VT Hardware Virtualization in Travelmate 8000 series

hi,

i'm searching for a notebook, and so far, the Acer TravelMate 8471-944G32N Timeline seems to be exactly what i need. however, i really have to have a notebook that supports hardware virtualization/intel VT. the CPU does support this, but i've failed to find info on the web whether the mainboard and BIOS support this feature too on the notebook. acer support hasn't managed to deliver me an answer in three tries now.

so, is anyone here who knows the answer or who owns one of these notebooks (or a similar one) and can try it out?

thank you in advance

 

sorry for shamelessly bumping this topic, but i'd really love to catch the attention of an owner of one of these notebooks :/

 

Search the forum there is one such thread because I started it.

 

first of all, thanks for answering

i've seen your thread, but i don't know whether the travelmate 8000 series has a BIOS that is compatible with that hack, or whether it has a version >=1.10 already installed out of the box. do you know any details, will this work on the 8000s too?

 

If it is Insyde BIOS it will work.
You can do a BIOS downgrade if it doesn't.

 

thanks for your hint.

but that still leaves me with the following question: do the 8xxx travelmates use the insyde BIOS?

 

When you power it on if it is Insyde BIOS it will show.
OK it is CONFIRMED INSYDE.
I just downloaded the BIOS and it has to be flashed using Insyde Flash.

 

weinter, could you please direct me to info on how to mod the insyde bios for hardware virtualization?

Thanks

 

you seem to have missed the fact that i have not yet ordered that (or any) notebook. i want a notebook which supports VT, and that's why i'm asking whether the travelmates can do what i want.

 

@acersucks
Check Timeline Tweaks.
@2dfx
It's obvious that the travelmate timeline series won't support VT out of the box, because most if not all vendors lock it in BIOS because of security reasons. If you are interested in having VT (if you buy a travelmate timeline) just ask someone to mod your BIOS or do it yourself.

 

why could VT be a security issue? even in an obscure setting where ninjas drop from the ceiling when you blink and install a malicious hypervisor on your machine, the only reason to hide away hardware features form its user by not even providing a on/off switch in the BIOS is to artificially create the need to buy a "high-end" notebook for twice the money, which is not crippled by the manufacturer.

thanks for the hints anyway

 

Ok the reason is Intel market VT as a value feature so it has to be enabled in the BIOS by Vendor.
Some of the vendors are too lazy to program VT enabling features into them also some laptops come with a variety of processors, some with VT feature others without, so to standardise BIOS they leave out th e feature.
If you really need VT you can consider the lesser AMD Processors all supporting VT out of box except Sempron.
However AMD Processor has inferior power management and generally greater thermal output but cheaper.
But I am pretty sure you can enable VT on Aspire Timelines so I don't see why it is not possible on Travelmate Timelines which is almost identical to Aspire Timelines.