On Tue, 20 Sep 2011, stripes theotoky <stripes.theotoky@googlemail.com> wrote:
I'm looking at this as a replacement laptop.
http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=6106&review=lenovo+thinkpa d+w520
Does anyone have any experience of running Linux on it? Is there support for VT-x in the bios. I am hoping to configure it as Linux with Windows 7 64 running in Virtual Box.
http://etbe.coker.com.au/2011/09/09/modern-laptops-suck/ Thinkpads are generally good for what they are, but modern laptops suck because they seem to be designed to compete with desktop systems - and the Thinkpad W series seems to be one of the worst in this regard. Modern laptops can't run on your lap because they either have passive cooling in the base through a metal shell (like Macs) or cooling vents (like Thinkpads). They also can't run at high speed when closed (so you can't close the lid after starting a big compile) because the keyboard is used as part of the system cooling. The one you are looking at has an NVidia graphics controller which means it will either be slow or have a binary-only kernel module. I expect that KVM will work as it works on my Thinkpad T61 and I haven't heard reports of regressions in such things. I haven't tried running Windows under KVM though. -- My Main Blog http://etbe.coker.com.au/ My Documents Blog http://doc.coker.com.au/
On 24/09/2011, at 13:23, Russell Coker <russell@coker.com.au> wrote:
On Tue, 20 Sep 2011, stripes theotoky <stripes.theotoky@googlemail.com> wrote:
I'm looking at this as a replacement laptop.
http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=6106&review=lenovo+thinkpa d+w520
Does anyone have any experience of running Linux on it? Is there support for VT-x in the bios. I am hoping to configure it as Linux with Windows 7 64 running in Virtual Box.
http://etbe.coker.com.au/2011/09/09/modern-laptops-suck/
Thinkpads are generally good for what they are, but modern laptops suck because they seem to be designed to compete with desktop systems - and the Thinkpad W series seems to be one of the worst in this regard.
Modern laptops can't run on your lap because they either have passive cooling in the base through a metal shell (like Macs) or cooling vents (like Thinkpads). They also can't run at high speed when closed (so you can't close the lid after starting a big compile) because the keyboard is used as part of the system cooling.
I think you're trying to make them compete with desktops. Wouldn't you rather run that compile somewhere other than on your lap, running the machine at 100% with poor ventilation and burning you? Maybe it's nice to keep warm in winter though I got annoyed with my laptop not performing extremely well, so went out and upgraded to 4GB of RAM and a 7200rpm drive, replacing the 5400rpm. Sometimes I wish I hadn't, since it now vibrates too much, is louder, and the battery life is poorer
On Sat, 24 Sep 2011, hannah commodore <hannah@tinfoilhat.net> wrote:
I think you're trying to make them compete with desktops.
Wouldn't you rather run that compile somewhere other than on your lap, running the machine at 100% with poor ventilation and burning you? Maybe it's nice to keep warm in winter though
http://etbe.coker.com.au/2011/09/08/laptop-to-cloud-lifestyle/ That's exactly the point of my previous post. -- My Main Blog http://etbe.coker.com.au/ My Documents Blog http://doc.coker.com.au/
participants (2)
-
hannah commodore -
Russell Coker