Which switchable gpu laptop?

I might be able to get a laptop but it will be relatively cheap ($500 to $700).

I prefer a modern one so it will be new and at least the newer generation Intel (2nd gen. Intel?). For e.g., i5-2430 cpu.

I was wondering which laptop is a satisfactory choice. Many of them have the switchable graphics and I haven't kept up to date what's going on with them.

I believe there are some options for Optimus laptops now such as Bumblebee but I'm not sure how well it works and how it might compare to one with just dedicated Intel graphics (i.e. Intel HD 3000).

Any suggestions or advice?

I would have liked to include a switchable ATI laptop in the mix but I read about too many problems. ATI/AMD still isn't supporting their hardware (in Linux) and the other problem is they have no 3rd party working on projects like Nouveau does with Nvidia hardware. Also, I am not sure if the Bumblebee project is Nvidia-centric or not but I don't know if there's projects that have support for ATI gpu hardware.

I read through this thread and it really turned me off ATI/AMD gpu laptops:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/lin...s-running-temperature-warmer-than-normal.html

Imho, power saving is important! Perhaps, the most important attribute for laptops. Even if you keep it plugged in most of the time, the point of laptops is the portability option and the advantage that you don't need to be near a power outlet for some period of time so why use something that is going to further reduce battery time? I hate that both Nvidia and ATI continue to take a passing interest in Linux support so either one is going to have problems. I'd rather take whichever has the min. ones in comparison.

Also, I don't want it hotter any more than it has to be.

So, Optimus/Intel vs. dedicated Intel (only) laptop and....

Which laptop, brand and model for $500 to $700?

I doubt this allows buying a Thinkpad T-series so I thought maybe...

Acer ASXXXX or TimeLine series or
Asus P43 series or?
Toshiba?
Sony Vaio - there's maybe one or two choices from Sony and they include a Nvidia gpu

Some have usb 2, some include usb 3. I'd like it to include usb 3, right?

The other info of note regards the resolution and screen.

I probably will prefer a 13" or 14" screen since the resolutions are typically the standard 1366 x 768. This might make this combo better than a 15.6" screen?

Comments? Advice? Help?

P.S. The distro is not a concern or priority. I'll use any that works but my experience is mostly with the debian derivative branches so Ubuntu/Mint/Debian preferred.

 

14" Dell E6420 with NVS4200M. Has an option in bios to disable Optimus so the NVS4200M runs as dedicated graphics with no iGPU. Great for Linux.

 

How much are those, though? Isn't that a Latitude?

 

Do you need a GPU? Why not look for something without one and save yourself the trouble of dealing with the drivers.

I wouldn't use that thread you link to as much of a landmark for anything. I wish the OP posted back so we knew what his issue was but it sounds like a classic example of the CPU governor being set to Performance mode.

Nvidia seems to have been much more Linux friendly in the past than they are now, but from what I understand, Optimus w/ Bumblebee isn't perfect (yet?).

I've noticed on many installs I do, regardless of the distro or kernel, the GPU is always on and CPU usually in Performance mode. I set the CPU governor to OnDemand and if AMD, I install the fglrx driver in the repos. Battery life and heat output then drop significantly.

I've seen this on an Arrandale i-core/Radeon Sony install I did recently with Ubuntu 11.10 and on older hardware too. My current laptop (core 2 duo & Radeon w/fglrx) has battery life to within about 15 minutes of Vista. That was on kernel 2.6. If you buy a comp in person, take a live usb or cd into the store and check out how it runs.

Just my observations.

 

I am not specifically looking to have the switchable (discrete + integrated). It's just that so many have the hybrid mobile gpu now even with some cheaper laptops.

I don't need it for gaming so a relatively low power gpu like ATI/AMD 63xx or Nvidia 520/540M would be fine and one should have the Intel one to fall back on to preserve battery life.

I was looking for just the Intel one but some laptops with the hybrid are found at an ok price. So, I was curious what the status was regarding Linux with them. That sounds encouraging with your laptop considering it's AMD and Linux. 15 mins under Vista/7 battery life is pretty good.

But, there's a lot of little annoyances I think with hybrid graphics especially w/ ATI/AMD mgpu.

If you bring a Live CD/DVD into the store (providing the store will let you even do that - many are afraid of viruses and good luck, finding someone who is familiar with Linux and LiveCDs), there is no guarantee you can run a decent test without any tweaks.

But, I know why you suggest that. Thanks for some ideas!

 

Right now the AMD GPUs are easier to get switching working than the NVidia ones, but bumblebee is catching up.

2nd gen core i CPUS have massive power regressions right now, and they are supposedly getting fixed in the next ubuntu release with backported fixes from the 3.3 kernel. We'll see how that works. First gen core i CPUs do not seem to suffer from this problem. for instance, I can get ~4.5 hours or more battery on my older Acer 4820TG with a 1st gen core i5, but with my Sony Vaio SA with 2nd gen core i5 I'm lucky to get 2 hours. In both instances the discrete GPU is shut off and I'm using the IGP for each CPU.

Tested ubuntu 12.04 pre-release a few weeks back, and the power regression was still there with my Sony pulling ~22W at idle, while my older Acer pulls ~12W at idle.

If you want decent GPU performance without the hassle of a discrete GPU, look at the AMD APU based machines. The latest model A8 MX series CPU/APUs get performance numbers in the 2nd gen core i3 range, to the 2nd gen core i5 range, and the GPU in them is much more powerful than the GPU in a core i series CPU.

Generally speaking I just turn off the discrete GPU in my laptops when running linux, and the IGPs are more than powerful enough for full screen HD video and so on.

Apparently the current gen AMD A series APUs and their discrete GPUs work with the proprietary drive and enable switching etc pretty easily in linux. I haven't played with that yet, but should since I have an HP AMD A8/6750M machine to test it on. But it's mostly my windows gaming laptop and I don't want to mess it up.