Does anyone have any first-hand experience with this GPU / laptop / chipset (specifically with nouveau & openSUSE 12.1)?

I have an Alienware M11X-R3 with an 2o. Gen Optimus running OpenSUSE 12.1 (and Win7+Steam). This new Optimus doesn't allow you to switch the default video using the BIOS Setup. There is only one solution to use the card: bumblebee-project.org They run another X with a dummy monitor and export 3D rendered graphics to your main X Server. The problem is the bottleneck between graphic servers. Try with nouveau driver (the bottleneck almost nuliphy the performance difference). Actually, I believe the there is only one reason to use the bumblebee: It allow you to shutdown the GPU. The stand-by state gives me 2.5 (of 5h) extra hours of battery (M11X-R3). 2012/4/17 Adam Tauno Williams <awilliam@whitemice.org>:

It appears my might HP DV7-3085DX has died, physically.

<momement-of-silence/>

So I'm shopping for a replacement [17in+ screen, Intel i7, 6GB RAM].

I find a "Dell Inspiron 17R i17RN-4812BK" which is very cost effective. But the GPU listed is -

 "NVIDIA GeForce GT 525M with Optimus Technology"

I really *strongly* prefer to use nouveau GPU support but the nouveau wiki states -

 "you may not be able to use the Nvidia GPU at all on Optimus laptops."

And the NVC0 family (which contains the 525M) says:

"All sorts of fun. Feature-wise it isn't too different but the architecture has changed a lot. These cards are generally working with the latest kernel and Mesa but may still have power management issues. It is recommended to use the Linux 3.1 kernel or newer (or a backported driver from this kernel). Note: GeForce 405 does not belong to this family. "

Does anyone have any first-hand experience with this GPU / laptop / chipset (specifically with nouveau & openSUSE 12.1)?

It appears this item rules the laptop out, which is sad.

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