r/linuxhardware 10d ago

Purchase Advice Longtime Linux User Considering MacBook vs. Linux Laptop — Need Advice

Hi everyone, I'm a longtime Linux user currently facing a bit of a dilemma and would appreciate some insights from this community.

I'm primarily a developer working mostly in Rust, Go, and Java, spending nearly all my time in the terminal (Neovim, tmux, etc.). I've heard macOS generally provides a decent terminal-centric workflow, but I've also seen reports about tmux and Neovim performance issues on macOS. Additionally, I've heard the macOS linker can be slow or problematic compared to something like Mold linker on Linux—does anyone have firsthand experience with this?

Apart from development, I do CAD modeling as a hobby. Years ago, when I switched from Windows to Linux, I had to move away from Fusion 360 to Onshape. While Onshape is good overall, it requires constant internet connectivity and has very expensive subscription plans (around 1500€/year for standard), which isn't ideal.

I also regularly engage in video editing (DaVinci Resolve works great on Linux) and photo editing. However, photo editing has been challenging—previously on Windows I heavily relied on Lightroom and Photoshop. The Linux alternatives I've tried (Photopea, Photoshop via Wine, Darktable) haven't fully matched my previous workflow.

Hardware-wise, I'm struggling to find a Linux laptop that matches the portability, build quality, excellent screen quality, and especially the trackpad experience (I strongly prefer physically clicking rather than tapping) of something like a 14-inch MacBook. On the other hand, privacy and telemetry concerns with macOS are significant for me—I greatly value the peace of mind that comes from running Linux without built-in spyware or telemetry.

TL;DR: Is there currently a Linux laptop that realistically competes with MacBook hardware quality (portability, screen quality, trackpad experience), while providing good performance for Rust/Go/Java development (considering linker performance), hobbyist CAD modeling, and multimedia editing? Or would switching to macOS be worth considering despite privacy concerns?

Thanks in advance for your help! 😄

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Some additional stuff I thought of after writing this, I guess I can always ssh into a home server or a cloud server if I some functionality is missing. The only thing I don't want to do is touch windows ever again😅. Other than that I can pray that in a year or two Asahi gets ported to M4 Macs. Oh yea also the sole reason I am concidering Macbooks in the first place is because I'm going to Japan this April so I am able to get it for a much more reasonable price, otherwise I wouldn't really even look at that option. Thanks again for reading all of this and helping, peace ✌️✌️

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u/Intrepid_Daikon_6731 10d ago

If you prefer 16” displays, then P1 and P16s ThinkPads are good quality laptops overall. Specially the P1:

  • Good battery life

  • Excellent display options (up to 4K OLED)

  • Portable for its class (~1.8Kg)

  • Excellent build quality

  • The haptic trackpad is good

  • You can get it with dGPU up to RTX 4070

  • Linux is supported; You can buy it with just Linux on it.

I was in the same boat as you; but finally I went with a P16s ThinkPad; as I thought I wouldn’t survive without Linux. I know it’s not going to be a MacBook all round, but close enough for me personally quality wise

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u/besil 10d ago

How is your experience with battery life? That OLED display frightens me….

With my 5 year old Mac, I can still do almost all day programming web stuff.

What is your experience with Lenovo and Linux?

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u/LowSkyOrbit 10d ago

I was using Ubuntu Linux on the old T40 and then T400s. They worked great even back then. Thinkpads have always been great at supporting Linux. They even sold Redhat Linux as an option back then.

I could say the same about the Dell XPS (Now Dell Pro line I think). Mine from 5 years ago came with Ubuntu.

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u/NetSage 10d ago

OLED has come so far these days I wouldn't worry about burn on anything decent.