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My 2 cents as someone looking to get a new (mid-range gaming) laptop this year: The new ones coming out currently and within the next few months. You'll find th

My 2 cents as someone looking to get a new (mid-range gaming) laptop this year: The new ones coming out currently and within the next few months. You'll find the amount of AMD Ryzen in mobiles has skyrocketed the last two years. We now have AMD Ryzen CPUs combined with nVidia dGPU solutions, unthinkable just a year ago. I'm still waiting for the Ryzen 3750Hs to hit the (German) market, but if I had to buy tomorrow, I'd presently opt for the Asus FX505DT-EB73. This one has an NV dGPU, there's also an arguably Linux friendlier AMD RX 560 of that laptop available, too. I personally would also prefer an AMD dGPU solution, but the RX 560/580 is already old and I don't think AMD has a solution anytime soon either, unfortunately...

rl3 7y ago
I'd say only go with NV GPU on Linux if you really need CUDA. Otherwise it's just pain, at least if you plan on using Wayland.
- klingonopera 7y ago
  Yeah, if you even need dedicated GPUs at all, as usually it's Gamers who are looking for those and they're usually on Windows systems anyways (really looking forward to installing Windows 7 on the laptop I mentioned if I do get it this year - kinda mean that both ironic and not-ironic...). The built-in Radeon Vega 8 or 10 solutions on all mobile Ryzens are usually better and more efficient than current Intel counterparts, so if you don't need a dGPU, then that's one more reason to root for Team Green. EDIT: In case anyone reading isn't aware, nVidia is a biaaatch when it comes to drivers for Linux. Anyone looking for powerful GPUs in Linux machines, no matter desktop or laptop, has an easier life with AMD solutions. That's the reason there's an infamous photo of Linus showing the finger to nVidia: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVpOyKCNZYw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVpOyKCNZYw
  - llukas 7y ago
    Nvidia works for me. Works for amazon (https://docs.aws.amazon.com/dlami/latest/devguide/gpu.html https://docs.aws.amazon.com/dlami/latest/devguide/gpu.html) and others as well.
    - klingonopera 7y ago
      Yeah, but you're referring to "super-computing" situations, where the OS of choice is Linux and nVidia would be shooting themselves in the foot if they only developed drivers for Windows. When it comes to normal consumer hardware, it seems that nVidia drivers for Linux in 2019 are still a hit and miss: https://www.reddit.com/r/linux_gaming/comments/bhfjnb/nvidia_working_on_proper_gpu_offloading_for_linux/ https://www.reddit.com/r/linux_gaming/comments/bhfjnb/nvidia... https://www.reddit.com/r/linux_gaming/comments/bol5uo/nvidia_43014/ https://www.reddit.com/r/linux_gaming/comments/bol5uo/nvidia... EDIT: Maybe my formulation of "powerful GPUs" led you on to that. Though I did say "no matter desktop or laptop" to clarify that...
      - llukas 7y ago
        > Maybe my formulation of "powerful GPUs" led you on to that. No, "nvidia is a biaaatch" led me. I just stated that my experience is different. How about you share your actual experience? I might be biased as I used GPUs for scientific computations and Nvidia reached level where it "just" works on Linux many years ago. Also: * Steam and few games I have on my laptop (ubuntu) with nvidia mobile graphics work fine. * My home workstation (gentoo) and workstation at work (ubuntu) also work fine.
        y4mi 7y ago
        AMD "just works" even without installing the binary blob from the vendor. as a matter of fact, there is no need to install said binary as its most likely already upstreamed to your distribution of choice. but nvidia still reigns supreme if we're talking actual performance ... at least after you've installed said binary blob ;) and i can say from personal experience that the nvidia 10x0 drivers were terrible in the first ~6 month after their release. fan kept jumping between 10-80% for example. Haven't had any issues in at least a year though, but i'd expect the same kind of issues on any new chipset by nvidia, as they havent open sourced their drivers
        llukas 7y ago
  - igneo676 7y ago
    Is there a decent thin-and-light AMD laptop? Looking to buy the successor to my Dell XPS 13 and would strongly prefer AMD if I can find something ultrabook-like with a QHD or above resolution screen
shrimp_emoji 7y ago
>looking to get a new (mid-range gaming) laptop this year If you can, build a gaming PC instead; you'll have a more powerful and more upgradeable machine for a fraction of the money (as low as $600[0]). And it'll likely work. In my experience, gaming laptops don't work. Laptops in general don't work, but especially gaming ones and especially for gaming. Ironically, this gets truer the more expensive a laptop is, which is the opposite for PCs. 0: https://youtu.be/e9aRzfF4WCw?t=162 https://youtu.be/e9aRzfF4WCw?t=162
- klingonopera 7y ago
  I already have a gaming PC, and her R9 280 is being replaced by an RX580 this week... :) And yes, it really needs to be a gaming laptop, I travel for work, and I have had good experiences gaming on the go. It's still a relief to get back home to the desktop, no doubt, but I'm often gone for two days to two weeks, and I'd still like to be able to pull a few frags in that time... :D I'm currently using an Intel 4702MQ with a GTX 760M in an Acer package, she used to be fine to play CSGO, but that's no longer the case either...

rl3 7y ago

I'd say only go with NV GPU on Linux if you really need CUDA. Otherwise it's just pain, at least if you plan on using Wayland.

klingonopera 7y ago
Yeah, if you even need dedicated GPUs at all, as usually it's Gamers who are looking for those and they're usually on Windows systems anyways (really looking forward to installing Windows 7 on the laptop I mentioned if I do get it this year - kinda mean that both ironic and not-ironic...). The built-in Radeon Vega 8 or 10 solutions on all mobile Ryzens are usually better and more efficient than current Intel counterparts, so if you don't need a dGPU, then that's one more reason to root for Team Green. EDIT: In case anyone reading isn't aware, nVidia is a biaaatch when it comes to drivers for Linux. Anyone looking for powerful GPUs in Linux machines, no matter desktop or laptop, has an easier life with AMD solutions. That's the reason there's an infamous photo of Linus showing the finger to nVidia: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVpOyKCNZYw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVpOyKCNZYw
- llukas 7y ago
  Nvidia works for me. Works for amazon (https://docs.aws.amazon.com/dlami/latest/devguide/gpu.html https://docs.aws.amazon.com/dlami/latest/devguide/gpu.html) and others as well.
  - klingonopera 7y ago
    Yeah, but you're referring to "super-computing" situations, where the OS of choice is Linux and nVidia would be shooting themselves in the foot if they only developed drivers for Windows. When it comes to normal consumer hardware, it seems that nVidia drivers for Linux in 2019 are still a hit and miss: https://www.reddit.com/r/linux_gaming/comments/bhfjnb/nvidia_working_on_proper_gpu_offloading_for_linux/ https://www.reddit.com/r/linux_gaming/comments/bhfjnb/nvidia... https://www.reddit.com/r/linux_gaming/comments/bol5uo/nvidia_43014/ https://www.reddit.com/r/linux_gaming/comments/bol5uo/nvidia... EDIT: Maybe my formulation of "powerful GPUs" led you on to that. Though I did say "no matter desktop or laptop" to clarify that...
    - llukas 7y ago
      > Maybe my formulation of "powerful GPUs" led you on to that. No, "nvidia is a biaaatch" led me. I just stated that my experience is different. How about you share your actual experience? I might be biased as I used GPUs for scientific computations and Nvidia reached level where it "just" works on Linux many years ago. Also: * Steam and few games I have on my laptop (ubuntu) with nvidia mobile graphics work fine. * My home workstation (gentoo) and workstation at work (ubuntu) also work fine.
      - y4mi 7y ago
        AMD "just works" even without installing the binary blob from the vendor. as a matter of fact, there is no need to install said binary as its most likely already upstreamed to your distribution of choice. but nvidia still reigns supreme if we're talking actual performance ... at least after you've installed said binary blob ;) and i can say from personal experience that the nvidia 10x0 drivers were terrible in the first ~6 month after their release. fan kept jumping between 10-80% for example. Haven't had any issues in at least a year though, but i'd expect the same kind of issues on any new chipset by nvidia, as they havent open sourced their drivers
        llukas 7y ago
- igneo676 7y ago
  Is there a decent thin-and-light AMD laptop? Looking to buy the successor to my Dell XPS 13 and would strongly prefer AMD if I can find something ultrabook-like with a QHD or above resolution screen

shrimp_emoji 7y ago

>looking to get a new (mid-range gaming) laptop this year If you can, build a gaming PC instead; you'll have a more powerful and more upgradeable machine for a fraction of the money (as low as $600[0]). And it'll likely work. In my experience, gaming laptops don't work. Laptops in general don't work, but especially gaming ones and especially for gaming. Ironically, this gets truer the more expensive a laptop is, which is the opposite for PCs. 0: https://youtu.be/e9aRzfF4WCw?t=162 https://youtu.be/e9aRzfF4WCw?t=162

klingonopera 7y ago
I already have a gaming PC, and her R9 280 is being replaced by an RX580 this week... :) And yes, it really needs to be a gaming laptop, I travel for work, and I have had good experiences gaming on the go. It's still a relief to get back home to the desktop, no doubt, but I'm often gone for two days to two weeks, and I'd still like to be able to pull a few frags in that time... :D I'm currently using an Intel 4702MQ with a GTX 760M in an Acer package, she used to be fine to play CSGO, but that's no longer the case either...