I think (could be wrong), but I’m pretty sure I’ve seen the opposite too. Steam flatpak, or steam itself (via the little steam is updating popup upon steam startup), will update on its own - and my video drivers don’t work properly until I update the entire system (which fixes it every time).

Doesn’t happen often - but often enough for me to catch it. At least I’m pretty sure that’s what’s going on…

All I wanted was cd quality audio (which I’m willing to pay for)…

You know you’ve screwed up when the lazy people (me) actually get off their butts to switch.

There’s three threads recommending framework 13. I commented in one. I actually own a new 13 with all the latest stuff. It comes close, but it’s not a Mac.

The trackpad works really good except it has a lot of play in it - it’s annoying.

I’ve seen better screens. Yes I have the newest one, no it’s not terrible - but there’s better out there.

The speakers are just ok. Not bad, just ok.

The 13 craftsmanship wise is amazing. My father in law just bought the 16. That one has fit issues with the trackpad and the spacers on either side of it.

Fingerprint readers on both and they work great. No touchscreen.

Battery life is good. Macs are better. My 13 goes about 6-7 hours of continual “normal use”. If I’m using teams for a video call, it’s significantly less - maybe 3 hours. Games - depends on the game but that can drain it in a couple of hours. You cannot under any circumstances go an entire day+ of continuous use without charging.

They are both fantastic linux machines (frameworks) and I highly recommend them. But the hardware is not Mac perfect despite what others say. Just trying to be real here - sounds like you have high expectations and I’d hate for you to buy an expensive laptop and be dissatisfied.

I have a framework 13 running Linux. It’s fantastic - but it’s not up to the high bar OP has laid out (IMO).

The screen is nice - but I’ve seen nicer. The trackpad works well, but the fit has a little bit to be desired - it’s no apple trackpad. The speakers are ok. Not bad, just ok. It’s also pricey.

If OP can compromise on those things, then yes, it’s probably as close to Mac hardware as he’ll get.

You want a MacBook. Apple has always made fantastic hardware. If you’re not willing to compromise, you’re stuck with macs.

Example, literally nobody else makes a trackpad like that.

I bought a lifetime license for makemkv like 15 years ago. It was the single best software purchase I’ve ever made. It just works on all platforms and for all disks. The hardest I’ve ever had to work at it is to “manually” open all the tracks and play a little guessing game for what track is the real one - but it’s ripped every CD and blu ray I’ve ever thrown at it.

My latest config is fedora workstation 42 with a portable blue ray burner drive. Works like a champ.

Not asked for but honorable mention goes to EAC for ripping CDs. I run that in bottles just fine.

For me, yes, everything just works. Fedora 42 gnome. Arch just worked as well. Nvidia 4090. Heavy flatpak user. I’ve had issues with mint and Debian distros being too far behind. My son runs Ubuntu today though - again no issues. And with a video card.

My vote is something is up with your install. Try another distro - maybe one of the gaming focused ones. Or just plain fedora workstation.

Agreed, a good article and I learned a lot from it. One thing I learned is that while secure boot and tpm are neat, I’m more confident than ever that they are just overkill and unnecessary for an average user.

Whether intentional or not - they DO get in the way of using other OSs or bootable flash drives like ventoy. Either by by malicious intent, accidental non signing or delayed signing, or just general complexity of coordinating signing everything with all the manufacturers.

It’s just a lot of hoopla for…. What?

Anti cheating? There’s been cheaters in online gaming forever and that will never change. Give me the option to make friends and play private games with them and I don’t care who cheats.

Security? I mean I guess…. but “don’t boot shady crap and make sure you’re downloading the right stuff” goes pretty far.

I dunno - secure boot and tpm are the first things I turn off and I’m not interested in using software that insists I turn them on. The juice ain’t worth the squeeze.

I’ve said it here before and I’ll continue to say it. All the Linux nerds (myself included) have strong opinions when it comes to distros or x vs Wayland, or flatpak vs repositories, blah blah blah.

But in the end - none of it matters. You could randomly eliminate all options except for one distro - and we’d happily pick that over windows. The trick is that you could make any distro like any other - it’s just that the distro did all the work for you. So pick the one that matches how you want to use your pc.

Maybe the only thing that’s not changeable is the philosophy behind the distro. Debian - older stuff for stability. Arch - bleeding edge rolling release. Fedora somewhere in the middle. You get the idea.