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Comment by k_bx | Hacker News Reader

Bought $2k laptop Acer Predator Helios Neo 16. Windows 11 doesn't install at all (can't see the hard drive). Win10 installed but touchpad doesn't work (even after drivers install), network didn't work (neither ethernet nor wifi) without external USB stick, and so on. After internet connection and installing all updates touchpad and dynamics still don't work.

Pop OS works near-perfectly.

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Last time I got myself a new laptop (2 years ago), I just removed the SSD (with Linux on it) from the old one and put it in the new one. (It was larger than the included one anyway, I had previously upgraded it.)

…it simply booted and continued working as before. No driver reinstall, no reconfiguring things. I don't remember but I don't think I even had to muck with BIOS/UEFI boot settings or anything.

Downside: a year later the SSD died ;D (possibly age/use related, it was 5~6 years old at that point)

If Linux kills SSDs in 5-6 years then it's not a good sign.

Same experience with the new 2024 Zephyrus G16 and the latest official Win 11 image. Crazy. I had to inject drivers into the boot image using nlite.

Today I learned there's a laptop out there with a mouthful of a name like that.

Their official network drivers are called Killer and are very malware-looking ("unknown developer" blocked by windows). It's unbelievable. Looks like some weird spyware junk too.

Intel acquired Killer in early 2020, the drivers are definitely signed. You may have loaded legitimate malware.

From acer.com? Search for acer predator helios neo 16 (PHN-16-71)

Looks like this https://imgur.com/xelfxZB

This one? https://www.acer.com/us-en/support/product-support/Predator_...

The drivers are definitely signed by Intel e.g. https://i.imgur.com/yMr1bD5.png

No idea then. Maybe it's something to do with Windows 10, but it definitely was showing me tons of "software blocked" and "unknown developer" warnings.

Further tangent, but I remember seeing Killer NIC's booth at ComicCon in 2007 with that very cool, very pointy heatsink (I assume that is what it was, anyway...?).

https://pcper.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/03/a3d4-card-front...

Yeah with the wired stuff back in the day it was a little wild in that their idea was basically put a mini PC on a card which offloads work. Never really turned out that beneficial for gaming but it was at least unique. Then later in their life they just started OEMing Intel and Qualcomm NICs and sticking a driver layer for overcomplicate QoS which wasn't even offloaded anymore. The good news was if you just use the base driver it means you more or less end up with a standard e.g. Intel NIC though.

I would be embarrassed to own something with a stupid name.

"Hey so what laptop did you buy?"

"Well I went for the ACER MEATGRINDER Z980 JUGULAR MOSH RAZOR in the end. The keyboard is 100% sRGB!"

Loads better than it being "Acer ZXGT423LV" which is the trend with smartphones and many other devices today. I'll happily take an "embarrassing" name over that mess.

Eh, knowing tech companies, we will end up with the worst of both Acer Spectral MeatGrinder RPG Bazooka 16 ZXGT423LV-2024 Which should be unique enough, but then they just reuse the name and only change the code part

I write this as I look at an ROG Zephyrus G16 (2023) GU630HE (Last part is important, I think I had to check if it was the model with one of the RAM slots soldered)

Doesn't it come with Windows 11 preinstalled?

Mine came with no OS. I need Linux primarily, but still Windows occasionally for Mission Planner and other Windows-only apps. So I've installed a second M.2 disk and had this terrible experience with Windows installation afterwards.

I had a similar issue trying to do a Windows reinstall on a Dell laptop. The cause was due to the default setup of Intel RST for the storage. The suggested fix was injecting the RST drivers into the Windows installer. I couldn't get that to work and ended up installing it in a VM then cloning the VM hard-drive onto the laptop's via Clonezilla. Unfortunately it was for work so just using Linux wasn't an option.

Where did you manage to get one of those without Windows pre-installed? I was looking at one to replace my outdated Predator, and was hoping to save the ~$100 on the license.

In Ukraine. So.. it depends on how much do you want it haha https://rozetka.com.ua/ua/acer-nhqlveu00a/p416822133/

The shipping might end up being more than the Windows license, haha. Thanks though!

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