Most people only consider Windows or macOS when looking at laptops, with a smattering of ChromeOS thrown in for good measure. However, the next time you configure a laptop before purchase, you might just see the option to buy it with Linux pre-installed.

Before you ignore that option and click the Windows option, here are five good reasons to buy a Linux laptop instead.

5

Big Brands Are Taking Linux Laptops Seriously

It used to be that only niche brands would sell laptops designed for or preloaded with Linux. Companies like System76, Tuxedo Computers, Framework, and Purism.

Perhaps in part because of the successful business model these smaller manufacturers have built, bigger laptop companies seem to be more and more interested. Of course, the likes of Dell and Lenovo have offered Linux as an option to professional customers for some time now, but it’s becoming easier and easier to just buy a Linux laptop for your own use without first having to order a Windows machine, erase it, and then install the Linux distro of your choice.

4

Lenovo Is Leading the Charge of Discounts for Picking Linux

The thing is, if you aren’t getting Windows with your laptop, then you should not be paying for Windows. One Reddit user noticed that if you picked Fedora or Ubuntu Linux when ordering a ThinkPad Carbon Gen 12 it would net you a sizable discount.

That’s easily 5-10% of the price of such a laptop, so it’s not a small difference. Spending that money on better hardware can offer much more RAM, more storage, or a better tier of CPU or GPU.

Even if you want Windows later, it makes more sense to take the discount now, and get Windows later. Possibly for much cheaper.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 12

3

Official OS Support From the Manufacturer

If something goes wrong with your Windows laptop, and you call tech support, they’ll be happy to help you troubleshoot any issues. However, if you’ve erased Windows and installed Linux, the only advice they’ll give you is to put Windows back, otherwise it’s not their problem.

If, however, you bought your laptop with Linux as an official option, the you are entitled to technical support on that laptop to the same degree you would be if it had Windows installed. A lack of support is one of the reasons people stay away from Linux and it’s why those smaller Linux laptop companies are so great.

2

Guaranteed Hardware Compatibility

If you’ve ever bought a Windows laptop and then tried to put Linux on it later, you’re probably familiar with the issue of hardware support. While laptop hardware is almost guaranteed to be certified for Windows (at least on paper) that’s not the case for Linux. So now you have a laptop where the Wi-Fi card doesn’t work, or there’s no sound, or you can’t get the graphics driver to load properly.

Before you say it—yes I know the driver situation with laptops is much better these days, but the fact remains that if a laptop ships with Linux, it means the manufacturer has ensured that the hardware in the computer works correctly with Linux.

Related

The Best Linux Laptops of 2025

Prefer Linux to Windows? You should buy a laptop that comes with Linux for the best possible experience.

1

Linux Is Ready for the Daily Computing Challenge

The biggest reason this is the best time to get a Linux laptop is because Linux itself is more than up to the job of acting as a daily-driver desktop operating system. For most people, most of the time, there’s nothing you can do on Windows or macOS that you can’t also do on Linux.

Of course, this varies from one distro to the next, but the most popular consumer-focused distros are easy to use, and don’t require special technical knowledge just to install apps, browse the web, and get your work done.

Heck, Linux has even progressed enormously as a gaming platform, and can play a large number of Windows games by using a compatibility layer, with little or no performance penalty. So even if you were hanging on to Windows on your laptop because you like to squeeze in the odd video game now and then, chances are you can already do that on Linux too.

Related

5 Reasons I Won’t Run SteamOS on My Gaming PC Yet

I’ll stick with Windows for the time being.

Now, more than ever, the choke hold that Windows has as a desktop operating system is far more psychological than technological. If you actually look at what you use your laptop for, there’s a pretty good chance that none of it strictly needs Windows anymore, which means we have a great fourth viable OS choice when picking up a new laptop.