G,day All,
I’m soon going to be looking for a new laptop, as my current one is about to fall apart.
I’m just wondering what graphics is the easiest to live with. I haven’t had nvidia for years and haven’t been able (or bothered) to try and get the ati driver working on my current laptop (just using an opensource one at the moment). I have never had intel graphics.
Or is it not that simple?
While I’m here, is there any laptops (brands models) to keep clear of?
I’m looking around the lower mid range of laptops (I think)
Much of my time is spent working with photographs. Maybe a game here and there.
I do like a bit of KDE eye candy
Currently I’m using OpenSuse 11.4
KDE 4.7
Thanks for looking
Whenever I have to buy a new laptop, I always go for the nvidia driver. It’s not that I’ve had problems with the others, it’s just that nvidia & their proprietary drivers have worked very well for me over the years. I don’t really do much gaming, aside from the occasional beatdown in bzflag . . . but I am hooked on the (KDE) eye candy.
I’ve always had lower end laptops with Intel graphics - all you lose is the more extravagant KDE eye-candy like the cube. Everything else works fine. It just depends on what you are used to/expect.
A ‘lower mid range’ laptop isn’t gonna be a particularly powerful gaming machine whatever the graphics as without spending serious money you don’t really get serious graphics power when it comes to laptops
Intel graphics in a modern laptop should be able to handle kde eye candy well enough and play basic games, If you do find any in your price range with nvidia or ati though then they may do a slightly better job of it, and I agree with sven that the nvidia cards I’ve dealt with have almost always worked very well and the nvidia drivers are fairly easy to install
I say that but my own main machine has Ati graphics and I find installing the ati graphics drivers also to be fairly straightforward and tbh there’s no hard and fast rule for any one make of graphics card being better than the other, it’s often a case of the model in question and/or personal preference
The one thing that really does make a difference is whether a machine has discrete graphics or not, if you can find one with discrete graphics in your price range I’d go for it whatever the make of the card, but you would be very lucky without spending a decent wedge of cash
While I prefer Nvidia, the Intel HD graphics chipset is well supported under Linux (it “just works”) and performance wise, for a notebook, is actually not bad at all. This is a fairly common notebook chipset, and I don’t think you would really be disappointed in it. Heck, my wife plays World of Warcraft on her Asus notebook with Intel HD graphics, and it actually runs surprisingly darn well. General KDE eye candy is not even an issue.
One thing to be aware of is in new Nvidia Optimus chipsets which more notebooks have these days. Basically, this is both a hardware, driver and OS implementation that switches back and forth between the 2D and discrete 3D cards in the notebook, greatly extending battery life. Problem is - it does not work with Linux, though there is this project: https://github.com/MrMEEE/bumblebee which allows you to somewhat implement this in Linux, though at this point it does not support auto-switching, you have to manually enable / disable the 3D graphics.
Asus has some very appealing systems right now. The price / performance is hard to argue with - e.g. an i5 system with good specs for just over $600 US.
Thanks for the help. I thought this was going to be simple, but its becoming a bit of a mine field. I have just got back from town looking at laptops. I’m going to have to spend a bit more time looking I think
Both work flawlessly. But not all Intel do.
nVidia graphics are well supported, but you will pay more for a Laptop like that.
I suggest you avoid the very latest and greatest machines. And remember HP, Dell and Lenovo are a good place to start for Vendors that give Linux some thought, though they are not exclusively so.
Wireless is probably a area of importance at least equal to graphics, especially if you are depending on it working.
You should probably make a bookmark of this page: Portal:Hardware - openSUSE
It’s not always that up to date, but it gives you a base to work from. If for example it shows a device you might be getting with a new laptop, but doesn’t show detail for the latest openSUSE version, it’s usually safe to assume that if users reported it working in 11.2 or 11.3, it will almost certainly work in later releases.
I have an intel 3945 wireless in my R61, it works out of the box, never not worked with any distro.
But it seems less common
My G550 has a Broadcom BCM4312 [14e4:4315], it needs the ‘wl’ driver in a 11.4 install
But in 12.1 (the next release) it will work with the open driver b43, just needs the firmware installing.
In fact many broadcom devices do work well, as do Realtek
Her main criteria for the Netbook was weight. Light weight! Very light weight ! She insisted on a laptop < 2 kg, and preferred one < 1.5 kg. She ended up with a Lenovo X220 at 1.37kg in weight.
On the weekend she created a 50GByte extended partition for GNU/Linux on her X220, and her plan (based on a recommendation from me) is likely to install openSUSE-12.1 in that extended partition. Its not clear to me if she will wait until 12.1 GM is released, or if she will install 12.1 milestone or release-candidate version of the release initially.
The X220 has the Intel Sandybridge graphics which has its ups and downs, and now going back up, in terms of graphic driver behaviour. Purportedly there are significant improvements awaiting for Sandybridge architecture in the latest Mesa (which SUSE-GmbH is still far from integrating in a future openSUSE) and also the latest kernel. Still 12.1 M5 liveCD ran ok, albeit I could not check it for performance.
I’m thinking of getting a Lenovo G570 43343QM Lenovo 43343QM - $649.00 - Centre Com
I have tried looking up the hardware of these. I can’t find anything on Lenovo B/G/N Wireless.
I might see if they will let me try out a live cd but I have never had any luck in the past.
Sometimes I have found that wireless works on the live cd, but won’t work after the install. Don’t know what’s going on there.
Has anyone encountered the Lenovo B/G/N Wireless?
I guess you did not follow up on the link in my post to my blog, where I discussed my MANY considerations in supporting my wife in her purchase of a Lenovo X220 netbook. In that Blog post I looked at the wireless options, one of which I called the ‘Thinkpad B/G/N Wireless’, but it could very well be the same as the Lenovo B/G/N you refer to. I made my post (and blog entry) in the hope it ‘might’ help others who were keen enough to read and see if my considerations might also apply to them.
NOW AFTER having typed the above, you are really asking your question on the wrong thread. What is the title of this thread? It is "****What graphics to get ? " … What is the subject of your question ? “****Has anyone encountered the Lenovo B/G/N Wireless?” … I know - you are thinking someone who is on this thread might answer your question, but I can tell you from experience of many years posting in this forum (and in the predecessor) that most the time that is NOT the case. Most the time those participating in a thread on subject-a do NOT have the BEST answer for a completely different question-b.
To get the BEST answer (which I assume is what is wanted) you are far far better off starting a new thread with your question.
One thing you should know with Lenovo is they have the Magic Blue button, or Onekey.
If you use Linux, be prepared to never use it.In my case I wiped the HD anyway and re-installed win7 in one partition (instead of the 4 it was using)
Also you will find there are may varieties of the model you mention, depending on location in the world and reflected in the price too.
You have to work hard to find a accurate list of the hardware.
Thanks oldcpu, I came across the thread just after I posted. It looks like its back to the old drawing board for me.
Sorry, when I first started this thread I was only thinking of the graphics. I have change the subject somewhere along the way.
Thanks for your help.
caf4926, I have noticed a lot of versions with is model. That was making me a bit nervous.
Thanks again guys, I do appreciate it.
Well, this is proving to be much harder than I expected! I might have to start looking at the first generation i processor laptops.
Or possibly get a laptop with linux already installed and then put OpenSuse on it. The only problem with that option is that I’m on the wrong side of the world
Decisions, decisions…
I’m wanting something for photo editing (largish raw files) and skyping my family when I work away as well as the usual email & web browsing.
In was looking for an i5 (or i7) with a webcam, number keypad as many usb ports as I can get. A multi touch trackpad would be nice but not essential. A screen size of 15+ inches. I was looking for discrete graphics. I would like to try the intel graphics before paying for it (and I sometimes play games). I need wifi.
My price range is $600 to $850AUD Possibly a bit more, but things a kind of tight at the moment.
Good luck
Most of the laptops I have looked at have the switching graphics or Incompatible wireless and what I have found on it so far, that’s a show stopper.
Thanks for your help, don’t stress. I might be dreaming with what I want for the price I can pay.
Has anyone had any experience with using the intel graphics for photo editing? Would there be much of a difference between the first and second generation of i cpu’s?
My average photo file size is 18 to 20 Mb. Most of the time I will have GIMP, digiKam and RawTherapee running and possibly Amarok for some music (and Firefox). With the intel graphics sharing the memory, would I be needing more than 4Gb?
I have also been looking at laptops that come with Linux installed, thinking that they should be compatible but have still found Nvidia 540m in them. ZaReason, Inc. Your Linux hardware builder!
Would this cause problems that I am trying to avoid?
