Joshua Penix wrote:
On Jul 11, 2006, at 2:49 PM, Rick Funderburg wrote:
Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 950 [subtract $99]
128MB ATI MOBILITY™ RADEON® X1300 HyperMemory™ [subtract $50]
256MB ATI MOBILITY™ RADEON® X1400 HyperMemory™ [Included in Price]
256MB NVIDIA® GeForce™Go 7300 TurboCache [add $30 or $1/month1]
Do any of these chips work better than the others with Linux? I would
like to have good 3d support, but it isn't as important as having
good suspend support. I would also like the chip to be fairly cool
when not flexing its 3d muscles.
2) nVidia - best vendor driver support for Linux, but closed source
drivers. Best 3D performance.
Who really cares if it's a closed source driver? It works! I've had
almost no problems using nVidia cards in Linux since RH6. I have a 256MB
GeForce Go 6600 in my laptop and have experienced zero problems in
Linux. It also works well enough in Linux to play FarCry. As for heat,
again, who cares! If you want a good performing video chipset then heat
is a given.
My feeling is that if you're buying a laptop as a _mobile_ platform,
then get the appropriate CPU and associated chipset, and live with the
performance/size limitations. If you're getting desktop replacement,
then heat is really not an issue.
I think that compromise is a given in any laptop purchase decision. If
compromise is not acceptable, then a laptop is probably a bad buying
decision.
It's your call. I don't think the 3D chipset heat is going to be an
issue for either when idle.
My Asus Z71V (2.0 GHz P-M) laptop generates only negligible heat when
running anything other than 3D games or compiling for long periods. But
then the fans ramp up and take care of that. It's very comfortable on my
lap for 99% of the time it's used.
I know some older Dells have suspend
issues with Linux, I don't know how much is based on the video chipset
and how much is just a cheesy ACPI implementation in the hardware
and/or Linux kernel.
Suspend is a problem with most all laptops and Linux. There are lots of
reasons. Mostly because Linux is a niche OS which doesn't get the same
access to BIOS makers' documentation as does Microsoft. Personally, I
don't find it a problem in my little corner of the real world.
FWIW, I would also be open to general laptop recommendations.
Requirements are high-res screen, less than $1100, wifi. Bluetooth is
a plus.
Good luck in getting a good performing, low power, low heat, with gamer
3D chipset /and/ bluetooth laptop for that price.
Apple MacBook. Seriously. Dual core processor, widescreen, durable,
Bluetooth, wireless, USB, firewire. You don't pay the Windows tax,
though if you wipe the provided OS and replace it with Linux I guess
you're paying a matching Apple tax. You can also opt to stick with OS
X, which is *nix (BSD) based, and allows you to run X11 and all your
favorite open source apps along with Mac apps. And you'll have perfect
suspend support.
I did look at Apple as an option when I was in the market about a year
ago. But I couldn't get the combination of video chipset, hard drive
size, and RAM I wanted. Plus, because I wanted to dual-boot Linux, and
given that I kinda wanted the ability to play Windows-based games, I
decided that getting the laptop from someone who officially supported
Linux was more practical. I got mine from GamePC.com.
I also chose a Centrino chipset because they're low power, low heat, and
the Intel wireless chipset (IPW2200) is well supported in Linux. In
fact, Intel is a very active contributor of code to Linux.
--
Best Regards,
~DJA.
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