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nvidia, ati and 94x hardware support

Asked by Uqbar

Hi all.
As I'm going to buy a laptop where Windows would never run, I'd like to know how good is the support for the graphics hardware above, that is nVidia, ATI and intel 945/943 graphics accelerators.
As the latter ones imply a lower price, I'd prefer them, unless there is some different advice like sloooowish X.
What'd be the community suggestions?

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Gord Allott
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Best Gord Allott (gordallott) said : 		#1

hi,

if you use an nVidia or ATI graphics device what will happen is that when you boot up ubuntu on said laptop you will be able to install the 'binary drivers' that you need to enable hardware acceleration (for games and desktop effects) via the Restricted Devices Manager. if your using a version of ubuntu thats thats older than the Fiesty Fawn (7.04) version of ubuntu then its a little more difficulty (see: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BinaryDriverHowto/Nvidia and https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BinaryDriverHowto/ATI)

intel like to use open source drivers however which is good as those graphics devices should work out of the box (as far as i am aware, i don't use one myself though)

one thing to note is that ati does not support Aiglx, which is what the default out of the box ubuntu uses for its desktop effects (wobbly windows and the like) so you have to install xgl in order to get those effects. https://help.ubuntu.com/community/CompositeManager/Xgl

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Cesare Tirabassi (norsetto) said : 		#2

Do yourself a favour and buy an nvidia.
ATI on linux is an experience you wish will be soon over....
Intel seems to be a good compromise price/quality (that is, you get what you pay for).

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Uqbar (uqbar) said : 		#3

Thanks Gord Allott, that solved my question.