Firstly, I will be managing his Linux EOS as he maybe not able to do it by himself.
I will sit down and coach him on the principle of OS, ArchLinux, system tools and apps, I will also teach him about cyber safety.
I do not want him to stay on his outdated AIO PC which slower than a starving sleuth.
What Laptop do you recommend?
Budget is flexible, but I want him to be able to run smoothly KDE on EOS and with at least 14" monitor with a mid-range powerful mobile AMD GPU. I am shopping on Amazon Prime Day deals, but your advice is very helpful.
Thanks a lot
If you really want advice from someone who has managed family member laptops/pcs:
From my own experience I can only say, don’t use a hands on rolling release distros, that will primarily be used by someone else who has no clue about it. Use Mint or something else that doesn’t require you to always have to look after that piece of hardware.
You can do everything that Arch can on Mint, while keeping the maintenance at a minimum.
I will flip the argument and say EOS is a good thing if you want him (and he wants) to learn computer tech methods. 12 is NOT too young.
Though if he’s uninterested, the above poster is quite correct. I’m not sure I’d say Mint, I might say a bazzite spin, perhaps Aurora.
Speaking of Linux Distro. A perfect fit to deploy a laptop for a 12-years old, would be something like KDE Linux, KDE on immutable core, with a rolling distro.
However, the glaring issue, it is not ready yet.
The possibility, is the laptop will be mine, as an Admin, and I will set it up as my on-the-go workstation. I would add an account for him as normal user with apps he needs. He is learning 3D CAD modeling and Robotics, and maybe 3D printing will follow as it is a main part in prototyping of building “things”. The Linux account will be his playground to learn Linux.
One thing from start, all his data will be on a live-backup to MS onedrive with revision history (is that even a possibility). This way if he wiped off a folder or a project data, it can be restored from a live backup from an online storage
Please talk with your kid and ask if he wants to try Linux or not. At 12 years old, he likely wants to play games with his mates that simply don’t work under Linux and dual booting seems like a tall order for a kid that might not be interested in learning about computing.
The Laptop will have Win11 installed, he is already using Win11 on the AIO.
If he does not want to learn Linux, and wants only to get access to his OnShape Account and do some 3Dprinting, surfing the net and playing some Minecraft and such. Win11 should work out of the box for what he needs.
Still I think I will partition the nvme SSD and dual boot EOS for my use and his Linux playground
I work from home remotely, using my 14-years old Workstation. The laptop is more powerful than my workstation. I will not be using the Laptop unless I am on the go and I need to use my personal laptop and not the work laptop. Otherwise, the Laptop will be available for my son.
So yes, you’ll be sharing the laptop with your son. In that case, just dual boot what you want. If he doesn’t like it, he has Windows to fall back on. It might be a worth while investment to buy a second NVMe drive or a SATA drive if the laptop has that kind of expansion option available. Dual booting is risky and things can go haywire fast if you two aren’t careful.
This laptop seems fine, by the way. Look into Framework laptops too, though. They have very good Linux support and while they are more expensive, they have very good expansion options.
I see you’ve already ordered the laptop. I have no experience with the Nimo brand, but since you’ve ordered it from Amazon (and they have a great return policy), I’ll just say to make sure that every single port/button/switch/function works…because once the return window is closed if something goes wrong, good luck getting parts for it.
This is why I’ve always stuck with Asus and Lenovo/IBM for laptops. Replacement parts everywhere!
I bought a Nimo laptop last year and have been very happy with it, charges super quick and battery lasts about 5 hrs with high media usage, highly recommend them!
Got this one on sale for $1,495.00 on Amazon last year.
NIMO 17.3" Copilot+ Laptop, AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370(50 Tops NPU), Radeon 890M, 64GB RAM 2TB SSD, DDR5, 144Hz, PD 100W USB-C 4.0, AI Laptop with Wi-Fi 6E for Student Working Business