Hello Ankur, Forgive any ignorance, but why do you want to buy a computer if you know its optical drive is going to fail? This seems more odd to me when that computer costs as much as a Mac. I would not buy a computer if I knew that would happen. Also, about the video cards, I know that an AMD would probably work, but Nvidia's proprietary drivers work extremely well on Arch. As long as you know you will install Arch, I would recommend an Nvidia card if you want your graphics to just work. Sorry I don't know about the other Macbook hardware. Regards, --Eric -----Original Message----- From: arch-general-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:arch-general-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Ankur Sethi Sent: Monday, March 19, 2012 3:44 PM To: General Discussion about Arch Linux Subject: Anyone willing to share experiences running Arch on a current-gen MacBook Pro? Hi, I'm in the market for a high-end development + gaming machine (dual boot). I've been a Mac user for the last 4 years and I'm used to their hardware, so I'm naturally considering a MacBook Pro as one of my options. My old white MacBook from 2008 runs Arch very well, but can the newer unibody MacBook Pros run it? More specifically, I'm looking at the 2.4GHz model (MD322LL/A) on this page: http://www.apple.com/in/macbookpro/specs.html Here are some things I'm particulary worried about: 1. Does suspend/resume work? 2. Does WiFi work? Does it work even after you suspend/resume? 3. Can I boot the Arch installer from USB? This is a big one, since the optical drives in MacBooks _always_ fail after a few months of use. 4. Does multi-touch work? If not, is the trackpad at least usable without multi-touch support? 5. Does that AMD card play well with Linux? If not, is there a way to tell the machine to ignore the discrete GPU and always use Intel HD Graphics? 6. Does the keyboard backlight work? What about the ambient light sensors? Audio? Webcam? I know there are many guides for installing Arch on a Mac, and I've read a lot of them, but none of them go on to mention how pleasant (or unpleasant!) their long-term experience with Linux on Mac has been. Is it worth all the trouble? Is it usable for doing actual work? Do things randomly stop working if you upgrade your firmware? Do the Apple Store employees try to wipe your Linux partition when you take your machine in for repairs? Too many questions, I know. I've been saving up for a decent machine for a year now, so I'm naturally anxious about making the right choice :) -- Ankur Sethi
