nVidia has had pretty bad Linux support in the past.
Linus Torvalds Gives Nvidia the Finger. Literally (semi NSFW)
I don’t know how much this has changed. I honestly don’t pay that close attention.
Personally, I usually stay away from nVidia because they have 2-4x the power consumption AMD cards do. I’m not really a “green” person, but a computer can add quite a bit to your electric bill if you leave it on 24/7. ($30/mo in my case)
There’s 2 different things to consider:
If you don’t mind using closed-source drivers (and want to get the most out of your hardware) then Nvidia is far ahead 
I also use nVidia exclusively on Linux. Not because I do anything major with graphics, but because it has always out performed the ATI cards. However, most of that was from the early 2000s, I think most of it has edged out to be closer than what it used to be, but nonetheless, I’m still a die hard nVidia fan (and I hate that AMD bought ATI – darn them! I really like AMD).
And yes, nVidia’s closed source drivers are amazing. There is Nouveau though if you want an open source alternative, and it works pretty well.
When I switched to Linux a few years ago I was using a AMD 5870 (A very good card of its time) and got terrible performance. I “upgraded” to a 750Ti which, on paper shouldn’t even come close to a 5870 yet gave me far better performance across the board.
Yeah, I should clarify that my statement is based on what I’ve read. I don’t think I’ve ever owned a card by ATI and I definitely have not owned one by AMD 
(laptops would be the exception to the rule – as those are a bit harder to replace – and primarily for my wife who uses Windows).
Definitely nice to hear your experience though, it obviously helps support my “I have to go with this one, because nVidia does great work on Linux” when justifying my spending with my wife (she really doesn’t put up much of a fight though).
I’m yet to be tempted to switch to ATI/AMD too, I just have never had a bad experience with nVidia.
Both our Ubuntu desktops (this one and the previous one) had nVidia cards and we’ve had no problems. Likewise the Xubuntu machine I got for a friend. Prior to that, she had two second-hand machines which had previously run Windows. I’ve no idea what the graphics cards in those were, but again, there was never a problem. (I have had a major problem with an updated driver on a Windows box, though. )
Although I wonder if I get a laptop if it won’t end up just having Integrated voice crackles into a hacking cough through which some expletives can be heard
Instead of either nVidia OR ATI/AMD…
I wonder proportionately how many people use actual graphics cards, and whether they need better than they have, less than they have, or actually have the right thing… hmm
It used to be you needed a graphics card to take the strain off your cpu and you should always have one, but now it doesn’t really matter if you’re not a gamer.
I run a Mac Mini as my main machine now and don’t have problems. I play a few basic games (like Torchlight II) every now and again on Steam, but nothing like Shadow of Mordor.
Yeah. You know, if I didn’t have the (probably) need to be mobile I’d go for a Mini. I could come out ahead on money by doing that, probably, and still get OS X which I’d kind of like.
I’ve always enjoyed Macs (the few times I’ve used them). It is very similar to Linux just less customizable (for those who aren’t born tweakers – not to be confused with twerkers 
)
We don’t want to see you twerking, OK 
You speak for yourself!
I finally got the Ubuntu 14.10 server LTS spun up tonight - for at least as long as it took me to get it going on Hyper-V. It worked, though I need to sort out the networking side still, but that’s mainly because I didn’t set up the virtual switch before I installed the ISO. The chances are that I’ll just blow it away and start again, but there were definite signs of progress there for a little while…
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