mccDec 26, 2024

Okay. Please help me as I ask COMPUTER BABBY QUESTIONS.

I have a Thinkpad T14 Gen 3 (AMD).
It has a 256 GB HD. That's too small. I want to buy a new, bigger one. I have a sense the good hard drives these days are "M.2".

Lenovo's specs page

https://www.lenovo.com/ca/en/p/laptops/thinkpad/thinkpadt/thinkpad-t14-gen-3-(14-inch-amd)/len101t0013

doesn't say anything about "M.2". It says the hd is "PCIe".

I run "lshw" to see what's on the computer. It says "NVMe".

How do I find out the bestest fastest aftermarket drive Canada Computers carries that my computer will support

Show threadmccDec 26, 2024
I only understand computation as the MANIPULATION OF ABSTRACT PLATONIC FORMS. I do not understand this realm where computers are "physical objects" you manipulate with "screwdrivers". I would prefer to use Math to translate my thoughts directly into action, as if I am casting magic spells
Show threadmccDec 26, 2024
Okay thank you all for explaining. I have one more question: Is there actually, like, a difference between drive vendors. Like if I pick WD vs Samsung vs Lexar (vs… "crucial"?!) will it ever make any difference
Show threadmccDec 26, 2024

Okay. So I think I have my plans for the hard drive complete. Now here's the shedpainty question:

The old drive has Ubuntu 24.04 on it. I hate it.

Should I trade down to Debian?

Or should I trade up to Pop!_OS?

Will I regret either of these? Will either one, if I just go get a standard usb key installation, cause driver problems with my AMD chipset or secure boot or whatever other junk Lenovo has on board?

Show threadmachinewitch
@mcc I've been running Pop!_OS for a year now on a laptop, it's like having an old Ubuntu LTS release but someone already setup the nvidia gunk for me. Kindof annoying from a dev POV because it's using a lot of old packages, probably wouldn't rec over Ubuntu unless someone else handling nvidia gunk is attractive for you
Dec 27, 2024 at 12:05amWeb
Show threadmccDec 27, 2024
@machinewitch i want cosmic but i'm not sure it actually works yet
Show threadmachinewitchDec 27, 2024
@mcc i dunno either, my laptop is still on gnome 🤷‍♀️
Show threadJ3RN  Dec 27, 2024

@mcc @machinewitch Cosmic... works. It's not polished or refined, but you can daily-drive it if you're willing to overlook jank.

Source: I use Cosmic on my Fedora Silverblue install.