Which laptop do you use for NixOS?

pimeys · on Oct 8, 2021

I kind of have a thing for ThinkPads, and I have three laptops with NixOS:

- ThinkPad X1 Carbon 2018 model. Even the fingerprint reader works with this one. And fractional scaling for the 4k monitor! Config: https://github.com/pimeys/nixos/blob/main/hosts/purrpurr.nix

- ThinkPad T25. Everything except the fingerprint reader works. https://github.com/pimeys/nixos/blob/main/hosts/muspus.nix

- ThinkPad X230: Everything works here. The classic workhorse. https://github.com/pimeys/nixos/blob/main/hosts/meowmeow.nix

I never tried anything else except ThinkPads just because I'd miss the TrackPoint a lot...

jchw · on Oct 8, 2021

I am currently running NixOS on my desktop primarily, which is just off-the-shelf AMD CPU/GPU parts. X570, 5950X, RX590. I picked AMD (repeatedly) because it offers excellent performance grunt and good open source drivers.

I do have a laptop running NixOS, but it is just a Thinkpad T60p from a few years back. It works OK, but I can’t say I strongly recommend this. I was at least able to get Intel’s cool GPU virtualization technology working under NixOS, but the iGPU in that laptop makes me wonder why one would do that.