Kubuntu Focus M2 Launched As Latest KDE-Friendly Laptop

[user1]

Kubuntu + Nvidia = Horrible combination for KDE users

It's the worst KDE distribution and the worst GPU brand to use with KDE. I anticipate their users to have stellar and phenomenal experiences.

You're right about Nvidia being a horrible choise for KDE users, but what makes you think Kubuntu is the worst KDE distro? From my experience it's rock solid since the last couple of versions. I remember Kubuntu 15.04 and 15.10 were catastrophically buggy, but that's probably because Plasma 5 was just released and their previous project leader had some issues with canonical and it was just before he left what might also explain why it was so buggy.

[Charlie68]

What surprises me the most is their choice of Nvidia gpu which is the most problematic with KDE among all the desktop environments. You know, horrible screen tearing, performance problems, etc..

Tearing in KDE is usually fixed with a few hacks that they certainly did. When I still had an Nvidia I would fix it too.
However even for me Nvidia is not a happy choice, but I believe that right now it is the only choice for such a high-end notebook.
I am sure that Amd will soon take over from this point of view, but it still takes some time, but we are close.
That said, when a company ships Linux it always pleases me, the fact that they have put Plasma makes me even more happy.
Obviously if it was up to me, you will have made other choices both hardware and distribution, but that's okay.

[f0rmat]

Lets hope next year will be the year of the AMD laptop

I concur. I would love to see competition. Slimbook is offering Slimbook II with Ryzen 4000, but they are clear that with the overwhelming demand for Ryzen CPUs you will have to wait because of back orders.

[skeevy420]

You're right about Nvidia being a horrible choise for KDE users, but what makes you think Kubuntu is the worst KDE distro? From my experience it's rock solid since the last couple of versions. I remember Kubuntu 15.04 and 15.10 were catastrophically buggy, but that's probably because Plasma 5 was just released and their previous project leader had some issues with canonical and it was just before he left what might also explain why it was so buggy.

It's about how fast KDE releases updates and how slow Ubuntu is to add those updates to their repos -- because Kubuntu doesn't get anything until Ubuntu does. If someone wants an Ubuntu base, KDE Neon is a better choice since it pairs the LTS Ubuntu release with up-to-date KDE packages.

That said, I looked and the Kubuntu 20.10 version is really close to what others are using now. Past Ubuntu experience still tells me not to go with Kubuntu for the long haul and that someone is better off picking a rolling release or bleeding edge distribution for better long-term KDE support.

[user1]

It's about how fast KDE releases updates and how slow Ubuntu is to add those updates to their repos -- because Kubuntu doesn't get anything until Ubuntu does. If someone wants an Ubuntu base, KDE Neon is a better choice since it pairs the LTS Ubuntu release with up-to-date KDE packages.

That said, I looked and the Kubuntu 20.10 version is really close to what others are using now. Past Ubuntu experience still tells me not to go with Kubuntu for the long haul and that someone is better off picking a rolling release or bleeding edge distribution for better long-term KDE support.

I see. If you want newer KDE on Kubuntu, there is the Kubuntu backports ppa, but if you want to have an always up to date KDE, then rolling release distros are probably the best at this.

[Nth_man]

> Kubuntu is [...]

Kubuntu 20.04 works well. I work with it every day. In fact, I'm using it right now to write those messages. And anyone can try it using a Kubuntu virtual machine: https://www.linuxvmimages.com/images/kubuntu-2004/ and later seeing it for himself.

[Nth_man]

> Kubuntu is [...]

Kubuntu 20.04 works well. I work with it every day. In fact, I'm using it right now to write those messages. And anyone can try it using a Kubuntu virtual machine: https://www.linuxvmimages.com/images/kubuntu-2004/ and later seeing it for himself.

Some hints about those Kubuntu virtual machines that can be downloaded:
- Disable the network access of the virtual machine (I only enable it in the virtual machines that I produce).
- If you want more speed while trying the virtual machine (because you are not going to regularly use the virtual machine): go to "System settings", in the search box write "File search", press Enter, and disable the "Enable File Search" checkbox.
- If you need even more speed, you can disable desktop effects.

[f0rmat]

It's about how fast KDE releases updates and how slow Ubuntu is to add those updates to their repos -- because Kubuntu doesn't get anything until Ubuntu does. If someone wants an Ubuntu base, KDE Neon is a better choice since it pairs the LTS Ubuntu release with up-to-date KDE packages.

That said, I looked and the Kubuntu 20.10 version is really close to what others are using now. Past Ubuntu experience still tells me not to go with Kubuntu for the long haul and that someone is better off picking a rolling release or bleeding edge distribution for better long-term KDE support.

I agree...although as a caveat, I am no developer, just an enthusiast. I have KDE NEON running on two computers - one being used as a HTPC on a 2012 HP laptop with a very old APU and on a 2017 HP ENVY with an Intel and nVidia combination. I have been very pleased with KDE Neon. But again, I use linux for personal use. People who use it for production may have to use other distos (and yes, I know KDE Neon is not an official distro.)

[skeevy420]

I see. If you want newer KDE on Kubuntu, there is the Kubuntu backports ppa, but if you want to have an always up to date KDE, then rolling release distros are probably the best at this.

That's the way I see it and why I stick to Arch, Manjaro, Tumbleweed, or Fedora since I'm primarily a KDE user (that's also my order of preference).

I also have this personal issue with backports -- I just see how they can add maintenance burden on anything when some users are one these versions and others on those versions. It doesn't matter what package or distribution we're talking about in this regard because everything applies. Sometimes the backports have the package you want updated but a core library for that isn't in the backports so the program with either crash or not work correctly (I call that 2008 on Ubuntu). Because of that happening in the past I prefer to stick to the main repo packages these days.

[Slartifartblast]

I would not use a Intel + Nvidia computer even if they gave it for free and then payed me to use it.

Yes you would.