[sf-lug] Acer V Nitro series (was: Considering purchasing a lightweight laptop: thoughts Thinkpad X1 carbon vs. Thinkpad T460S)

[Rick Moen]

Quoting Antonio Malcolm (antonio.malcolm at gmail.com):

> Honestly, the Nouveau drivers are horrible, in general, esp. compared to
> the proprietary drivers. So bad, in fact, you're probably better off just
> using the Intel integrated GPU.

That's what happens when a hardware OEM is so open source-hostile that 
the relevant coders try to avoid owning the hardware in question:  
Reverse-engineering efforts lag, as talent goes (and buys) elsewhere.

Gamers (stereotypically, at least) will eagerly put up with all of 
that including proprietry, kernel-tainting drivers not lawfully
distributable by any Linux distro, because, for them, 3D frame rate is
everything.  And, hey, whatever makes them happy:  As Mr. Lincoln said,
it's the sort of thing that will be enjoyed by those who enjoy that sort
of thing.

> (It should also be mentioned that not everyone shies away from the
> cutting edge... some of us even like to dance with it. If everyone in open
> source avoided the cutting edge, things wouldn't be much fun.)

Where the cutting edge (e.g., hardware) entails serious driver problems,
and uncompelling small performance advantages at high price premiums[1],
you're welcome to have my share.  I'll stick with chipsets that have
been out long enough to have those problems worked through by suckers^W
early adopters.  Old IT joke:  You can always tell the pioneers by the
arrows sticking out of their backs.


[1] Not to mention, for certain high-end GPUs, hideously high power draw
and high heat output, consequent short battery runtime, etc.