Currently I use ThinkPad x230 with coreboot. Awesome machine for daily use, plays any (that I know of) free/open source game. Can edit video too but takes a while. I do not compile code often. I wish to upgrade to USB-C charging as I travel alot. Also I want my pc to be silent or fan less (are chrome books any good ?). Obv I want to run as little proprietary firmware as possible aswell.
As for gaming / editing, I think about getting a laptop with M$ Windows “air gabbed” and NVIDIA card. But all models seem to have major flaws with cooling or design or just cost unreasonably much ($3k).
I can stick with my current setup if nothing worth it is for sale, thanks if you can give advice !
I have 2 batteries for my ThinkPad but those weight on travel.
Pinebook looks like a good option for daily computer, but I have no expirience with ARM at all. Maybe it will be more difficult to install Debian on and manage (can it do kvm or alternative).
Why gaming laptop is because my desk space is so small I do not want to move a desktop, monitor and a keyboard away when doing actual work and I do not want to stick and learn Windows work flow.
The PinebookPro comes with Manjaro preinstalled, but Armbian is also supported (Debian/Ubuntu). You can’t run Steam or so on a ARM laptop, but nearly all open-source games work fine. For example I can run Xonotic on it in low to medium settings on 1080p.
Wouldn’t you actually save desk space compared to a laptop? Much less stuff on top of the desk, and desktops have also gotten quite small with mITX specs.
“I do not want to stick and learn Windows work flow.” No idea what you mean with that. Just install Linux on the desktop PC? Edit: ah, you mean for gaming? Proton works great these days, I even use it for VR gaming on Linux. The only problem is incompatible anti-cheat malware in some multiplayer games.
I meant desk space due to having to move to Linux laptop for work and internet. Yes that could be solved by having Linux gaming pc/laptop, however I do not want have Steam (Proton) on a pc that I work on due to not trusting proprietary software especially something as intrusive as Steam. And GOG has only few Linux games supported and WINE is difficult to manage.
That is why no internet Windows seems is only option for gaming to me, or I guess best option would be powerful Linux desktop pc with additional gpu for Windows VM… I wonder if its possible to use Intel graphics(open source) and NVIDIA card for VM or do I need 2 dedicated GPUs ?
Get a docking station and use it like a KVM with your desktop? That way you can use the same mouse/keyboard/Screen with both systems. This has gotten really easy with USB-C, although I never tried it with a desktop PC tbh.
I really don’t get why you insist on some difficult to manage Windows version, air gapped or in a VM (which is a total mess to set up with GPU support). Just use Linux and separate your work user from your gaming user. That will prevent Steam from doing hypothetical bad stuff (which is doesn’t, but that’s a different discussion) with your work user’s files.