’s not aimed at doing what I want (drawing).
Krita though… Krita is awesome. It’s now my go-to image editor/drawing app.
Oh BTW, I solved the optical drive problem. The other night it occurred to me out of the blue that “they” must make heavy-duty external enclosures for such drives, and indeed they do. I’ll just put my current optical drive in one of these when the time comes. Should hold up better than an el cheapo USB drive, eh wot? Then I can buy whatever PC I want.
I can’t speak for what Enidigm uses/needs, but for a lot of folks when they say they need access to professional software they mean they need access to the Adobe/Maxon/Autodesk or whatever ecosystem. It doesn’t matter if there are “close” alternatives - they need the real deal.
I’ve tried using Linux off and on for the last 25 years and my experience has always gone something like this:
-
Get it installed and running quite easily.
-
Need to do something to configure it, which can be done in 15 seconds on Windows with a GUI. On Linux it requires two hours of Googling and browsing old Reddit threads to find the correct sudo commands to copy / paste into the Terminal.
-
Realize that there’s not really any actual benefit to me using Linux over Windows, so I go back to Windows.
From the very first Debian install I did a quarter century ago to literally three days ago when I was trying to get my Raspberry Pi 5 to output to NTSC resolutions. The exact same scenario plays out. I ended up sending the Pi back to Amazon and buying an x86 mini PC from Beelink (which is also far more powerful than the Pi5, but that’s a different topic for a different thread).
I love the idea of Linux. I keep telling myself that one of these days I’m going to have a Linux PC as my daily driver. I don’t think I ever will.
This is honestly why I am back in Windows at the moment. I don’t mind the tinkering - I find it fun. But there isn’t an overall advantage yet for me personally. As soon as thing like Shutup 10+ and other things cease to work/exist and Recall and such take over, that balance may greatly swing the other way though. I played with it long enough to know that the alternative is there and am glad that it is.
I finally found a use for Linux.
I have been messing around with Linux Mint to find a use for a discarded potato laptop (more like I find it a waste to recycle it when it is perfectly functioning, albeit very slooowly). Using xfce to get the most out of old hardware, this becomes a dedicated machine to open usb stick of unknown provonence.
From time to time I have to look at videos, photos, and documents from clients in usb sticks, and I have nfi if the sticks are virus free. So I stick them into this laptop to view them. Most viruses are for Windows and at most Mac, I figure this machine will be safe. And if I have to write it off it just doesn’t hurt.