laptops

[Yuri Pankov]

LuMiWa via freebsd-questions wrote:
> On Tue, 16 Feb 2021 22:15:46 +0300
> Yuri Pankov <yuripv at yuripv.dev> wrote:
> 
>> Pete Wright wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>> On 2/16/21 10:42 AM, LuMiWa via freebsd-questions wrote:
>>>> Hi!
>>>>
>>>> I did search FreeBSD Wiki/laptops but I didn't find the answer. I
>>>> like to buy Thinkpad W541 or W550s (prefer W541) but I am not sure
>>>> if will work on FreeBSD. I want it to connect external monitor
>>>> which going through Nvidia graphics card which Optimus driver
>>>> supposed it works on FreeBSD 13. I found that installation works
>>>> on W520 and 530.
>>> I have a different Thinkpad with Optimus graphics - a P43s.  It
>>> mostly works, but have been pretty underwhelmed by the hybrid
>>> graphics of Optimus systems.  Not just with FreeBSD, but from what
>>> I gather its suboptimal on Linux as well.
>>>
>>> To get it working on FreeBSD there is an open PR* that gets things
>>> working, and I can drive specific apps with the Nvidia GPU (via the
>>> "optirun" binary).  But there is a bit of level of effort getting
>>> it to work until we can get this PR over the finish line since I
>>> maintain a branch of the ports tree to just support the diffs in
>>> this PR.
>>>
>>> One other issue I have is with the overall design of the Optimus
>>> design, the GPU is used to offload processing but the display is
>>> still driven by the Intel i915 GPU.  Depending on your use-case
>>> this may lead to reduced performance.  All in all I am very happy
>>> with this thinkpad, but if I had a choice I would have chosen a
>>> system with dedicated Nvidia or i915 GPU's rather than this hybrid
>>> approach.
>>
>> I do not know what exactly "optimus" is, but e.g. in P51 I can select
>> either "hybrid graphics" (i915) or "discrete graphics" (nvidia
>> quadro). With the latter, I had no issues connecting external display.
>> _______________________________________________
> 
> Thinkpad has Intel and Nvidia. I like to use just Nvidia Quadro if is
> possible. I will do more research. Thank you. 

It's certainly possible with Lenovo Thinkpad P51.