this post was submitted on 15 Apr 2026
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Privacy
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It sounds like you will be buying the laptop and that it won't have loads of college security stuff on it, which is good for what you want to do.
Depending on your needs in terms of bespoke software, Linux Mint OS might solve a lot of your issues. Piece of piss to install and way better option than Windows. As a former Windows user since W95, I moved to Linux Mint this year and I will never go back.
I had an old Windows 10 machine that was unable to run Windows 11, so I installed Mint on it and its like a new machine. The OS is quite similar to Windows in a lot of ways.
You can even try it out live from the bootable USB before you install. I tried it like that and within about 30 seconds I was hammering the install button.
Having said all this, if you are required to give the laptop to the college to install stuff on, you might be a bit limited.
Out of curiosity, I thought all USB sticks can boot? I have a 32GB usb, but idk if that would work...
You can usually boot from a USB stick as long a sit has enough space and you prepare it properly by writing the correct file to it.
For Mint you have to write the image file (called an ISO) to the USB, restart the machine, go into boot settinhs, choose "Boot from USB", and then away you go.
Further deets here: https://linuxmint-installation-guide.readthedocs.io/en/latest/
I'm considering to dual boot an Intel Macbook, but first a legitimately stupid question: is the dual boot 'undoable'? I sound like a facebook mom right now I feel but I've never dual booted before, and I assume that if you assign the GBs of RAM to your Linux boot, and later want to remove the dual boot, you can reassign it fully?
eg:
Initially: 8 GB Macbook boot
Dual: 4 gb mac & 4 gb Linux distro
Later: 8 GB Macbook OR 8 GB Linux distro (ie., fully shifted to Linux).
is that possible? i assume it is...
As far as I know, if you have a dual boot setup, when you choose what OS to go into, it will use the 8GB available. You dont have to split it 4/4. You're only using one OS at a time, so whichever you choose on booting up will use the 8GB you have.
Yes it is "undoable" as such. There won't be a button to undo it just like that, but there will be plenty guides out there I'm sure.
Gotcha. And choosing this OS happens on every startup?
Yes indeed.
Thanks <3 I will try it out tonight for the first time then! I've never gone for Linux before and now I wanna try it. I think I'll start with Fedora or OpenSUSE, though I considered Arch, but that's not exactly beginner-friendly nor intermediate-ish, iirc.
Ireland hopes it goes well for you. 🇮🇪