Who deserve my business: Intel vs nVidia vs ATI?

[Xeor]

I would like to buy a new laptop; I have a few brand in mind such as an Thinkpad T series Lenovo (Although I am equally looking at some manufacturers delivering without OS) but I would like to find more information about which graphic manufacturers I should go for or in other word, which one has been the most Linux friendly so far?

ATI has a awful reputation as far as I am concerned since my actual laptop is running with poor graphics made by ATI (ATI 7500 16mb) compared to what I could have had with a nVidia made during the same period. But I heard that ATI has been bought by AMD in 2006 and was opening their doors to Linux developers. Maybe it's true but I won't believe it until I see it.

nVidia seems to be working fine especially compared to ATI but they still have their drivers closed to the Linux community; I would go business with them unless...

Intel; I don't know anything about them. Are they good and open when it comes to help Linux having great! graphics?

[lingenfr]

Re: Who deserve my business: Intel vs nVidia vs ATI?

If you are going to do 3D/game, get the nvidia.

[Fintan]

Re: Who deserve my business: Intel vs nVidia vs ATI?

This may help you decide:
http://www.linuxtoday.com/infrastruc...92300126OPBZHW

Have fun and welcome

[Uber Nooblett]

Re: Who deserve my business: Intel vs nVidia vs ATI?

In reply to who the best laptop manufacturers are for reliability, performance and value, I would say a few that are right up there are Sony, Asus, Acer, Rock Direct and even some of the dell ones.

Personally, I've always been an AMD fan and will never switch. I used to own Intels and had nothing but issues with them. If you are looking for pure brute force processing, the Intel's are currently better, but that is reflected in price. I would always take and AMD FX over an Intel Quad though. I believe Intel resolved most of their reliability issues by the time they brought out the Core 2 Duo range and they are apparently on par with the AMDs in reliability, though I'll always be a skeptic :P The P4 in the laptop I used to have melted not long after I bought it, with no overclocking, I had 2 PIII 700s and they where crash magnets, and don't even get me started on the PII 450 we got when it first came out int '98, ouch that thing blew.
So basically, I would recommend AMD cause I'm an AMD whore, but at present Intel have a little more power (for a little more cost).

I've always used NVidia myself, never had any real issues I am happy to say, though a couple of times I had to roll back drivers under windows due to buggy forceware releases. As far as reliability goes, long as you don't overload your mobo, they run very sweetly and are easy and safe to overclock.
I had no issues at all installing NVidia Linux drivers, they work a treat

Depending on your budget, there are many decent laptops out there. Just remember never to go purely on spec for price as some manufacturers will put together a high spec package form cheap parts and it just ends up being unreliable and a bit of a paperweight.

Remember, you get what you pay for, so its always worth checking reviews and perhaps spending that little bit extra on a model that uses quality parts.


Good luck finding your new machine