New Laptop with AMD Processor

[warp]

I am considering to replace my Asus laptop, which is almost 13 years old. The video card is getting broken.
Does anybody know a laptop with AMD processor (APU), which will work with eCS?
The biggest questions could be the network drivers, I suppose.
Thank you in advance for your suggestions.

[Martin Iturbide]

Hi

I don't have a direct latop recommendation but I suggest you to check:
- Check that the BIOS has ACPI legacy mode.
- Is also good that the computer has VT-x or on AMD AMD-v  to run virtual machines.
Wifi is going to be difficult issue until newer drivers are released.

Regards

[ivan]

Dell do make some but you have to be careful to specify an AMD processor or they will dump the intel one on you (that appears to all be part of the intel microshaft take over the PC market thing).

The one advantage with the Dell units is that you can get a service manual that details how to change parts including the wireless card.  The bad thing is that the larger 17" units only have a 1600x900 screen resolution (the intel based units have a 1920x1080 screen).

If I can talk Dell France into letting me get my hands on one to test (we have a client that wants to replace some servers so it might happen) I will see what works and what doesn't.

[RickCHodgin]

I am considering to replace my Asus laptop, which is almost 13 years old. The video card is getting broken.
Does anybody know a laptop with AMD processor (APU), which will work with eCS?
The biggest questions could be the network drivers, I suppose.
Thank you in advance for your suggestions.

I have an AMD-based Toshiba notebook.  I'll see if I can get it to boot tonight.

Best regards,
Rick C. Hodgin

[warp]

Hi Martin,

for BIOS do you mean the traditional BIOS with ACPI. Probably all new computers are equipped with UEFI BIOSES.
All modern AMD processors should have the VT-X or AMD - V extensions.

Hi

I don't have a direct latop recommendation but I suggest you to check:
- Check that the BIOS has ACPI legacy mode.
- Is also good that the computer has VT-x or on AMD AMD-v  to run virtual machines.
Wifi is going to be difficult issue until newer drivers are released.

Regards

[warp]

Let us know how it went.
Thank you.

I have an AMD-based Toshiba notebook.  I'll see if I can get it to boot tonight.

Best regards,
Rick C. Hodgin
[/quote]

[Neil Waldhauer]

Dell do make some but you have to be careful to specify an AMD processor or they will dump the intel one on you (that appears to all be part of the intel microshaft take over the PC market thing).

The one advantage with the Dell units is that you can get a service manual that details how to change parts including the wireless card.  The bad thing is that the larger 17" units only have a 1600x900 screen resolution (the intel based units have a 1920x1080 screen).

If I can talk Dell France into letting me get my hands on one to test (we have a client that wants to replace some servers so it might happen) I will see what works and what doesn't.

If you do, and especially if it is an Intel, please post results here. I have rarely seen a report for a laptop that you could still buy.

[Eugene Gorbunoff]

I don't recommend laptops with AMD.
as was mentioned, such laptops are cheap, warranty is short, the processors burn often.

OS/2 users select OS/2 instead of Windows but it is recommended use high quality hardware (Intel x Cisco x high-end Lenovo  x ..  )

[Eugene Gorbunoff]

one more example - laptop repair services even don't spend efforts to reanimate the laptops with AMD. It doesn't give income to them, the problem will appear again in several monthes again.

So, when you select a laptop, always put AMD to the black list.

and one more argument for Intel: the users prefer Intel wifi adapters instead of Realtek and other "alternative" cheap adapters.

[ivan]

Sorry Eugene but I have to totally disagree with you.  My company has 8 AMD based laptops (6 15" and 2 17") that are used out on site.  These are 9 years old and have never given any trouble.  Yes, we did have to change the wireless card to one that has OS/2 drivers and yes I am upset that I can't get the the full wide screen resolution out of the Nvidia chipset on the 17" units but other than that they have not given any trouble.

Regarding repairs to laptops.  We do that as well and there is very little money to be made doing so no matter what brand the processor is.  Modern laptops are not designed for repair unless you regard replacing the motherboard a repair.  With a lot of intel based units you can't even replace the processor.

[RickCHodgin]

Let us know how it went.
Thank you.

I have an AMD-based Toshiba notebook.  I'll see if I can get it to boot tonight.

Best regards,
Rick C. Hodgin

Well, something came up and I was unavailable until today.  I'm attempting it and will post the results.

I have not tried eCS yet, but I did attempt to install OS/2 4.52 and got this exception error on boot.  It came up with OS/2 in the upper-left, and processed for a short while, then the exception:

Code: [Select]

Exception in module:
TRAP 000d     ERRCDD=f000
EAX=00000301  EBX=00000101  ECX=00000101  EDX=00000101
ESI=00000000  EDI=ec00017f  EBP=0000bf73  FLG=00213293
CS:EIP=0438:00000439 ....
SS:ESP=0440:000003d4 ....
DS=0108 ....
ES=04a8 ....
FS=0000 ....
GS=0000 ....

The system detected an internal processing error at
location ##0168:fff1eb1c - 0003:cb1c.
60000, 9084

0c860f10
Internal revision 14.086_W4

The system is stopped.  Record all of the above information and
contact your service representative."

Best regards,
Rick C. Hodgin

[ivan]

Hi Rick,

Did you use the updated install CD or install floppies?

[RickCHodgin]

Hi Rick,
Did you use the updated install CD or install floppies?

Updated install CD burned onto a DVD-R.

Best regards,
Rick C. Hodgin

[warp]

Until now, on my computers I had only AMD processors and I never had problems.
I am considering to replace the laptop, because the video card is getting broken.

Sorry Eugene but I have to totally disagree with you.  My company has 8 AMD based laptops (6 15" and 2 17") that are used out on site.  These are 9 years old and have never given any trouble.  Yes, we did have to change the wireless card to one that has OS/2 drivers and yes I am upset that I can't get the the full wide screen resolution out of the Nvidia chipset on the 17" units but other than that they have not given any trouble.

Regarding repairs to laptops.  We do that as well and there is very little money to be made doing so no matter what brand the processor is.  Modern laptops are not designed for repair unless you regard replacing the motherboard a repair.  With a lot of intel based units you can't even replace the processor.

[ivan]

Like you all of our computers have AMD processors from workstations to our servers and we would not change them for intel units even if someone paid us to do so.

Some of our clients have intel powered machines and we do repairs on machines with both types of processors.  All the workstations we build for clients are AMD powered and include AMD/ATI video cards.

Now a question.  When you say the video card is getting broken, what do you mean?  Our experience is that intermittent video is usually caused by damaged cables in the lid hinges with a secondary problem being overheating caused by dust build up on the coolers in the unit.