Linux on Laptops: ASUS Zephyrus G14 with Ryzen 9 4900HS

Enlarge / This lede image is a bit of a spoiler-but Linux fans might not want to rush out and buy a Zephyrus G14 just yet. (credit: Jim Salter)

The Zephyrus G14 is a dual-GPU gaming laptop, and Linux tends not to fare well with that setup. But it's the only Ryzen 4000 equipped laptop I have available-so it was obviously going to get Linux on it, whether it liked it or not.

Since brand-new hardware generally calls for brand-new distro versions, I grabbed a fresh copy of the Ubuntu Focal Fossa beta and gave it a whirl. I have the sad duty of reporting that the results were mediocre at best.

Installation

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  Oh look! An Ubuntu animation splash under the ROG logo! This is going great! (No it isn't.) [credit: Jim Salter ]

The first step in installation on a new laptop is everybody's favorite game: which key do I press to get to BIOS? It took a couple tries, but on the Zephyrus G14, the correct answer is Esc. Pressing escape gets you to a boot selection menu, with an additional option to go into the BIOS/UEFI setup.

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