[LAPTOP]Choice 15' fullHD linux gpu

[albator]

Hey,

I want to invest in a laptop, more an ultra book actually.

I head for:
- 256go ssd
- 15' screen, 1920x1080 (Full HD 1080p)
- 8go min
- something light (ultra book)
- max price range: 1250 EUR
- cpu 4 threaded at least.

I have 2 models I found

A) Lenovo : 1200 EUR
http://tweakers.net/pricewatch/358572/l ... 1vmh).html

B) Acer : I can get it for 1000 EUR
http://tweakers.net/pricewatch/340760/a ... ificaties/

Arguably, the Lenovo (old IBM thinkpad) looks quite better in term of design contruction, etc...
However the acer has a much better GPU (GeForce GT750M vs Radeon HD8670M), and is cheaper.

The rest looks quite similar to me

I am planing to use dual boot with linux LMDE cinnnamon (debian based) and I read it was painful to run dual GPU config, but also AMD is more an hassle than NVIDIA

I want to play spring as well ofc :D

I wanted to know if:

1) You had those laptop and if you ever run them with linux how they do with spring

2) you have a "C)" choice of something similar I would not have see.

[smoth]

Do
Not
Get
Ati
For
Open gl

[Evangelion]

Do not get ATI for anything.

[klapmongool]

ATI is fine from a user perspective as long as you are willing and able to mess around with drivers a bit. Considering that both of the latest big consoles are going with it you can safely say that it will be the gpu of choice for the next 5 years.

[jK]

Considering that both of the latest big consoles are going with it you can safely say that it will be the gpu of choice for the next 5 years.

AMD/ATi already drops driver support for it after ~3years, esp. in case of laptop drivers you are lost from the first hour. NVidia (mostly) supplies laptop drivers themselves and not the laptop vendor.

[dansan]

AMD/ATi already drops driver support for it after ~3years, esp. in case of laptop drivers you are lost from the first hour. NVidia (mostly) supplies laptop drivers themselves and not the laptop vendor.

Very important point IMO.
It happend to me once: I had a Sony notebook with MS Vista preinstalled. Sony aways supports only the OS that is sold together with the device. So when Win7 came out they didn't produce a gfx driver for it - and the ATI driver package detects the Sony notebook and refuses to install! So the notebook is stuck with Vista - yeah!
(There are cracked driver packages, but besides the obvious security risk (!) they can break your system and they do never ever update.)
Other notebook vendors might not suck as much as Sony does, but the problem is actually ATIs support structure.

[Jools]

I have always used nvidia and I'm happy with them. (I've used Geforce 2 Ultra, FX 5200, 7600 GS and GTX 460, all have worked just fine, except the FX 5200 which is fanless and overheated)

But I wonder: how come ATI isn't doing anything to improve its stability. It's a well-known thing that its products are not stable and produce more heat than nvidia. Well, maybe that's not a fact, but that's what people think.

Actually I bought an ATI product once. It was a usb 2 card for my old computer that only had usb 1. When i plugged in my iPod in that usb port, the computer BSOD:d. Always.

[klapmongool]

Considering that both of the latest big consoles are going with it you can safely say that it will be the gpu of choice for the next 5 years.

AMD/ATi already drops driver support for it after ~3years, esp. in case of laptop drivers you are lost from the first hour. NVidia (mostly) supplies laptop drivers themselves and not the laptop vendor.

The significance of both xbox and ps going for AMD is that a shitload of game developers will be optimizing their games for AMD.

I never had any problem with discontinued support for older cards even though i went from a 9800pro to 4850 to a 7850(about 6 months ago) without cards in between. Stuff worked fine even on legacy drivers. Of course this is just my experience

But I wonder: how come ATI isn't doing anything to improve its stability. It's a well-known thing that its products are not stable and produce more heat than nvidia. Well, maybe that's not a fact, but that's what people think.

Never experienced significant problems like that.

[Silentwings]

I'm also going to go with "don't buy ATI". I've bought 3 AMD/ATI cards and 1 Nvidia one. The Nvidia one worked like a charm and never needed attention - every single one of the ATIs had driver issues.

Idk what they have right now but these guys built me a nice laptop & had good customer service too http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/laptop-computers/.

[==Troy==]

Gigabypte p34g (14").

They have a 15" version as well.

Comes with quad core i7 2.4-3.2 Ghz, up to 16GB of ram, has 1-2 MSATA SSD + 2.5" SATA HDD storage, full HD IPS screen.

14" model is really light as well, I tend to just lug it around in backpack all day without an issue. Screen quality is REALLY good, but viewing angles are not best for an IPS screen.

Nvidia 760-765 14"-15" models.

All in all I'm quite happy, the 14" model tends to give ~90 deg temps on the CPU at maximum workload, unlike other similar models, which tend to downclock at 100C.

[Funkencool]

Plus, you'd be hard-pressed to find any decent laptop with an ATI card, having not made cards for nearly half a decade now

sorry, had to mention it

[Jools]

Maybe spring then also should rename that config to "AMD hack"

[albator]

Gigabypte p34g (14").

They have a 15" version as well.

Comes with quad core i7 2.4-3.2 Ghz, up to 16GB of ram, has 1-2 MSATA SSD + 2.5" SATA HDD storage, full HD IPS screen.

14" model is really light as well, I tend to just lug it around in backpack all day without an issue. Screen quality is REALLY good, but viewing angles are not best for an IPS screen.

Nvidia 760-765 14"-15" models.

All in all I'm quite happy, the 14" model tends to give ~90 deg temps on the CPU at maximum workload, unlike other similar models, which tend to downclock at 100C.

kinda love that config except that the batteries does not match the power consumption both of CPU and GPU, why make sense when seeing the weight. I guess that the reason why in order to have decent autonomy you need to pay a couple of hundred more which ends out of my price range.
Also, I read a couple of review mentioning the sound and vibration at high load. you confirm ?

GPU also being limited without battery, and this is my most important question:
Do you know if the NVIDIA card is switch off automatically ? or just have hits power consumption limited ? I want to use it under linux and since the ATI chip wont work with debian, I would like to know if that is something handle though the special Windows of Gygabytes, or hardware based ?
Any chances you testing it with any Linux Flavor ?

I'm also going to go with "don't buy ATI". I've bought 3 AMD/ATI cards and 1 Nvidia one. The Nvidia one worked like a charm and never needed attention - every single one of the ATIs had driver issues.

Idk what they have right now but these guys built me a nice laptop & had good customer service too http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/laptop-computers/.

I am gonna give a try.



Thank you all for your answer, I will definity go for an NVIDIA GPU

[malric]

GPU also being limited without battery, and this is my most important question:
Do you know if the NVIDIA card is switch off automatically ? or just have hits power consumption limited ? I want to use it under linux and since the ATI chip wont work with debian, I would like to know if that is something handle though the special Windows of Gygabytes, or hardware based ?
Any chances you testing it with any Linux Flavor ?

I am not having that laptop, but I have a laptop with NVIDIA and Optimus technology (which seems to be present on that laptop) and I managed to make it work with the latest drivers/kernel on an Arch linux, to use the Intel card and just start some programs with NVIDIA. I had some issues with Optimus + multi-monitor setup, but maybe I did not try hard enough.

[dansan]

alba: you should read up a little on Optimus, so you don't get a heart attack when you meet it. AFAIK it can be handled now pretty well manually in Linux, but you will not (ever?) get the automagic like in Windows. 2nd screen problems are also directly "connected" with that problem. How well it can be handled varies from model to model! So When you buy a notebook make sure you test all scenarios in the first two weeks (or so).

[albator]

alba: you should read up a little on Optimus, so you don't get a heart attack when you meet it. AFAIK it can be handled now pretty well manually in Linux, but you will not (ever?) get the automagic like in Windows. 2nd screen problems are also directly "connected" with that problem. How well it can be handled varies from model to model! So When you buy a notebook make sure you test all scenarios in the first two weeks (or so).

Yep I read about it, bumblebee do the same job as optimus under linux lmde.
Still need to get some XP with the battery issue, I am still thinking the Acer is the best option. The gigabyte looks nice but with such a high price it becomes attractive to get macbook pro in US Dollar 2000/ 1.36 ~1470
since the difference is then about 15%...
Anyway, I need to think about it....

[smoth]

Lol why not megatron?!?! That is hilarious that it is named bumble bee

[Prominence]

You should wait until Nvidia launches Maxwell GPU in Q1 2014.

[smoth]

You should wait until Nvidia launches Maxwell GPU in Q1 2014.

why is that? Also long time no see! HI!

[Anarchid]

Lol why not megatron?!?! That is hilarious that it is named bumble bee

Megatron is coming. The end of the autobot age is nigh.

Also there was one called ironhide :)