NP8454, problems w/ Linux

I purchased an NP8454 from Xoticpc, with no OS pre-loaded. I installed Linux Mint 19.2 (Cinnamon) on it. So far I have two major issues with it, one of which is borderline deal-killer (as far as running Linux on it):

- Laptop won't wake properly from a suspend. When I hit the power button in a suspended state, the fan kicks on and it seems like the machine powers back up, but the display remains off. The only way to recover (that I've discovered) is to hold the power button down for a hard shutdown, then reboot. This is nearly a deal-killer. It means I either have to shut down after every session, or turn off auto-suspend and screen power saving options. Neither of these are good workarounds - certainly not convenient. Anyone know how to fix this? The only fixes I've seen for similar problems with other laptops seem to be machine or BIOS dependent.

- Less annoying, but still an inconvenience - I can't change the display brightness, via either keyboard hotkeys or Linux Mint preferences. Bad for power-saving.

I wonder if these problems are related?

I have not tried other Linux Mint desktop environments.

So far, Xoticpc has not responded to my support requests (I first reported soon after buying, 3 or 4 months ago).

 

Have you tried pop OS? It seems to be a bit more laptop friendly but it may be worth a go just to test a function (I know everyone has their own distro preferences)

 

If you buy a machine without an OS really there us no software support and officially the machines only support windows.

 

Try booting with the kernel parameter i915.enable_dpcd_backlight=1