My home computer is coming to the end of it's useful life. It is a AMD CPU based Tower with Windows 7 OS.
In view of reported technical problems and cost associated with Windows 11, I am reluctant to purchase a new Windows based computer system.
Should I jump to an Apple Mac using MacOS version 14 Sonoma or one of the Linux OS systems that use a AMD CPU?
Peter Brooks
Palm Bay FL
No simple answer I'm afraid - a lot depends on you and quite what you want it to do. Personally I can't say I've had much to do with Apple, but I use both windows 11 and various flavours of Linux professionally and have few problems with ether. But it's all horses for courses. I wouldn't run a large financial system under windows, but windows does have advantages for more "consumer" end stuff - not least because a lots of apps and drivers for various peripherals and gadgets either don't have Linux versions at all or require a fair amount of manual tweaking to get to work with your particular flavour of Linux. Generally, I'd say windows is probably easier, but I feel much more in control with Linux.
- Andy.
Hello Andy:
Regarding Linux - I have spent the past hour looking at a youtube video by a guy who has tested the following versions/distributions for various types of end use applications.
They were Fedora 4.0, Red Hat, Nobara 4.0, Cachos, LINUS Mint and Ubuntu.
Which version have you got?
Which version do you think came out on top?
Peter Brooks
Palm Bay
Which version have you got?
Mostly RedHat at the moment (but work pays the subscription), a few years ago I ran SuSE at home.
Which version do you think came out on top?
No idea. Most of the differences are either what's been left out to make it slimmer/faster or decorative details - so it ends up being quite a personal choice.
- Andy.
Hello Andy:
The clear winner was Linux Mint.
The most common problem with the others versions was getting existing printers (driver software) to work correctly.
It also seems that there is not a "pure play" Linux computer system on the consumer marketplace.
One has to buy (usually) a windows based computer system and then install Linux on top - it is effectively a PARASITE!
Peter Brooks
Palm Bay
For a while, Dell did sell systems with linux pre-installed. The closest they (or anyone else) comes these days is selling Chromebooks.
Some of the specialists did use to offer a No-OS option, but its not significantly cheaper. The other option I've done is specify all the parts and assemble the whole system myself. But its not a time and cost effective route. It was fun though!
For a while, Dell did sell systems with linux pre-installed. The closest they (or anyone else) comes these days is selling Chromebooks.
Some of the specialists did use to offer a No-OS option, but its not significantly cheaper. The other option I've done is specify all the parts and assemble the whole system myself. But its not a time and cost effective route. It was fun though!
Peter Brooks Actually, a little search turned up this company that offers Laptops preinstalled with Linux, with AMD processors and even a warrantee!
Buy a Linux Laptop? Preïnstalled with Linux | Laptopwithlinux.com
Other providers are available and I've never used this company, but this is an example of what a google search turned up.
Its not significantly cheaper then the MS alternative, which shows you how much MS subsidise some PC manufacturers.
More here mainly for those in US:-
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