Linux Laptop Survey Reveals The Most Popular Linux Laptop Brands, Distros, & Other Details

Short Bytes: What are your expectations from your Linux-powered machines. A recently conducted Linux laptop survey throws light on various factors such as prices, compatibility issues, GPU, laptop brand, etc. which people take into consideration while buying a Linux laptop. It shows some people are willing to pay more if they get proper support.

It’s 2017 now, and the adoption of Linux-powered devices is far better than it was a few years ago. Probably, due to improvements in hardware compatibility and the interest shown by big boys, removing the Windows filter from their eyes. Still, there is a long road to go, Linux computers still face issues and they are yet to stand in front of Windows’ dominance.

A Linux Laptop Survey was conducted by Phoronix which welcomes people to answer a bunch of questions about what things they put first while buying a laptop or does it matter if their machine came pre-loaded with some Linux distribution. The survey received more 30,000 responses in a time span of two weeks which can be taken as a considerable figure to make a conclusion about the general choice of the people.

Also Read: Can Linux On Raspberry Pi Replace Your MacBook Pro?

What does the Linux user survey reveal?

Things Linux users consider while buying a new laptop

While buying a new laptop, the thing which was the most important was the build quality (30.7%), followed by Performance (25.2%), and so on.

Apparently, a good looking laptop made with premium materials is more tempting than the one having all the goodies under the hood. That’s because most of the computer users do casual stuff on a daily basis and might not need a power beast just to browse the web, which is the primary task done by most of the people (82.5%).

Stuff Linux users usually do on their Linux Laptop

Web Browsing is followed by office work (47.7%), software development (73.1%), etc. Even now, Gaming isn’t part of the lives of most Linux users, which maxes out at (21.1%).

Is the laptop pre-loaded with Linux?

For the question, whether their most recent laptop came with Linux pre-loaded, the answer from almost 90% of the participants was a No. This shows that PC makers still desperate for Windows. Although, we have started to see machines like Dell XPS and Inspiron running Linux out of the box. Increased participation from popular hardware would definitely take Linux-powered computers to the place they deserve in the market.

Do Linux users often dual-boot their laptops?

Dual-booting is a thing most us might have tried at least once in our lives. Well, surely, putting up virtual machines is a lot easier, but it’s hard to get the same performance as you’d get on bare metal.

According to the survey, most of the Linux users (62.2%) don’t prefer to dual-boot their system. Because, you know, it sucks sometimes. On the other hand, 29.3% Linux users prefer dual-booting with Windows than any other operating system.

What’s most popular Linux distribution?

It’s Ubuntu, and it can be called the face of the Linux-based operating systems because it’s the first distro most people adopt when they switch to Linux. We can’t deny that there are other great Linux distros, but Ubuntu tops this survey with 38.9 participants voting in its favor. Arch Linux takes the second place (27.1%), followed by Debian on third (15.3%) and Fedora on fourth (14.8%).

Most popular laptop brand for Linux users

Sorry Dell, Linus Torvalds might be a fan of your XPS Dev edition, but the Linux people’s choice for the laptop brands is Lenovo (39.6%). The second place is bagged by Dell (27.8%) and the third by Asus (16%). System76 (2.1%) which is focused only on Linux laptops finds its place down the list.

Preferred screen size and GPU

It isn’t surprising to see the 15.6-inch laptops as the most favored. They’re appropriate, not too big not too small size, makes them a perfect screen size for daily use. With 30.3% share in the survey, it appears that the adoption of 12-inch and 13-inch laptops are also on the rise.

As far as the GPU is concerned, most of the Linux users prefer the integrated Intel chips. This could be possible due to the driver compatibility offered for Linux-based operating systems. For graphics chips, 64.1% users would go for Intel, followed by Nvidia (26.3%). Dual graphics preference is the least of the importance of most of the Linux users.

What’s the most painful thing about Linux laptops?

Clearly, incompatible display hardware has been a real problem in Linux users’ ass, not to mention, the proprietary drivers. Even the WiFi hardware sucks sometimes. Then there are problems related to touchpads, again an unattended territory, and UEFI firmware which prevents people from ditching Windows.

What should be the price of Linux laptops?

Most of the users (39.9%) say that a Linux machine should cost less than $800, while a considerable percentage can even afford a laptop worth $1600 or even higher.

Moreover, more than half i.e. 55% of the participants want their Linux machine to be cheaper than its Windows counterpart while around 30% can buy at the same price. Some people are willing to pay more than the Windows price if they get proper Linux support and compatibility.

Find the original survey at Phoronix.

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