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Comment by driverdan | Hacker News Reader

Valid points but the author highlights one of the original reasons I switched from a ThinkPad running Linux to a MacBook. All high end Linux laptops have driver issues, including ThinkPads. Last thing I knew you still couldn't switch between discreet NVIDIA graphics and the Intel 4000 without a reboot. I've been told some laptops still have issues with sleep / hibernation.

Maybe the Dell XPS 13 highlighted in the article works well (no discreet video) but for that price I can buy a MacBook with equal specs that will natively run Adobe products.

I'd prefer to run Linux on hardware with smaller margins but until there is a reference system (or at least one that works flawlessly) I'll stick with Apple.

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I've had an Nvidia Optimus + Intel 4000 since Nov 2012 and I never had to reboot, just specify when I wanted to run a particular program with Nvidia (games), everything else would run by default with Intel.

Everything worked out of the box, the only minor issue is that bluetooth audio connection with my jambox is sometimes lost, but i could never even get it to work with a Mac.

That sounds unlikely, the switching between integrated and discrete GPU -- which distro are you running?

Definitely not happening in a multi-monitor setup without Bumblebee or other workaround.

Ubuntu 13.04, which is smart enough to configure Bumblebee for you.

Good to know Bumblebee is finally working well.

I use Windows 7 on a 7 year old ThinkPad with Linux inside a VirtualBox VM.

Works better and consumes less power and therefore has longer battery life than Linux on bare metal.

My 2010 MacBook Pro caught fire, so I can't vouch for Apple's reliability.

I really find it hard to believe that Win7 on 7 year old hardware with Linux in a VM works better than just Linux on the same hardware. What on earth are you measuring this on?

Lenovo T61 7661. Dual Core 2 2.0, 4Gb RAM, Samsung 840 pro. 9 cell battery.

It's better because even with powertop optimisations, Linux leaks energy out of the window everywhere. If you let Windows handle it with the Lenovo power manager, it's an order of magnitude better.

Windows 7 x64 with reserved power scheme. 8h42m Debian 6.0 with powertop optimisation. 5h12m.

Regarding virtual machines, Linux's virtualbox drivers are better than native ones for the hardware in the actual machine.

I used to have exactly the same laptop with a different SSD and the next size battery down. I got the same runtime in Win 7 and Ubuntu (whatever version was out in 2009).

I ran linux on a variety of thinkpads for several years. Never did have one of these weird hybrid ones though, so maybe that's it.

Never had a need to run adobe products either, but I am entertained how often and for how many years things like photoshop have been used as a prop to crow about how inadequate linux is.

>> All high end Linux laptops have driver issues, including ThinkPads.

That wasn't my experience with mine, so apparently at least one ran fine.

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