I see what you mean and as someone who owns a surface pro collecting dust they’re still working towards putting Linux on, I understand the barrier to entry that a normal computer user like my mother would face in the event that they needed to do this. You are correct about it being similar to loading roms on Android phones or tablets during the early 2000’s, and even though there are a lot of reputable repos and flavors of Linux to choose from, I can see your point about the dwindling number of computers that either come with Linux out of the box, let you choose to buy without an operating system, or don’t require you to load up windows to download that necessary bootable USB.
And you’re right about buying used hardware. That hardware is dwindling in stock and even if it wasn’t it’ll only operate for so long without needing repairs.
Linux users (as someone who’s newer to Linux) very often talk over the heads of the people they talk to online, assuming a certain level of knowledge that’s absolutely not there for a normal person. Some of us need step by step instructions and a lot of the solutions I see here and other forums just throw out a bunch of jargon as a solution without a guide.
We need guides, people. Or at the very least something we can Google.
But we also need hardware that’s reasonable and affordable which is a PITA now that AI has just taken over the consumer hardware space and pushed it to the back burner.
There’s absolutely a reason that people are excited about Valve popularizing hardware that comes stock with Linux. I still don’t have a driver for the fingerprint reader on my ROG Ally X and I can only imagine the problems when the laptop or computer you can afford isn’t one targeted by a dev to be compatible.
Just because most things work doesn’t mean everything works as it should. There will absolutely be headaches a normie computer user will have no idea how to fix.
The average person. I’m going to repeat that because apparently you missed it. The average person isn’t buying used computers from enterprise resellers.
A new entry level Thinkpad from Lenovo is $935.10 on Lenovo’s website right now and it comes with copilot. Buying used is a crapshoot because lots of those surplus or used business ones are being resold without RAM or in some cases Harddrives, which will obvious drive up the cost and that supply will be finite going forward as the RAM and components shortages continue. You don’t even have to take my word for it.
Here is a guy who was salvaging business class laptops, refurbishing them and installing Linux to sell them to people who can’t afford the new tech price increases and even he has been forced to give up doing that.
It’s not about Linux not being supported. It’s about barrier to entry.
My mother is not buying and installing RAM. My mother would not know what to do if she had driver issues on Linux.
And where with windows there’s an assumption that you don’t know anything about anything so guides with step by step instructions exist, with Linux, a lot of the time you’ll get some lackluster instructions that assume you have a set amount of knowledge already.
So either you didn’t read everything I said, and you’re just responding to what you think I meant, or alternatively you wrong about what can be fixed by buying thinkpads.
https://youtu.be/T6eiFyJMWgM