Laptop with ATI Raedon 3100 - is it worth the trouble?

[jwkolberg]

I want to buy this http://explore.toshiba.com/laptops/satellite/L300/L305D-S5874 laptop because it has a pretty good amount of graphics memory, which I need because I want to dual boot to play a few games. Has anyone tried Ubuntu on a laptop with one of these graphics cards? Is it worth the trouble or should I spend a couple hundred more dollars to get a nvidia card?

thanks!

[tuxxy]

I think its worth the extra for an nVidia if you want flawless effects as you may have to upgrade again in the future, I had some trouble with a new ATI card and would recommend nVidia.

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=860642

Someone said that ATI work better in KDE so you may be in luck if you use that, I can only speak for the GNOME desktop.

[ssam]

on the other hand ATI are releasing all their graphics card specifications and helping write an opensource graphics driver. http://www.x.org/wiki/radeonhd

it does not do 3d acceleration yet, but it will do soon.

closed source video drivers cause a lot of pain for linux users. they can't be put on the CD. when they have bugs, no one can fix them. when a new version comes out ubuntu can't put it in an update because it will fixes some problems but introduce new ones. they hold back kernel updates and xorg updates due to incompatibilities. etc etc

so in the long run ATI is probably the best bet (nvidia keep saying 'no' to releasing specs).

[bigbrovar]

yeah have nvidia 8400 on my personal laptop and a an ATI card (cant remember the name now) on my work laptop and i must say that Nvdia really sucks .. their latest card is crap compared to intel or ATI .. although Nvida always releases new update for their systems .. most times u have to install them manually which is a real pain in the butt .. ATI for me as better prospect than Nvida .. and it is more stable in the long run ...

[Mazza558]

Do you expect to keep it for a few years or is it a short-term thing?

If it's short-term, go for nVidia. At the moment I'd say that their drivers work better on the whole than ATI.

If it's longer than that, definitely ATI. Their drivers are steadily and rapidly improving (new drivers every month or so), and there is an open-source driver which has almost gone from worthless to awesome in a very short time. I wouldn't be surprised if the open source ATI driver is equal in quality to Intel's by next year.

[jwkolberg]

I think I'm gonna get the laptop with the ATI card. Thanks guys!