Intel vs AMD for Linux

General Computing
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I’m looking to buy a new laptop, but I’m not sure what to pick. My budget is 500-1000€ and I want 16 gigs of ram. I can’t buy linux brands such as System76.

My biggest concern is compatibility with linux. I want it to have as few problems with drivers as possible.

Intel CPUs come with Intel network cards, which should work on linux without problems. Intel’s drivers are also open source.

AMD CPUs are mostly better for the price, but laptops with AMDs come with an unknown network card (e.g. Broadcom or Realtek) that can have problems with drivers.

And by the way, would you recommend 14, 15 od 16 inch display? I’ll mostly use it at home, but I found a good deal with 14 inch display.

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At the time of writing both AMD and Intel embrace the open source community. I would give the edge to AMD, though, if only slightly. Intel works great, but the scheduler (for E/P cores) is not as refined as on Windows 11. I heard there was recently a display issue, with Intel graphics, on Linux, too. That was a Kernel issue, and was quickly resolved. Just something to note. That being said, Intel networking is far better than it’s competition. Not just in driver support, but in actual capability.

As for size, it’s honestly personal preference. I wouldn’t go below 15 inches, usually leaning towards 16/17. Going smaller, I’d just wish I had a bigger display.

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