Hey all, hope your day is going well.

I'm on the market for a new mobile computer, but it seems the majority of laptops I have interest in have both integrated graphics (Generally Intel's HD Graphics 3000) and some dedicated hardware as well (specifics vary). However, they all talk about their features and battery life from a Windows perspective. I'm not buying a laptop with the intention of prioritizing Windows functionality.

My question is whether or not Linux, FreeBSD, or some other *nix system support switchable graphics. And if not, I'm curious as to whether there is another solution that I'm blatantly missing for a laptop with graphics capable of CAD applications and with six-seven hour battery life.

I've done some looking around and found sites like this blogspot and this wiki, but neither seem too confident/ready to be deployed .

Two quick examples of products I would love to run Linux on are the Samsung Series 7 and the Lenovo T420, both of which feature switchable graphics, with Radeon and Nvidia graphics respectively -- I'd be open to suggestions, however.

Thanks

Optimus...

Many of the new laptops having Nvidia graphics use it in combination with an on-board Intel graphics chip. Their function is integrated and you can't choose either one alone.

These Optimus systems require Bumblebee. Bumblebee may need some effort to get working and is best compiled from source.

http://bumblebee-project.org/

If you prefer Nvidia you might be able to find a laptop using it on its own. In any case you should look carefully to be sure you know what you're buying. Laptop makers don't always present their products with detailed specifications and may not guarantee that they are linux friendly.

Update...

My prior post is based on the assumption that you want both to have long operating time on the battery with Intel and the ability to switch Nvidia on for performance without re-booting.

Internet tells me that the BIOS of the T420 allows the enabling of either Intel, Nvidia, or combined(Optimus) graphics. However, switching settings in the BIOS between Intel and Nvidia means your linux installation then boots on a different system, loading a module for the whatever graphics it finds. You re-boot with each switch.

That shouldn't be a problem, it's what a linux live-cd does when it loads, but you doubtlessly want to use the Nvidia driver, and I propose a test. Download and burn a copy of PCLinuxOS, which has the Nvidia driver pre-configured and try it on any laptop with Nvidia you're considering, first with the BIOS set for Intel, then for Nvidia, and look at "lsmod" or "dmesg" to see what is loaded.

You could of course use only the Nvidia setting, use "cpufrequtils" to limit the performance of the CPU, and accept what you get for battery performance.

On the other hand, Bumblebee on a T420 gives you the advantage of the dual graphic chip function, in effect, as under Windows, throttling the graphics according to load.

http://www.pclinuxos.com/?page_id=10

If you can get even 3 hours of battery life with your linux laptop running any kind of cad software, even with power management and cpufreq stuff, I will... well I'm broke, so I'll buy you a beer.