I leave the give away Acer at home, figuring I would have no need for it and a week later find myself at the store buying another laptop. I had originally figured the T60 would be a good machine for doing all my classwork, but slowly lost interest in that idea after thinking about carrying it to class. It’s a little heavy and cumbersome, true, but I think the real deterrent is that I like it too much and didn’t want to force it out onto the mean streets.

The new AMD Fusion line was starting to look compelling, especially the E-350 like in the little HP dm1z. They do seem a little pricey, I’d expect to see it go for more like $300-$350. Went to Best Buy to get one (even Amazon can’t deliver in two hours), but they didn’t have any in stock. They did have a 15” Gateway model, same CPU, for only $299. Not really as small as I wanted, but in the right range. I was tempted, but then I saw another HP model.

The HP Pavilion g4-1117dx (HP really, really needs someone with a PhD in naming stuff to join their marketing team) is a 14” laptop with the AMD A4 processor. It didn’t have a price tag, but after asking and finding out it was only $379, it was a done deal. The A4 may be the slowest of the A4,6,8 lineup, but a lot faster than the E-350. And the whole thing was a little smaller than the 15”. I’d have guessed the cost closer to $500. It was like the deal of the century (about one week in computer time).

On the whole, I like it. It comes with a bunch of HP crap software, of course, but after stripping that off, it’s a good enough replacement for the T60 (sniff, sniff). The main appeal of the AMD CPUs is their gaming performance, which is not spectacular in absolute terms, but compared to the weeny GPUs typically found on budget machines, it’s smoking. And compared to the age old Intel graphics in the T60, it’s a graphical juggernaut. It seems the CPU is actually upgradeable if you’re handy, skilled, and bold enough. I’m happy with the A4, but still tempted to see what performance would be like with the A8, only $100 on ebay. The price drops to $30 and the transplant happens. I do wish it came with a higher res screen. And life with a traditional HDD is just awful. I’m not planning on using it enough to justify an SSD yet, though. Battery life seems to come in around 4.5 hours of active use with wireless. Only about 2 hours playing a 3D game, but really I can’t ask for much there.

The dm1z, had it been available, was probably a little better fit for my original use case. It’s lighter, smaller, and supposedly has a much longer battery life. The g4 on the other hand, works out quite a bit better as a low end gaming machine. I don’t think I would have been quite as happy with the dm1z.

OpenBSD installs and runs fine. radeondrm works. It suspends, but hangs on resume. With setperf at 100, the fan constantly runs. With setperf at 0, the fan cycles between 5 seconds on, 10 seconds off. The temperature rises one degree every ten seconds, then cools off about three degrees every ten seconds. Unfortunately, there’s no slower fan speed to just keep things moderately cool. Unknown the extent to which messing with the thermal paste is to blame. dmesg, post transplant:

OpenBSD 5.4-current (GENERIC.MP) #160: Fri Nov 22 13:39:01 MST 2013
    deraadt@amd64.openbsd.org:/usr/src/sys/arch/amd64/compile/GENERIC.MP
RTC BIOS diagnostic error 80<clock_battery>
real mem = 3719557120 (3547MB)
avail mem = 3612401664 (3445MB)
mainbus0 at root
bios0 at mainbus0: SMBIOS rev. 2.7 @ 0xe43c0 (22 entries)
bios0: vendor Hewlett-Packard version "F.23" date 06/20/2011
bios0: Hewlett-Packard HP Pavilion g4 Notebook PC
acpi0 at bios0: rev 2
acpi0: sleep states S0 S3 S4 S5
acpi0: tables DSDT FACP HPET APIC MCFG ASF! BOOT SLIC WDRT MSDM SSDT SSDT
acpi0: wakeup devices PB2_(S5) PB3_(S4) PB4_(S5) PB5_(S4) PB6_(S5) PB7_(S5) SPB0(S4) SPB1(S4) SPB2(S4) SPB3(S4) OHC1(S3) OHC2(S3) EHC1(S3) EHC2(S3) KBC0(S3) PS2M(S3) [...]
acpitimer0 at acpi0: 3579545 Hz, 32 bits
acpihpet0 at acpi0: 14318180 Hz
acpimadt0 at acpi0 addr 0xfee00000: PC-AT compat
cpu0 at mainbus0: apid 0 (boot processor)
cpu0: AMD A8-3500M APU with Radeon(tm) HD Graphics, 1498.16 MHz
cpu0: FPU,VME,DE,PSE,TSC,MSR,PAE,MCE,CX8,APIC,SEP,MTRR,PGE,MCA,CMOV,PAT,PSE36,CFLUSH,MMX,FXSR,SSE,SSE2,HTT,SSE3,MWAIT,CX16,POPCNT,NXE,MMXX,FFXSR,LONG,3DNOW2,3DNOW,LAHF,CMPLEG,SVM,EAPICSP,AMCR8,ABM,SSE4A,MASSE,3DNOWP,OSVW,IBS,SKINIT,ITSC
cpu0: 64KB 64b/line 2-way I-cache, 64KB 64b/line 2-way D-cache, 1MB 64b/line 16-way L2 cache
cpu0: ITLB 32 4KB entries fully associative, 16 4MB entries fully associative
cpu0: DTLB 48 4KB entries fully associative, 48 4MB entries fully associative
cpu0: AMD erratum 721 detected and fixed
cpu0: smt 0, core 0, package 0
cpu0: apic clock running at 199MHz
cpu0: mwait min=64, max=64, C-substates=0.0.0.0.0, IBE
cpu1 at mainbus0: apid 1 (application processor)
cpu1: AMD A8-3500M APU with Radeon(tm) HD Graphics, 1497.28 MHz
cpu1: FPU,VME,DE,PSE,TSC,MSR,PAE,MCE,CX8,APIC,SEP,MTRR,PGE,MCA,CMOV,PAT,PSE36,CFLUSH,MMX,FXSR,SSE,SSE2,HTT,SSE3,MWAIT,CX16,POPCNT,NXE,MMXX,FFXSR,LONG,3DNOW2,3DNOW,LAHF,CMPLEG,SVM,EAPICSP,AMCR8,ABM,SSE4A,MASSE,3DNOWP,OSVW,IBS,SKINIT,ITSC
cpu1: 64KB 64b/line 2-way I-cache, 64KB 64b/line 2-way D-cache, 1MB 64b/line 16-way L2 cache
cpu1: ITLB 32 4KB entries fully associative, 16 4MB entries fully associative
cpu1: DTLB 48 4KB entries fully associative, 48 4MB entries fully associative
cpu1: AMD erratum 721 detected and fixed
cpu1: smt 0, core 1, package 0
cpu2 at mainbus0: apid 2 (application processor)
cpu2: AMD A8-3500M APU with Radeon(tm) HD Graphics, 1497.28 MHz
cpu2: FPU,VME,DE,PSE,TSC,MSR,PAE,MCE,CX8,APIC,SEP,MTRR,PGE,MCA,CMOV,PAT,PSE36,CFLUSH,MMX,FXSR,SSE,SSE2,HTT,SSE3,MWAIT,CX16,POPCNT,NXE,MMXX,FFXSR,LONG,3DNOW2,3DNOW,LAHF,CMPLEG,SVM,EAPICSP,AMCR8,ABM,SSE4A,MASSE,3DNOWP,OSVW,IBS,SKINIT,ITSC
cpu2: 64KB 64b/line 2-way I-cache, 64KB 64b/line 2-way D-cache, 1MB 64b/line 16-way L2 cache
cpu2: ITLB 32 4KB entries fully associative, 16 4MB entries fully associative
cpu2: DTLB 48 4KB entries fully associative, 48 4MB entries fully associative
cpu2: AMD erratum 721 detected and fixed
cpu2: smt 0, core 2, package 0
cpu3 at mainbus0: apid 3 (application processor)
cpu3: AMD A8-3500M APU with Radeon(tm) HD Graphics, 1497.28 MHz
cpu3: FPU,VME,DE,PSE,TSC,MSR,PAE,MCE,CX8,APIC,SEP,MTRR,PGE,MCA,CMOV,PAT,PSE36,CFLUSH,MMX,FXSR,SSE,SSE2,HTT,SSE3,MWAIT,CX16,POPCNT,NXE,MMXX,FFXSR,LONG,3DNOW2,3DNOW,LAHF,CMPLEG,SVM,EAPICSP,AMCR8,ABM,SSE4A,MASSE,3DNOWP,OSVW,IBS,SKINIT,ITSC
cpu3: 64KB 64b/line 2-way I-cache, 64KB 64b/line 2-way D-cache, 1MB 64b/line 16-way L2 cache
cpu3: ITLB 32 4KB entries fully associative, 16 4MB entries fully associative
cpu3: DTLB 48 4KB entries fully associative, 48 4MB entries fully associative
cpu3: AMD erratum 721 detected and fixed
cpu3: smt 0, core 3, package 0
ioapic0 at mainbus0: apid 4 pa 0xfec00000, version 21, 24 pins
ioapic0: misconfigured as apic 0, remapped to apid 4
acpimcfg0 at acpi0 addr 0xf8000000, bus 0-63
acpiprt0 at acpi0: bus 0 (PCI0)
acpiprt1 at acpi0: bus -1 (VGA_)
acpiprt2 at acpi0: bus -1 (PB2_)
acpiprt3 at acpi0: bus -1 (PB3_)
acpiprt4 at acpi0: bus 1 (PB4_)
acpiprt5 at acpi0: bus 2 (PB5_)
acpiprt6 at acpi0: bus 3 (PB6_)
acpiprt7 at acpi0: bus -1 (PB7_)
acpiprt8 at acpi0: bus -1 (SPB0)
acpiprt9 at acpi0: bus -1 (SPB1)
acpiprt10 at acpi0: bus -1 (SPB2)
acpiprt11 at acpi0: bus -1 (SPB3)
acpiprt12 at acpi0: bus -1 (AZAL)
acpiprt13 at acpi0: bus 4 (P2P_)
acpiec0 at acpi0
acpicpu0 at acpi0: C2, PSS
acpicpu1 at acpi0: C2, PSS
acpicpu2 at acpi0: C2, PSS
acpicpu3 at acpi0: C2, PSS
acpitz0 at acpi0acpitz0: THRM: failed to read _CRT
: no critical temperature defined
acpibtn0 at acpi0: PWRB
acpiac0 at acpi0: AC unit online
acpibat0 at acpi0: BAT0 model "Primary" serial   type LION oem "Hewlett-Packard"
acpibtn1 at acpi0: LID_
acpivideo0 at acpi0: VGA_
acpivout0 at acpivideo0: LCD_
acpivideo1 at acpi0: VGA_
acpivideo2 at acpi0: VGA_
cpu0: 1498 MHz: speeds: 1500 1400 1200 1100 1000 900 800 MHz
pci0 at mainbus0 bus 0
pchb0 at pci0 dev 0 function 0 "AMD AMD64 12h Host" rev 0x00
radeondrm0 at pci0 dev 1 function 0 "ATI Radeon HD 6620G" rev 0x00: apic 4 int 18
drm0 at radeondrm0
azalia0 at pci0 dev 1 function 1 "ATI Radeon HD 6500D HD Audio" rev 0x00: msi
azalia0: no supported codecs
ppb0 at pci0 dev 4 function 0 "AMD AMD64 12h PCIE" rev 0x00: msi
pci1 at ppb0 bus 1
"Realtek 8188CE" rev 0x01 at pci1 dev 0 function 0 not configured
ppb1 at pci0 dev 5 function 0 "AMD AMD64 12h PCIE" rev 0x00: msi
pci2 at ppb1 bus 2
re0 at pci2 dev 0 function 0 "Realtek 8101E" rev 0x05: RTL8105E (0x4080), msi, address 2c:27:d7:e8:c5:43
rlphy0 at re0 phy 7: RTL8201E 10/100 PHY, rev. 2
ppb2 at pci0 dev 6 function 0 "AMD AMD64 12h PCIE" rev 0x00: msi
pci3 at ppb2 bus 3
rtsx0 at pci3 dev 0 function 0 "Realtek RTS5209 Card Reader" rev 0x01: msi
sdmmc0 at rtsx0
ahci0 at pci0 dev 17 function 0 "AMD Hudson-2 SATA" rev 0x00: msi, AHCI 1.3
scsibus0 at ahci0: 32 targets
sd0 at scsibus0 targ 0 lun 0: <ATA, TOSHIBA MK3276GS, GS00> SCSI3 0/direct fixed naa.500003933918701c
sd0: 305245MB, 512 bytes/sector, 625142448 sectors
cd0 at scsibus0 targ 1 lun 0: <hp, DVDRAM GT31L, MR52> ATAPI 5/cdrom removable
ohci0 at pci0 dev 18 function 0 "AMD Hudson-2 USB" rev 0x11: apic 4 int 18, version 1.0, legacy support
ehci0 at pci0 dev 18 function 2 "AMD Hudson-2 USB2" rev 0x11: apic 4 int 17
usb0 at ehci0: USB revision 2.0
uhub0 at usb0 "AMD EHCI root hub" rev 2.00/1.00 addr 1
ohci1 at pci0 dev 19 function 0 "AMD Hudson-2 USB" rev 0x11: apic 4 int 18, version 1.0, legacy support
ehci1 at pci0 dev 19 function 2 "AMD Hudson-2 USB2" rev 0x11: apic 4 int 17
usb1 at ehci1: USB revision 2.0
uhub1 at usb1 "AMD EHCI root hub" rev 2.00/1.00 addr 1
piixpm0 at pci0 dev 20 function 0 "AMD Hudson-2 SMBus" rev 0x13: polling
iic0 at piixpm0
spdmem0 at iic0 addr 0x51: 4GB DDR3 SDRAM PC3-10600 SO-DIMM
azalia1 at pci0 dev 20 function 2 "AMD Hudson-2 HD Audio" rev 0x01: apic 4 int 16
azalia1: codecs: IDT 92HD81B1X
audio0 at azalia1
pcib0 at pci0 dev 20 function 3 "AMD Hudson-2 LPC" rev 0x11
ppb3 at pci0 dev 20 function 4 "AMD Hudson-2 PCI" rev 0x40
pci4 at ppb3 bus 4
ohci2 at pci0 dev 22 function 0 "AMD Hudson-2 USB" rev 0x11: apic 4 int 18, version 1.0, legacy support
ehci2 at pci0 dev 22 function 2 "AMD Hudson-2 USB2" rev 0x11: apic 4 int 17
usb2 at ehci2: USB revision 2.0
uhub2 at usb2 "AMD EHCI root hub" rev 2.00/1.00 addr 1
pchb1 at pci0 dev 24 function 0 "AMD AMD64 14h Link Cfg" rev 0x43
pchb2 at pci0 dev 24 function 1 "AMD AMD64 14h Address Map" rev 0x00
pchb3 at pci0 dev 24 function 2 "AMD AMD64 14h DRAM Cfg" rev 0x00
km0 at pci0 dev 24 function 3 "AMD AMD64 14h Misc Cfg" rev 0x00
pchb4 at pci0 dev 24 function 4 "AMD AMD64 14h CPU Power" rev 0x00
pchb5 at pci0 dev 24 function 5 "AMD AMD64 14h Reserved" rev 0x00
pchb6 at pci0 dev 24 function 6 "AMD AMD64 14h NB Power" rev 0x00
pchb7 at pci0 dev 24 function 7 "AMD AMD64 14h Reserved" rev 0x00
usb3 at ohci0: USB revision 1.0
uhub3 at usb3 "AMD OHCI root hub" rev 1.00/1.00 addr 1
usb4 at ohci1: USB revision 1.0
uhub4 at usb4 "AMD OHCI root hub" rev 1.00/1.00 addr 1
isa0 at pcib0
isadma0 at isa0
pckbc0 at isa0 port 0x60/5
pckbd0 at pckbc0 (kbd slot)
pckbc0: using irq 1 for kbd slot
wskbd0 at pckbd0: console keyboard
pms0 at pckbc0 (aux slot)
pckbc0: using irq 12 for aux slot
wsmouse0 at pms0 mux 0
pms0: Synaptics touchpad, firmware 7.5
pcppi0 at isa0 port 0x61
spkr0 at pcppi0
usb5 at ohci2: USB revision 1.0
uhub5 at usb5 "AMD OHCI root hub" rev 1.00/1.00 addr 1
mtrr: Pentium Pro MTRR support, 8 var ranges, 88 fixed ranges
uvideo0 at uhub0 port 3 configuration 1 interface 0 "DC01901LAAGA81 HP Webcam-101" rev 2.00/11.11 addr 2
video0 at uvideo0
vscsi0 at root
scsibus1 at vscsi0: 256 targets
softraid0 at root
scsibus2 at softraid0: 256 targets
root on sd0a (cd56d632a3dc2824.a) swap on sd0b dump on sd0b
drm: initializing kernel modesetting (SUMO 0x1002:0x9641 0x103C:0x3564).
radeondrm0: VRAM: 512M 0x0000000000000000 - 0x000000001FFFFFFF (512M used)
radeondrm0: GTT: 512M 0x0000000020000000 - 0x000000003FFFFFFF
ttm_pool_mm_shrink_init stub
drm: PCIE GART of 512M enabled (table at 0x0000000000040000).
drm: Internal thermal controller without fan control
radeondrm0: 1366x768
wsdisplay0 at radeondrm0 mux 1: console (std, vt100 emulation), using wskbd0
wsdisplay0: screen 1-5 added (std, vt100 emulation)