--- In [email protected], David Neeley <dbnee...@...> wrote: > > Greetings! > > Within the next couple days, I should be ordering a new laptop to > replace this one, which is on its last legs. > > For various reasons -- including the international warranty and a > decent repair record, I plan to get an ASUS machine. This time out, I > have fairly well determined it'll be one of the small, light ones with > good battery life--probably something from the UL30 series of 13.3 > inch screen machines. At present, These all have either the SU7300 ULV > dual core, or the new Core I3 or I5 Mobile CPUs. The newer CPU > machines are quite a bit more expensive, as you might expect. > > However, the things I do these days are not particularly taxing, so > the SU7300 should be fine. My conundrum, though, is whether to simply > go with the Intel 4500M integrated graphics models (which can be had > new for $600 including 500 GB hard disk and 4 GB of RAM), or to pay > another hundred and change for one with switchable graphics that > include nVidia discrete graphics chips in addition. > > I am not a gamer, nor do I do things like video encoding that cry out > for all the CPU and graphics horsepower you can throw at them. > However, I still do appreciate decent performance, so I am tempted to > the models with switchable graphics. > > The only problem is, support for these boxes is still kind of sketchy > in Linux, it seems. The 2.6.34 kernel has incorporated "VGA > Switcheroo"--but that is not yet fully stable and tested with > Intel/nVidia combinations like the ASUS boxes. > > Oh, yes, one more issue--the older models often have WIFI issues--many > of them have difficulty getting solid connections even when sitting > within ten feet of a wireless router. If I get one of these, I would > also get a much better wireless card and at least one additional > antenna, as ASUS has been only putting in a single antenna. Thus, I > will probably be out another thirty or forty bucks or so and about ten > or fifteen minutes labor to make the switch. > > So, what's your opinion--should I simply get the cheaper machines with > integrated graphics only, or would I be a bit too much on the cutting > edge to get the dual graphics machines? What would you do? (And who > knows, there might be someone here already using one of these > machines, and I would most definitely love to hear your thoughts in > particular.) > > TIA, > > David > > Thanks for any suggestions you may have. > > David > The only advice is... think of the future not the present. I can tell you that I installed a video card in my desktop and stopped using the embedded one and I didn't see much of an overall performance increase ie. booting up or starting apps, but videos played much more smoothly and looked sharper. When I buy a new computer or replace my Main Board I will definitely get one with a separate video card.
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