Acer Aspire AS5560G-SB485 Notebook and Linux

[ffejveg]

Any thoughts on this Acer Aspire notebook? I googled this with a "+ linux" but didn't come up with much. From recent forum browsing I guess the 1366x768 screen resolution is problematic in PCLOS, but I believe there are work-arounds (please correct me if I'm wrong). Most of the 15.+ inch laptops I've been looking at lately all have this (seemingly common) resolution, so if it is indeed problematic it's unfortunate.

Otherwise, here's a brief overview:

Acer Aspire AS5560G-SB485 Notebook
AMD A-Series A8-3500M(1.5GHz)
15.6"
4GB Memory DDR3 1066
500GB HDD
5400rpm
DVD Super Multi
Equipped w/ 1GB ATI Radeon HD 6470M

This is currently on a 72 hour sale at newegg.com for $549.99, regular price is $699.99
Aside from a possible resolution issue, would this play nice with linux, esp. PCLOS?
Link:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834215113&nm_mc=EMC-IGNEFL092911&cm_mmc=EMC-IGNEFL092911-_-EMC-092911-Index-_-LaptopsNotebooks-_-34215113-L03C

[Texstar]

The default screen will come up in 1024x768 but a quick trip to the control center and you can select 1366x768 screen resolution and all will be well.

[ffejveg]

Thanks Tex, that's easy enough to do.

[kjpetrie]

The only comment I would make is Radeon HD graphics are very power hungry (c 10W), run hot, and halve the time between charges. If you want to use it on battery a lot you might want to find one with a less powerful graphics card.

My laptop has both Radeon and Intel integrated graphics. The IG are quite sufficient for good 3d performance with Kwin and I have to use a custom kernel and a modified laptop-mode script to turn off the Radeon which gives me around 7 hours on the battery. If I had one with only the Intel graphics I wouldn't need the custom kernel and script modification, but I didn't realise that when I bought it. I have also never got 3d to work using the Radeon, but yours is a different chip so might work better.

The one you're looking at has only the Radeon, so you need to consider how long you want to be on battery between charges.

Of course, if that's not an issue and it's a good price...

[ffejveg]

Thanks for your input kjpetrie. Fortunately, I don't need to worry about battery life - in the 5 years I've had my present laptop I have not once run it off the battery. Good info to know though, especially for others who may be considering this laptop or a similar one with the same graphics card.

[T6]

that is a a8 with the gpu in the cpu, not possible this days to find something weaker, theis is the weakest amd video card avaialble, early reports about this card with that battery should give you in linux 4 hours

remember that you need the amd video driver for that video card

[ffejveg]

T6 said: "remember that you need the amd video driver for that video card"

I looked in PCC to see what graphics drivers were available for Radeon cards and did not see anything more specific than "Radeon HD 2000 and up" which I thought would be the most appropriate driver. Perhaps I'm incorrect in thinking that would work. What I understand from your post is that the driver would have to be downloaded and installed from AMD's website. Is that right?

[Texstar]

T6 said: "remember that you need the amd video driver for that video card"

I looked in PCC to see what graphics drivers were available for Radeon cards and did not see anything more specific than "Radeon HD 2000 and up" which I thought would be the most appropriate driver. Perhaps I'm incorrect in thinking that would work. What I understand from your post is that the driver would have to be downloaded and installed from AMD's website. Is that right?

No, you should never download and run anything from AMD's website. We maintain the latest driver in our repo.

[ffejveg]

OK, all clear now. Thanks.