Im thinking about buying a V5-171 with an i3 in it. If I get one I want to install the latest Ubuntu on it and nothing else. Im worried about secure boot though, I heard some people cant turn it off and it wont work... Im not shy to open it up and replace the hard drive with Ubuntu preinstalled. Im also worried about the wifi working as I have heard its been dropping out for people quite a bit (due to the drivers) along with also the trackpad not working. I dont mind replacing the wifi stick (if its even possible?) inside. Is the GPU (HD4000 i think) supported in ubuntu with full video accel? Thanks!
[QUOTE=Chizbang;41196078]Im thinking about buying a V5-171 with an i3 in it. If I get one I want to install the latest Ubuntu on it and nothing else. Im worried about secure boot though, I heard some people cant turn it off and it wont work... Im not shy to open it up and replace the hard drive with Ubuntu preinstalled. Im also worried about the wifi working as I have heard its been dropping out for people quite a bit (due to the drivers) along with also the trackpad not working. I dont mind replacing the wifi stick (if its even possible?) inside. Is the GPU (HD4000 i think) supported in ubuntu with full video accel? Thanks![/QUOTE]
You can disable secure boot in the BIOS. This option is present on all computers that come preinstalled with Windows, and that have Secure boot enabled by default.
Support doesen't seem that bad.
[url]https://friendly.ubuntu.com/12.04/Acer/V5-171/I:CLqmGp:E4:I8g:3z:BEfi:cMp:E4F:BYQ:OwH:BF7/[/url]
Yes some guy reported some Problems with the Wireless card, but said that you need to install some restricted driver, which doesen't get installed in ubuntu by default (because its proprietary).
[url]http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2027947[/url]
[B]Just a reminder. the posts and Info I fetched are for Ubuntu 12.04. Its a possibility that many things are fixed with Ubuntu 13.04[/B]
[editline]26th June 2013[/editline]
If you encounter Problems with UEFI while trying to boot from the CD/USB Stick, or when installing ubuntu, you can switch back to BIOS mode.
There should be an option to activate "Legacy BIOS Mode" or "CSM" (Compatibility Support Module)
[editline]26th June 2013[/editline]
Searched a bit about the Restricted Wireless Driver
I think I found the mentioned package.
[url]http://packages.ubuntu.com/raring/broadcom-sta-common[/url]
(Only install it, if the wireless card doesen't work out of the Box)
That package can be installed by issuing the following command into a terminal:
[code]
sudo apt-get install broadcom-sta-common
[/code]
I don't know if there are extra steps needed to get it to work.
Does Ubuntu have complete full OOB support for the GPU though? It says supported on the Ubuntu thing but I heard that some people have had trouble with the HD 4000s. I want 3D and 2d the works.
Im planning on using Ubuntu as my primary on this lappy.
[QUOTE=Chizbang;41197390]Does Ubuntu have complete full OOB support for the GPU though? It says supported on the Ubuntu thing but I heard that some people have had trouble with the HD 4000s. I want 3D and 2d the works.
Im planning on using Ubuntu as my primary on this lappy.[/QUOTE]
Intel makes by far the best graphics drivers (compared to Nvidia and AMD) on Linux, so Intel integrated graphics cards are fully supported.
Full 3D and 2D support, and full support for hardware acceleration.
I have a Zenbook prime, which also uses the integrated HD 4000 graphics, and I never had any problems with intel graphics on Linux (On any distribution).
Ah great! Good.
Ok so do you think this is a good deal?
My price bracket is £350 so I think this is a pretty decent deal:
[url]http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/laptops-netbooks/laptops/laptops/acer-aspire-v5-171-11-6-laptop-silver-19414897-pdt.html[/url]
Price seems pretty reasonable. I compared the price to some of my local retailers, and they are mostly the same, if not more expensive.
Just keep in mind that this machine doesen't have the best processing power, since it has a Processor from the 'U' (Ultrabook/Low Power) Series. It was made for high Battery life / Low Power consumption.
The 6GB are nice, and its pretty sweet that you can even upgrade to 8 GB RAM.
I'd day, if you need a portable machine for school/spreadsheets/general webbrowsing and youtube videos, its a good machine.
[QUOTE=kaukassus;41197742]Price seems pretty reasonable. I compared the price to some of my local retailers, and they are mostly the same, if not more expensive.
Just keep in mind that this machine doesen't have the best processing power, since it has a Processor from the 'U' (Ultrabook/Low Power) Series. It was made for high Battery life / Low Power consumption.
The 6GB are nice, and its pretty sweet that you can even upgrade to 8 GB RAM.
I'd day, if you need a portable machine for school/spreadsheets/general webbrowsing and youtube videos, its a good machine.[/QUOTE]
Yeah I thought that. Im gonna be using it as a secondary machine for when im away. I miss having 2 machines when im away from home (which is quite a bit). So it will be doing maybe the occasional bit of programming and web development. I have done all of this on a Core 2 Duo without stress so Id say the i3 would be about onpar wouldnt you say so? Im used to doing all this on a Netbook with an Atom in it so an i3 would be a massive step up haha
If you're used to a C2D an i3 will be fine for those purposes, for sure
Yeah thats what my thoughts were. I have been working with C2Ds as my primary machines only until last year to be honest which is saying something because my primaries go through a lot.
Luckily this is only a secondary machine which will be mainly used for if I need to go out and need to finish a few bits of web dev here and there or when im on holiday for a secondary system.
Thanks for the views!
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