I'd wait for Vega laptops (Ryzen CPU + Vega GPU), the AMD open source driver has caught up with Nvidia (sometimes even beats it), best of all it works without too much hassle. Nvidia on laptops works but I still consider it unreliable to this day, I would only buy a laptop with one only if I knew Intel HD are not present or can be completely turned off from Bios.

So I have one of those laptops now where I have not discovered a way to disable Optimus (Asus UX501JW) and well there is the possibility that I may want to upgrade in the next few months (probably won't be a while, but figured I'd best start looking)

I'm wanting to go with something that supports FreeSync, is this even supported in Linux yet? G-Sync is, but this would somewhat be a work laptop, and I have two 4k screens with FreeSync there, which is the reason I'm sort of looking (The default Intel GPU can get rather slow, though Wayland seems to run smoother than Xorg, it has it's own weird share of issues).

I saw a few Ryzen 5/7 laptops out there. Not sure how they perform yet though. I haven't really looked into AMD since the original Bulldozer chip run. Last AMD laptop I had was a Radeon 3200, and the open source driver then was fairly terrible, and it quickly lost support in fglrx.

Any suggestions? I tend to get Asus stuff, and am rather against MSI (had a few too many bad things from them (like two!). Granted, laptop vs desktop hardware is usually pretty different in quality.

Any updates on the OP topic?
It is one year later and there are some interesting Ryzen 2xxxU laptops with integrated Vega8/Vega10 GPUs...

Can anybody share any experience with Vega8/Vega10 gaming on Linux please?

I'm wanting to go with something that supports FreeSync, is this even supported in Linux yet?

I have read that freesync will be supported with next kernel.

Avoid Nvidia on laptops like a plague. But also avoid first generation Ryzens, they have hardware bugs. So get Ryzen 3000 mobile series, once they'll appear in laptops. They are already out, but just in a few models and brands so far.

Mobile APUs from AMD usually are a year behind desktop CPUs, while using same numbering. I.e. while 3000 series for desktop will be third generation Ryzen, in the mobile it will be second.

Any updates on the OP topic?
It is one year later and there are some interesting Ryzen 2xxxU laptops with integrated Vega8/Vega10 GPUs...

Can anybody share any experience with Vega8/Vega10 gaming on Linux please?

I have a laptop with Ryzen 2500U (and thereby with Vega √64 ☺) and 8GB of RAM (it is an Acer A315-41).
While I am overall satisfied with it (got it quite cheap on sale), there are a few downsides to it (apart from having Windows preinstalled). First of all, to be able to boot, you need both a reasonably new kernel (≥ 4.15) and you must add the kernel parameter pci=noacpi, as the CPU will otherwise hang immediately after GRUB.

I started out by installing Ubuntu 16.04.5 on it, and while it did work well with the workaround mentioned, it had issues with seemingly random freezes about once every few hours of usage. These sometimes required a hard reboot (that is, I needed to hold down the power button until it shut down) while they could otherwise be fixed by rebooting using SysRQ. Upgrading to Ubuntu 18.04.1 (kernel 4.18) mostly fixed this, as freezes now only happens once every few weeks or so (despite heavy usage).

Performance-wise, however, I have nothing to complain about. Using nightly Mesa it runs the games I want just fine, although I don't play titles which are graphically demanding. For example, Grim Dawn works great through DXVK, and while Darksiders III ran okay in the beginning, it slowed down dramatically, which turned out to be caused by insufficient RAM (so it hit my swap instead).

However for non-gaming purposes, it is extremely good (for the price). The processor is fast, and it is nice to have four cores (especially when compiling code).

I currently have an older Thinkpad T540p.
Haswell + NVidia Optimus.

Trust me - I will never, NEVER, never again buy a notebook with an integrated + dedicated GPU. Be it a muxed or non-muxed configuration. It's just a pain. Not sure Bumblebee and the like is working flawless by now, but this pissed me off for three lives.

Next notebook will be an AMD + integrated.
That should perfectly suit my needs.

https://www.reddit.com/r/linux_gaming/comments/aoh5be/guide_hybrid_graphics_on_linux_nvidia_optimus/

Nvidia is ok if you know what are you doing rather than believing myths.

Nvidia Optimus is not OK. It was and is a horrible mess. So don't buy the koolaid, stay away from it, plain and simple.

Nvidia have no interest in supporting graphics on Linux laptops. So use laptops with either AMD or Intel GPUs who support them properly.

Nvidia Optimus is not OK. It was and is a horrible mess. So don't buy the koolaid, stay away from it, plain and simple.

Nvidia have no interest in supporting graphics on Linux laptops. So use laptops with either AMD or Intel GPUs who support them properly.

If you would have actually look the post i linked , you would see solution here used is Nvidia Prime and not an unofficial solution like Bumblebee.

Yet you would also see , they're also working on more proper approach.

Who needs to read anyway right?

Shmerl POV : Nvidia bad , Steam bad ; AMD good , GOG good

Please stop fanboying so hard.

If you would have actually look the post i linked , you would see solution here used is Nvidia Prime

Nvidia PRIME is broken. Or rather just under-implemented, in completely inept manner. Nvidia simply didn't implement routing discrete GPU over integrated one with PRIME.

You can can read Nvidia own documentation next time, instead of random forum posts and avoid spreading false claims:

http://us.download.nvidia.com/XFree86/Linux-x86_64/415.27/README/randr14.html

The NVIDIA driver currently only supports the Source Output capability. It does not support render offload and cannot be used as an output sink.

So I'll repeat what I said - avoid this garbage.

If you would have actually look the post i linked , you would see solution here used is Nvidia Prime

Nvidia PRIME is broken. Or rather just under-implemented, in completely inept manner. Nvidia simply didn't implement routing discrete GPU over integrated one with PRIME.

You can can read Nvidia own documentation next time, instead of random forum posts and avoid spreading false claims:

http://us.download.nvidia.com/XFree86/Linux-x86_64/415.27/README/randr14.html

The NVIDIA driver currently only supports the Source Output capability. It does not support render offload and cannot be used as an output sink.

So I'll repeat what I said - avoid this garbage.

It is NOT broken , it works as intended. I personally use it.


https://devtalk.nvidia.com/default/topic/957814/linux/prime-and-prime-synchronization/

Again , they're working on Optimus to be like on Windows ; there won't be no need to select gpu via gui.


https://devtalk.nvidia.com/default/topic/957981/linux/prime-render-offloading-on-nvidia-optimus/post/5276481/#5276481

I don't see what is the problem , it works. Despite you call it broken.

Again , they're working on Optimus to be like on Windows ; there won't be no need to select gpu via gui.

"Working" you mean. Optimus exists since 2010: https://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/2010/02/09/world-meet-optimus/

Nvidia surely were diligently working for 9 years on supporting it... And after 9 years it's not even working as it should. It's called garbage support. If you want to waste money on garbage - it's your own problem.

I would never buy a gaming laptop with Nvidia, Optimus is at best a hit or miss on Linux and I'm saying this as an Nvidia desktop GPU owner since 1999.