Curious about getting a Galago UltraPro, some questions.

[TamarinNOR]

I need a laptop for gaming, and I am wondering if this one is ok to play most games out there. I do not care much about how good the graphics are. I do have a GT540M in my laptop now, and as long as it is not worse then it should be good.

There are a few things I wonder about this product:

1. Does it work well with other Linux-distributions?
2. Is Iris Pro 5200 well supported in Linux out of the box?
3. How is heat and noise in this product while gaming?
4. Does adding a extra screen works without any issues and let you either copy displays or have them separated?

[TamarinNOR]

Btw, is this computer practically the same as Zeus Hercules?

http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/LandingPages/ZeusHercules/

https://www.system76.com/laptops/model/galu1

Here is a review of a laptop that seems to be pretty much the same:

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-...k.98313.0.html

[isantop]

While I don't have any direct experience with your current graphics, all of the benchmarks I've seen place the Iris Pro Graphics in the same class as the GT 650, which should be faster than your current system. It's not the best system for gaming, but it is pretty good.

[raphael-estrada]

I need a laptop for gaming, and I am wondering if this one is ok to play most games out there. I do not care much about how good the graphics are. I do have a GT540M in my laptop now, and as long as it is not worse then it should be good.

There are a few things I wonder about this product:

1. Does it work well with other Linux-distributions?
2. Is Iris Pro 5200 well supported in Linux out of the box?
3. How is heat and noise in this product while gaming?
4. Does adding a extra screen works without any issues and let you either copy displays or have them separated?

1. Supposedly, although system76 afaik only support Ubuntu
2. There's Intel drivers for linux https://01.org/linuxgraphics/downloads
3. I wouldn't have noticed it so far, although it will go up a bit when gaming. Nothing shocking for a laptop imho
4. I use two external screens in addition to the laptop screen. You can copy or extend them in the display settings (I extend accross all three)

hope that helps

[isantop]

2. There's Intel drivers for linux https://01.org/linuxgraphics/downloads

The latest graphics drivers available are already in 13.10. Please refrain from advising users to install unsupported driver configurations.

[keith5]

I own a Galago. Here is what I can tell you:

1. Not sure. I have only used it in Ubuntu and Windows so far.
2. Yes, it seems to be well supported out of the box. They seem to work under Ubuntu out of the box just as well as they do in my Windows installation (with the intel driver downloaded).
3. Heat and noise seem really good, actually. Of course it gets hotter and the fan speed goes up while gaming, but it doesn't even come close to getting too hot to sit on my lap (unlike my old laptop) and the fans, while noticeable, are not roaring load.
4. I use a second monitor at times and it works fine (though I haven't tried it while gaming yet). It extends the desktop in Ubuntu by default as soon as I plug the other monitor in, as opposed to mirroring the main screen.

As far as graphics performance goes, it is very impressive for integrated graphics. I can play Trine 2 and Legend of Grimrock at high settings under Ubuntu. I have also been playing Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn on my Windows installation (trying to get it to work in Wine was difficult), and I can set it to the "Laptop (high)" settings at 1600x900 resolution and fps stays around 30-40. Gameplay has been very smooth and looks really good. You often can't play at max 1920x1080 resolution, well you can but with lower fps or lower graphics settings, but it still looks good at 1600x900. I am very happy with it as I didn't want a top of the line graphics card in my laptop making it weigh 10 pounds. It is also way better than my old Macbook Pro 2009, even though it had a Nvidia card with 512mb vram in it (which is low now of course).

[beatyrm]

1. I can attest to Arch running quite well on it. There is even an AUR package for the system76 driver https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/system76-driver/
2/3. I haven't had any issues with the iris pro on arch and gaming works pretty well. Minecraft, TF2 and some other less demanding stuff plays just fine. Edit: forgot to say it doesn't get too hot while gaming, you could leave it on your lap... of course the battery won't last long doing that so it probably wouldn't be an issue anyway. Most of the time on external power I'm sitting at a desk so I don't even notice it. Fans are rather quite which is nice.
4. I run the machine every day at work with the laptop screen and two externals (one hdmi/one minidisplay port) and it runs all three great separate. I'm using cinnamon on arch so I can't say how ubuntu/unity handle it.

[beru2]

1. I can attest to Arch running quite well on it. There is even an AUR package for the system76 driver https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/system76-driver/
2/3. I haven't had any issues with the iris pro on arch and gaming works pretty well. Minecraft, TF2 and some other less demanding stuff plays just fine. Edit: forgot to say it doesn't get too hot while gaming, you could leave it on your lap... of course the battery won't last long doing that so it probably wouldn't be an issue anyway. Most of the time on external power I'm sitting at a desk so I don't even notice it. Fans are rather quite which is nice.
4. I run the machine every day at work with the laptop screen and two externals (one hdmi/one minidisplay port) and it runs all three great separate. I'm using cinnamon on arch so I can't say how ubuntu/unity handle it.

How has your experience been with the Galago's keyboard?

[beatyrm]

I actually preordered it and the original keyboard was rubbish. After getting the replacement with the soldered back pane it works very well. No flex issues and I haven't noticed any of the unregistered key presses since switching it out. There were a lot of people I found just complaining up a storm about the replacement processes. It really wasn't very hard. Take the back off and remove one screw, then remove the top most panel on the front, unscrew the keyboard and replace with the new one. I've replaced ones that were easier sure but that certainly wasn't hard. I'm also no stranger to first gen releases of laptops so I don't mind working through things a bit.

[TamarinNOR]

Thanks for the replies

As long as it is no custom made or configured Ubuntu installed on the laptop, and everything works perfecrly with Ubuntu, other distributions should be fine as well.
I usually don't stich with a distribution for long since I like to try out new distributions as they come out, therefor it would be nice if everything just works.

I see that there are some that have had issues with the keyboard. Is this something that has been replaced/fixed for those ordering now?