Are you mixing two concepts?
The Open Source kernel modules will work with the proprietary Linux drivers which have all the features.
There will also be Open Source drivers which do lack features. However, “Linux” still has the features via the proprietary drivers.
I mostly use Proxmox these days which runs on Debian be default.
I am on a backpacking trip with my son right now. I wanted a laptop but did not want to carry anything heavy and did not want to be upset if it was broken or stolen.
I bought a 2013 MacBook Air off eBay for $60 and put EndeavourOS on it ( 128 GB SSD and 8 GB of RAM ). The webcam did not work out-of-the-box but the driver for that was in the AUR ( so just a simple ‘pacman -S’ post install ) and everything else worked perfectly.
The apps I have used so far on the trip are LibreOffice, Firefox / Edge, Email, IntelliJ IDEA, and Microsoft Teams. I built an up-to-date version of the Ladybird browser just to check-in on the status. The MacBook has performed wonderfully and exceeded my expectations.
I guess my point is, even when my requirements were perfect for a Chromebook, I still did not even think of one. This machine is so beautiful, I cannot imagine why I would settle for a Chromebook next time. How much cheaper is it going to be than $60?
I have had seen a few in-flight entertainment systems crash and reveal that they run Linux. The crashes have been due to network issues as far as I could tell ( so no strike against Linux for that ).
Similar story for display panels at fast food places and hotels. Online, I have seen at least one Linux billboard.
My company uses Linux extensively for video monitoring systems in vehicles like busses, fire trucks, ambulances, and police cars.
The challenge would be convincing / teaching the package manager what you already have installed.
We sound like we have almost identical experiences. Except, while I do have some Debian kicking around, I just love Arch and the AUR. But I mostly use EndeavourOS ( Arch for people who don’t have time for this shit ).
Just out of curiosity, what distro do you use?
Or maybe, despite the question, you use BSD? ( which is cool if so )
These days, it is totally feasible to have the best of both worlds with a niche distro that is exactly what you want and Distrobox with another distro to easily bring in any software that you miss. Distrobox totally solves the compatibility problem.
For example, you could have a MUSL based distro like Alpine or Chimera Linux as your host OS. Need software that does not run on MUSL? Just install a stripped down Debian image on Distrobox and “apt install” whatever you like.
A few weekends ago ( just for fun ), I installed Red Hat 5.2. Not RHEL 5, real Red Hat 5.2 from before the Fedora days. My idea was to build Podman and Distrobox on it so that I could get access to the current Arch Linux repos ( and AUR ). I got a bit lost in dependency hell and did not quite get there but I was close. I might try again sometime.
I am a big RISC-V fan and often write how it will eventually push ARM down but let me do the opposite here.
Apple Silicon uses the ARM ISA but Apple designs the chips themselves and TSMC makes them. This makes it a very different situation from PowerPC.
TSMC offers more advanced manufacturing than Intel does. This is not changing anytime soon. From that perspective, Intel looks to be more in the PowerPC seat this time around. Their recent troubles are going to hang a serious anchor on their R&D. It is not at all clear what their future looks like.
Add to this the timing of Intel stumbling just as the Qualcomm X Elite chips enter the market and we have a very interesting competitive moment. Power and battery life matter a lot these days. Will it matter enough to counter speed bumps in app compatibility? We will see.
Independent of Apple, ARM may become viable in the Windows space and that would be entirely new. If it does not happen, it does not really hurt Apple. However, if ARM does take a cut of the Windows market, it does hurt Intel and puts them more into the place PowerPC was historically. If X Elite ( ARM ) does not fail on Windows, it will probably become the preferred option on laptops. If that happens, maybe it reduces Apple market share as well but not enough to push Apple off their own silicon.
As long as Apple sells enough volume, they can continue to design their own chips. It does not even matter how well ARM themselves are doing. If Apple continues to be good at it, there is no reason to switch.
So, while it sounds like you and I may agree about RISC-V vs ARM, remember that Apple does not buy their chips off of ARM. Apple gets its chips from TSMC and, far from being “old tech”, they are buying manufacturing process superior to anything Intel has access to. Also, Apple’s market is not just laptops and desktops. They are using Apple Silicon in all those iPhones and iPads at volumes that dwarf the PC side.
The reason that Apple moved away from PowerPC ( and Motorola before that ), was because of the economics. With only 15% of the PC market, Apple was the primary driver of PowerPC and had to fund all its innovation ( including manufacturing ). Now, they have control of the design and use it to serve much higher volumes while TSMC ( biggest in the world ) drives the manufacturing at the forefront of the industry. Most importantly, Apple is not really impacted at all by the success of the rest of the ARM space. If ARM fails, it does not really hurt Apple. If ARM is very successful, maybe it helps Apple a bit with more software available, especially on alternative OS like Linux. But alternative OS options for Apple hardware are a mixed blessing for them anyway.
It is a very different world m.
Modern Chromebooks are typically slower and more resource limited than even quite old laptops ( like Thinkpads ). They may also be difficult to service and expand.
Chromebooks as a class may become common devices. Sadly though, I think most of them are destined to be e-waste.
My concern with this take is that it positions the switch as all downsides. You do not get any of the Linux benefits, just the compromised experience on Windows. You may decide it is not worth it even before switching.
The problem with this question is that most NVIDIA owners will have experience based on a very different stack than you will experience.
NVIDIA and Wayland have had very big problems that have only recently been resolved. If you are using a very up-to-date distribution then you will have a great experience ( see other comments here about EndeavourOS for example ). If you have a distribution that does not have the latest, there will probably be issues.
AMD has been the clear go-to choice for Linux for years. It is still a safe bet. The safest bet based on history. That said, AMD does have issues as well and with the NVIDIA issues now resolved it is not as clear cut. NVIDIA may actually be the better choice.