From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Fri Feb 18 22:38:09 2011 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id CDF32106566C for ; Fri, 18 Feb 2011 22:38:09 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from wblock@wonkity.com) Received: from wonkity.com (wonkity.com [67.158.26.137]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 7E8408FC13 for ; Fri, 18 Feb 2011 22:38:09 +0000 (UTC) Received: from wonkity.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by wonkity.com (8.14.4/8.14.4) with ESMTP id p1IMc8gA042930; Fri, 18 Feb 2011 15:38:08 -0700 (MST) (envelope-from wblock@wonkity.com) Received: from localhost (wblock@localhost) by wonkity.com (8.14.4/8.14.4/Submit) with ESMTP id p1IMc81g042927; Fri, 18 Feb 2011 15:38:08 -0700 (MST) (envelope-from wblock@wonkity.com) Date: Fri, 18 Feb 2011 15:38:08 -0700 (MST) From: Warren Block To: Henrik Hudson In-Reply-To: <20110218200348.GA1857@alucard.int.rhavenn.net> Message-ID: References: <3380813072-1551442120@intranet.com.mx> <20110218200348.GA1857@alucard.int.rhavenn.net> User-Agent: Alpine 2.00 (BSF 1167 2008-08-23) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; format=flowed; charset=US-ASCII X-Greylist: Sender IP whitelisted, not delayed by milter-greylist-4.2.6 (wonkity.com [127.0.0.1]); Fri, 18 Feb 2011 15:38:08 -0700 (MST) Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Best Laptop to buy for Freebsd Without OS? X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Fri, 18 Feb 2011 22:38:09 -0000 On Fri, 18 Feb 2011, Henrik Hudson wrote: > Any of the i3 / i5 systems will be using Optimus, even if they > don't state as much, and this is not supported under FreeBSD or > Linux, neither proprietary or FOSS drivers. Some of the higher-end laptops (Lenovo) you can switch off > optimus either in BIOS or a hardware switch, but a lot of those > details are hidden behind marketing. It doesn't matter if it's ATI > or Nvidia, they still route through the Intel HD stack. Some of the > i7 machines don't do this, but they're also space heaters for the > most part. There are about 90 notebooks listed on Newegg with ATI/AMD video that should be supported by the 6.13.2 or 6.14.0 xf86-video-ati drivers: X1000-series, HD3000-series, and HD4000-series. 72 of them have the Radeon HD4250. All of those machines have AMD processors. Don't know what is comparable to an i3 or i5, what type of wireless chipset may be included, or how good the ACPI support is on any of them. I'd look at Acer, Lenovo, then Dell and HP, maybe Toshiba if there was nothing else available. http://laptop.bsdgroup.de/freebsd/index.html is relevant more to used machines, but always worth checking. In fact, if you have tried FreeBSD on a notebook that isn't on there, please create an entry for it.