Should I buy a HP Pavilion dv7-3160us?

English Hardware
1

My aspire 9300 is getting a bit old, so I’m thinking of buying an HP Pavilion Entertainment dv7-3160us notebook as a backup. I’ll be using it mostly for java development.

Do you think I’ll be able to get SuSE 11.2 running on it? I don’t do windows! :slight_smile:

My main concern is the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4530 graphics card. I know at one time ATI and Linux didn’t play well together.

And will it work with compiz? I have to have a 3d desktop!

Here’s the specs.

Tech Specs
Operating system: Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
Processor: VISION Technology Premium from AMD with AMD Turion II Ultra Dual-Core Mobile Processor M620
Processor speed: 2.5GHz
Memory: 4GB DDR2 System Memory (2 Dimm); Max supported =8192MB
Accessible memory slots: 2
Display: 17.3" Diagonal HD+ High-Definition LED HP BrightView Widescreen Display (1600x900)
Video graphics: ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4530 Graphics with up to 2302MB total available graphics memory with 512MB dedicated
Audio: Altec Lansing with SRS Premium Sound and Subwoofer
Primary CD/DVD drive: LightScribe SuperMulti 8X DVD+/-R/RW with Double Layer Support
Hard drive: 500GB (7200RPM) Hard Drive (SATA)
Networking: Integrated 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet LAN (RJ-45 connector)
Wireless options: Wireless LAN 802.11b/g/n WLAN & Bluetooth
PC card slot: 1 ExpressCard/54 Slot (also supports ExpressCard/34)
I/O ports: 4 Universal Serial Bus (USB) 2.0, 4th port shared with eSATA; 2 Headphone out; 1 microphone-in; HDMI; 1 VGA (15-pin); eSATA + USB 2.0; 1 RJ -45 (LAN); 1 notebook expansion port 3; 1 IEEE 1394 Firewire (4-pin); 1 Consumer IR (Remote Receiver)

Thanks!

2

Try the HCLs:

LinuxQuestions.org HCL - Main Index

and

Hardware - openSUSE

3

stay away from HP; buy a Dell Business Class computer;

4

I have a somewhat older DV7 (purchased 18 months ago), dual Turion R-70 (2GHz), 4GigRam, I added a second HDD and dual boot SuSE11.2 and Vista.

Under 11.2, I use fglrx from the ATI Repository (RS 780 HD3200 graphics) and 3D seems fine, but I am not a heavy user. I use compat-wireless for wireless driver.

11.2 spins 3D circles around Vista on this machine; I have no experience with Win7 to compare.

Your results may vary; IMHO 11.2 is the best laptop Linux so far, by a long shot.

5

On 03/26/2010 10:26 AM, cmcgrath5035 wrote:
>
> I have a somewhat older DV7 (purchased 18 months ago), dual Turion R-70
> (2GHz), 4GigRam, I added a second HDD and dual boot SuSE11.2 and Vista.
>
> Under 11.2, I use fglrx from the ATI Repository (RS 780 HD3200
> graphics) and 3D seems fine, but I am not a heavy user. I use
> compat-wireless for wireless driver.
>
> 11.2 spins 3D circles around Vista on this machine; I have no
> experience with Win7 to compare.

My wife upgraded from Vista to Windows 7. She has a lot fewer problems with
networking than she had with Vista, but she still complains that it is too slow.