3 Reasons why I removed Linux from my Zephyrus laptop

Yesterday, I’ve spent a bit of time to install three Linux distributions on my new ASUS Zephyrus G15 laptop. Since none of the installs were to my satisfaction, I decided to remove Linux and stay with Windows 10 until more features work under Linux.

UPDATE:
My Zephyrus G15 is back on Linux because I just can’t stand all of the advertising that comes with Windows 11. When I first wrote this article, the hardware was too new but as of now, Summer 2023, this is no longer so. The performance is flawless and I have no plans to ever revert again.

How to remove Linux and restore the master boot record

Removing Linux from my Zephyrus laptop was a two-step process. First, I booted Windows, switched from user to the admin account and loaded Disk Manager. Then I deleted three partitions which the Linux install scripts created. Lastly, I expended the C drive to take up all of the free space and once finished, closed the Disk Manager.

Next, I rebooted while holding down the SHIFT key. Let me state this again. I held down the shift key and and initiated a reboot without letting go of the shift key until the laptop booted into recovery mode.

Then I followed the well-written instructions from this website which explain how to restore the Windows 10 MBR (master boot record). Finally I rebooted and the laptop started as it did before I installed Linux.

So why did I decide to use Windows instead of Linux

If I had to pinpoint it down to three reasons, then I’d list them in this order:

1. Useless search results
2. Loss of performance
3. Loss of features

I believe that with the proper instructions, many people could achieve great things. Sadly, Googles search results are out-of-date when it comes to technical issues. Most of the time when I search for something like “Gnome 42” (which is very new) I get search results based on solutions posted as far back as 2008. Those links are useless and I believe that Google does this on purpose although I don’t know why.
What I do know is how to filter search results by year, month, week, day and hour but still, considering how much they preach to us about relevancy if our websites want to get ranked, they (Google) seem to not follow their own advise.
One of the reasons why I write my blog posts is simply to look up information regarding issues I had to solve before. This way, I just search my own website and safe hours of frustration hacking my way trough the Google jungle.

Loss of performance

I wish it weren’t so. But honestly, Linux is not yet ready to squeeze the most out of cutting edge graphics card hardware like the RTX 3080. The ASUS Zephyrus laptop is an amazing machine and for now, Windows has the advantage when it comes to Blender render times and running Unreal Engine 5.

If one uses the laptop for office work then by any means, Linux will be more than fine. The temperatures were noticeably cooler which was a plus but then again, I don’t mind if my work horse gets “sweaty” now and then.

Loss of features

The Zephyrus ROG series comes with some nice features. There is the fingerprint reader which works surprisingly well and saves me a lot of typing. Out of all the features, the fingerprint sensor is my favorite.

Besides the fingerprint sensor, the Zephyrus also has a dedicated Armory Crate button. Armory Crate is handy to switch performance profiles and unlike Linux, can do so without the need for logging out and in again. If the Linux 3d render performance would have been slightly better than on Windows 10 Pro, I would have put up with the log in / out procedure but it just wasn’t happening.

I am also happy to report that having the backlit keyboard back is nice. As I mentioned yesterday, I work mostly in a dark room so being able to place my fingers effortlessly on the home row is handy.

For now, Windows 10 Pro is the best operating system that gets the most out of my Zephyrus G15 laptop. I don’t like it that I have a Windows computer on the network but I am hopeful that maybe in a year from now, the fast evolving Linux kernel will have caught up with the 2021 hardware and then I will try again. Maybe UE5 will cater to Linux users but based on yesterday’s experience, I can understand if they don’t because the Linux market is small.
Thanks to Googles search algorithm, the Linux user base will continue to grow slow unless Elon Musk buys Google and fixes it!

Linux fans will not like this post but what good is pretending that everything is well when it isn’t. To me, the operating system is a little bit like the wallpaper. Most of the time, I don’t see it.
Thanks for reading.