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Most people I know who use Linux on a notebook have a MacBook Air or a 13" MacBook Pro. Same for the tech conferences I attend. All Mac notebook models have In
by Samuel_Michon 14y ago
Most people I know who use Linux on a notebook have a MacBook Air or a 13" MacBook Pro. Same for the tech conferences I attend.
All Mac notebook models have Intel HD Graphics 4000, which performs well and has good support on Ubuntu. The other hardware in those notebooks plays nice with Ubuntu as well, like WiFi and sound – no hacks necessary.
http://www.maketecheasier.com/install-ubuntu-12-10-in-macbook-air/2012/11/08 http://www.maketecheasier.com/install-ubuntu-12-10-in-macboo...
http://www.apple.com/macbookair/ http://www.apple.com/macbookair/
- Derbasti 14y agoBe aware that the multi-GPU models are not as great though, since BIOS emulation mode does not allow for graphics card switching and the bigger GPU uses a lot of battery.
- Samuel_Michon 14y agoTrue, having a second, dedicated GPU isn't as useful as it once was, given how good integrated GPUs have gotten. OP, take note: only the 15" MacBook Pros have dual GPUs.
- meric 14y agoGood as integrated GPUs maybe (as they can now accomplish more tasks), they are still an order of magnitude away from mid-range dedicated GPUs.
- Samuel_Michon 14y agoSure, but we're talking about notebooks. Putting a mid-range dedicated GPU in a notebook would make it a mobile workstation (read: useless when not connected to a power source). The second, dedicated GPU in a 15" MacBook Pro isn't even mid-range while it does use a lot more power than the integrated GPU. For most tasks, integrated graphics work fine. On my MacBook Air, I use Final Cut Pro, AfterEffects and Blender. For many people, the most graphics intensive thing they use their computer for is HD video playback.
- meric 14y agoI agree, though I consider the dedicated GPU in the 15" Macbook Pro to be at the bottom end of "mid-range". :) Nvidia's GPU model numbers go from, at low end, X10, to, at the high end X90. X50 is right in the middle. Sorry, I just had to leave a comment here, because I found my Nvidia integrated GPU in my 2009 13" Macbook Pro woefully inadequate for CUDA computation.
- jason_slack 14y agoI have often wondered why, when you have a MacBook Air or Pro that the Linux user doesn't run OS X as the host and Linux in a virtual machine? Can anyone explain why this setup isn't more mainstream among those that prefer Linux?
- thraxil 14y agoI can't really speak for anyone else, but I run Ubuntu on a MacPro as my desktop machine at work. I prefer Linux to OS X primarily because of the user interface. I know it's heresy, but I hate OS X's (and Windows, to be fair) UI. I've run XMonad for years and Ion for years before that and now any time I have to use a machine that doesn't have a tiling WM and sloppy focus, I kind of want to throw it out the window. (I'm running on Apple hardware because for various bureaucratic reasons, we have a very limited selection of vendors that we're allowed to purchase from)
- leephillips 14y agoAgreed: once you are used to a tiling WM (I use dwm), OSX and similar windowing systems seem slow and clumsy - and OSX is hard to customize. In answer to the GP, running OSX as a host means you are using closed-source software, which some people prefer not to do.
- jason_slack 14y agoWhat distro are you running and how is wifi and sleeping when you close the lid. That is one thing I love about osx
- thraxil 14y agoMy MacPro desktop doesn't have a lid (or wifi). I run Ubuntu on a Thinkpad T500 though and power management and wifi are flawless. Never have any issues there.
- jason_slack 14y agoI did find: https://github.com/xmonad/osxmonad https://github.com/xmonad/osxmonad Xmonad for tiling OS X windows.