How will my laptop handle?

dman777 · Veteran Joined: 10 Jan 2007 Posts: 1004

I have a semi old laptop. It has a AMD Sempron 2800+ processor that runs at 1600 megahertz, or 1.6 gigahertz and it has 512 MB of ram. For VGA it has a ATI Radeon Xpress 200M. How would it handle the latest release of GNOME and Compiz-Fusion with all the cool plug in effects?

jettjunker · Apprentice Joined: 10 Sep 2005 Posts: 267

It would seem so. I'm sure your proc was fine... the low mem shouldn't be much of an issue when you're not running much, and I did a quick google search for your video card + compiz and found this video on utube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1avBrDZjlo
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Core2Duo T7100 1.8 ghz mini-itx, Nvidia FX220: Gentoo/Gnome/CompizFusion:XGL
CoreDuo 1.83 ghz 13" Macbook, GMA 950: Ubuntu/Gnome/CompizFusion:AIGLX

dman777 · Veteran Joined: 10 Jan 2007 Posts: 1004

Cool! I was going to finance a new laptop for my upcoming linux set up but I'd rather just use mine and save the money. Instead I'm going to upgrade the ram to 1 GB. When I upgrade my ram to 1 GB does that mean I have to make the swap partition 2 GB?

Genone · Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2008 7:36 am Post subject:

dman777 · Veteran Joined: 10 Jan 2007 Posts: 1004

Man, I don't know what I should do. It will take about $160.00 to fix up my old laptop. That's for a new Battery, ram, wifi card, and ac cord(my old one has a cut with a loose wire I have to make sure it doesn't spark). There's a new Gateway laptop that I would love to have for $800.00. At my work I never know when they are going to lay me off because of automation and outsourcing, so it's not really wise of me to buy anything expensive. I am just getting into Linux and I like it so much I'm fanatical. Do you think it would be silly to buy a new laptop just for Linux?

grayskunk · n00b Joined: 31 Oct 2004 Posts: 24

jettjunker · Apprentice Joined: 10 Sep 2005 Posts: 267

Uh, it wouldn't be /just/ for linux. By buying a new one, rather than just fixing up your old one, means you get a new computer. That is, warranty, better hardware, and newer hardware (less likely to have other things go wrong)

That said... <shrug> obviously it's up to you whether or not it's worth it.
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Core2Duo T7100 1.8 ghz mini-itx, Nvidia FX220: Gentoo/Gnome/CompizFusion:XGL
CoreDuo 1.83 ghz 13" Macbook, GMA 950: Ubuntu/Gnome/CompizFusion:AIGLX

dman777 · Veteran Joined: 10 Jan 2007 Posts: 1004

If I got another Laptop would I do better with getting one with an ATI VGA card or an INTEL VGA card?

Etal · Veteran Joined: 15 Jul 2005 Posts: 1931

Genone · Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2008 6:55 am Post subject:

dman777 · Veteran Joined: 10 Jan 2007 Posts: 1004

yeah, one of the reasons is definitelly for the cool graphical special effects from Compwiz Fusion. Would it matter ATI or Intel VGA for that?

NathanZachary · Moderator Joined: 30 Jan 2007 Posts: 2605

I don't see why you'd have a problem running CompizFusion on the Intel. I would recommend the Intel over the ATi, but keep in mind that I have a personal vendetta against ATi after a laptop that I had. :p
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thtroyer · n00b Joined: 13 Aug 2007 Posts: 55

Well, Intel cards aren't dedicated "graphics cards" -- they tap into your processor and RAM, where graphics cards by Nvidia and ATI have their own processors and memory.

I've only had experience with Nvidia cards -- one in my desktop, one in my laptop. I've been mostly happy with them... I've heard horror stories about ATI drivers, but they have apparently been improving.

If I had to pick between Intel and ATI, I'd risk it and definitely go for the ATI simply because I despise integrated graphics (I do moderate gaming, which integrated graphics cannot handle).

Simba7 · Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2008 6:06 am Post subject:

Genone · Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2008 7:47 am Post subject:

sundialsvc4 · Guru Joined: 10 Nov 2005 Posts: 436

Umm, I guess I ought to be embarrassed about my "poor old laptop" with the 73+ day uptime. And a grand spankin' total of 256MB (down from the 512MB originally installed, half of which no longer works). A highly customized Gentoo installation runs just fine on "ol' Dobbin," and I still do most of my work on it.

Gentoo in particular can do that, and do it very well. I determined many years ago exactly what this system needed, and exactly what I wanted to run on it, and I configured it that way and keep it that way. Without the many layers of "cruft" that plug-up Windows (and, unfortunately, many binary Linux distros ... the problem seems to always be getting worse) it zips right along.

kicker69101 · n00b Joined: 18 Apr 2003 Posts: 62

I recently had a 200 pentium pro running as my server (this was a temporary issue). It ran like a champ even after I moved off of it. May it RIP now.

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Simba7 · Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2008 7:50 pm Post subject:

machinelou · Apprentice Joined: 05 Apr 2003 Posts: 267

OMG, I have to warn you, I have a laptop with the 200m card and it was a NIGHTMARE to get video acceleration working with suspend/hibernate. In fact, it was one of the reasons why I ultimately decided to give up and put windows back on it (the other was a lack of an easy way to get VGA-out to work [I needed it for frequent presentations]). IMHO, if you use your laptop often and carry it frequently, you'll want to have it suspend or at least hibernate instead of having to boot every time you pull it out. On the other hand, this was about a year ago so, perhaps the drivers have been improved.

If I get another laptop, I'm going to do my best to make sure its components have decent linux support -- although, in practice, doing this is very difficult unless you go with a well known build (e.g., leveno or a laptop that comes with linux pre-installed). As far as I know, even the macbooks aren't 100% compatible (maybe they're 95% - a lot of people still complain about sound if I remember correctly).