Less than 14.1" form-factor laptop for H11 ?

[kumpa]

no, i am not using switcheroo and there is no option to disable one or another gpu in bios :/ I am waiting for ubuntu 10.10 where switcheroo it is going to be part of standard install, but i already use kernel v2.6.35 that already supports gpu switching. As for now, i have to boot schwindows xp first and then ubuntu. A bit annoying but once linux is booted everything works.

[saajjj]

Erik,

Ah, the joy of Linux systems. Our pipeline is 'thankfully' tied to Windows. I hope you get it up and running soon.

Kumpa,

That's a good find! Did you install Linux on it too? and it plays nice with H11? It seems perfect as a mobile workstation, I'm sitting on the fence between this and the Lenovo now.

Thanks for your comments

[Erik_JE]

After some fun compiling and messing around i got switcheroo working but it does not help much as it only works once in a while and only with the nouveau open source drivers which got shitty 3d support.

What do you do in windows xp if i may ask?

EDIT: I tried disabling the intel card in windows hoping it would enforce its shutdown system wide as windows likes todo with other stuff such as wlan but didnt help. Still stupid intel graphics.

Edited September 13, 2010 by Erik_JE

[saajjj]

Looks like I already have the answer to my 'did you install linux' question.

Kumpa,

I'm in the UK as well, do you mind saying whether you purchased the Vaio from Sony directly or some other retailer? The VPCZ12V9E/X (I think this is what you got), sells for 2,200 on the Sony site but Amazon lists it for 1930. Do you know if there's any advantage to buying directly from Sony?

Thanks

[Erik_JE]

Looks like I already have the answer to my 'did you install linux' question.

Kumpa,

I'm in the UK as well, do you mind saying whether you purchased the Vaio from Sony directly or some other retailer? The VPCZ12V9E/X (I think this is what you got), sells for 2,200 on the Sony site but Amazon lists it for 1930. Do you know if there's any advantage to buying directly from Sony?

Thanks

I can answer this . There is no difference. Buy where it is cheapest aslong as the model number is exactly the same. A mate bought a sony vaio a while back and investigated it.

Offtopic: DELL is getting a very angry call tomorrow. This laptop is currently useless for me. Crazy how nvidia is taking a BIG step away from linux with this optimus shit. Who implements graphics stuff that depends fully on windows specific stuff. So stupid i do not know where to start.

[kumpa]

sajjj:

I have been seriously using it now for past few week and everything seems to be perfect, houdini and 3dcoat i predominantly use works like a charm with latest nvidia drivers even with compiz. Before that I had old 183.xx drivers and houdini kept crashing every 25 second.

I ll be honest with you about buying vpcz1: if you want to make your life harder and start installing linux on it, you might be potentially rewarded with amazing mobile workstation in amazing form factor. If you fail, you might even end up with very very expensive paper weight. However, if you are ok with using windows, you can just use pre-installed windows 7 and avoid most of problems related with installation. If I only knew what I'll have to endure, I would certainly stay away from computes with exotic components such as quad ssd and hybrid gpu.

Erik_JE:

I didn't touch windows xp instalation at all but i think gpw switching is only possible on windows7 for now, and sony costumer support is rubbish.

sajjj:

i got mine from sony store in Westfield as special offer for 2500 £, (i7, hd screen, 4x64 gb ssd, 3g, carbon) while price for same config in sony online store was about 3000 £.

[saajjj]

Kumpa,

I'm going to stick with Windows as that's what we use for our regular work. All my cpp work is on Visual Studio and a mass migration to Linux wouldn't make sense. Also, at this learning stage, I'd like to avoid as much hassle as possible. Thanks for all the information, time to visit the local Sony Center

Cheers