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Comment by JMTQp8lwXL | Hacker News Reader

I've been looking into Linux, but it's a nightmare to get running on a (2018) Macbook Pro. (Older years have better support through community effort). With the introduction of new chipsets, it's made it even more challenging for the OSS community to keep up. My next laptop will likely be not a MacBook, so long as I can get a high-res display.

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The starting point for windows laptops with 15.6" 4k screens is ~$1200 nowadays (280 ppi). Current gen macbook pros are 227 ppi. They also cost more, but obv not relevant if you need mac os for some reason.

Get rid of the Macbook if you want to run Linux. Without OS X there isn't any real point to it.

Dell and friends do much better job at reliability.

My only worry is finding a GUI I know I'll like. To my understanding, with Linux it's basically like legos. Beyond the kernel, you have a ton of choice in what you can use. I want the experience for a few weeks, before diving in fully. I also really like the gestures of Mac OS's trackpad and I don't want to give that up-- it enables a lot of productivity. I like being able to spawn a new desktop and three-finger swipe to the next in a linear fashion. I believe a lot of this has been recreated within the ecosystem, but I'm not certain.

What youre looking for is libinput gestures [0]. Or just use keyboard shortcuts.

[0] https://github.com/bulletmark/libinput-gestures

If you want to run particular apps, you can use Macports or homebrew.

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