On Tue, Dec 30, 2008 at 8:17 AM, Michael A. Sterba
On Monday 29 December 2008 21:31:32 Doctor Who wrote: Hello List Mates,
I would prefer the 15" W500, but have concerns about the ATI card (ATI Mobility FireGL V5700 / Intel GMA 4500MHD - 512 MB) vs. the 17" W700 with nVidia graphics (NVIDIA(R) Quadro(R) FX2700M, PCI Express(R) x16, 512MB memory)
Both have Intel WiFi Link 5300 wireless..
All feedback appreciated.
I have the Lenovo W500 using SuSE 11.1x64 with KDE 4.1. Here is my breakdown of success so far.... ATI Mobility FireGL V5700 / Intel GMA 4500MHD - 512 MB... Both work and support 3D. The Intel driver seems to have regressed as it displays from 500-1100 FPS in 3D while the ATI (with the fglrx driver does up to 6500 fps and non-3d at 1500 fps with the radeonhd driver)
Intel WiFi Link 5300... Works with the latest kernel and knetwork manager. So far though, I haven't been able to test the bluetooth nor have I been able to tether a cell phone as a back up internet source. The cell does show up as ACM0 under knetwork manager but still doesn't fully hand shake. I can talk to the cell via minicom so I believe it's a knetwork manager issue under KDE 4.1.
Intel Sound... This has been a problem for me. The sound system is crashing as long as I have the built in speakers engaged. If just plugging in externally or with a headset, sound works great. I'm also starting to suspect that the win-modem may be playing a part in this right now.
Built in webcam... This item isn't working right now either. I get raster lines displayed using the correct uvc drivers but nothing usable as of yet. This has been a low priority along with the bluetooth till I iron out the sound issues.
Sleep mode... The ATI fglrx driver doesn't recover from suspend to disk (Intel and radeonhd does), and suspend to ram doesn't work for me as of yet. Something else to work through :)
Over all... Being on the bleeding edge with the OS and hardware, this is doing pretty well. BTW, I have the extended battery and the system stays alive for around 5 hours before needing to be plugged in. Let me know if you have any additional questions, thoughts, concerns or better yet... Solutions!
Thanks. I've been using a T60 for work and looking to get an upgrade for myself. You hit on the very things I was worried about with regard to getting the laptop "in working order"...especially with regard to the 'dual graphics' capability that I doubted Linux would handle well. EmperorLinux sells these and professes to have them working with all the bells and whistles running Linux, but I'm not going to pay about $1000 more just to get it setup by them. I know they have to make a living, but geesh! -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org