I’m planning to get a new laptop, fairly cheap, mainly for running Linux Office, Okular, etc and Firefox, and was thinking of installing Tumbleweed. I’m going to have to get one with Windows installed, and I’m thinking of making it dual boot, since, with my current, eight years old, laptop, I’ve found the ability to load Windows has been useful on two or three occasions.
So a couple or so questions:
Is Tumbleweed the right way to go? (I’ve also got a desktop running Leap but no Windows, and the files I’ll want to use will mostly be on Desktop.)
I’m being asked if I want Windows 10 or Windows 11. I have no effing idea. Which is recommended? Are there any issues I should be aware of.
Is there anything else I should be aware of before (or after) I pay out some money?
Laptops with dual graphics processors are very common. These cause many users repeated driver maintenance issues. If you would like to avoid any possibility of this common routine, be sure whatever you buy has only an AMD or an Intel graphics processor. Beware that some laptops come with two AMD GPUs. Those, like those with Intel + NVidia, are more expensive, and intended essentially for gamers.
Windows 10 support will come to an end many years before Windows 11, just like support for Window 7 and 8 are long gone.
WRT multibooting, whether to choose a rolling release (e.g. TW) or a more traditional release (e.g. Leap) is a non-issue.
Overall, TW is better suited to more experienced Linux users. It generally requires more interactive maintenance, carefully choosing when to update, and reading the Factory mailing list in order to exercise that care. If you only need ordinary software, not the very latest versions, and don’t plan to frequently update your hardware to newer, then Leap probably makes better sense.
@johngwalker I would suggest looking at a system with Windows 11 for future proofing (UEFI, TPM 2.0 and secure boot). As indicated either a AMD and AMD GPU or an Intel machine (would be my suggestion) with an intel gpu… 4+ cores 16-32GB of RAM, M.2 NVMe storage would be a bonus as faster storage…
Modern hardware, Modern OS, now that MicroOS is around, would suggest that either Aeon (GNOME) or Kapla (Plasma) and using flatpaks, no need for Packman at that point either, just default repos…
No powerhouse, I would go for a second hand/refurbished business laptop with Windows installed or at least provided. Newer laptops are only marginally faster while a second use business laptop has often a good quality.
I did do the same after buying a new Acer laptop but finding out that the storage was not supported by Linux (yet) so I returned the laptop and went for a second hand Lenovo Thinkpad and I am quite happy with that.