New to Linux world need basic knowledge

I am about to buy a New Asus UL80-VT computer. It has Windows 7 on it, and two graphics cards. I have heard a little, not enough, that Ubuntu can run on this machine and it is easy to even make it a dual boot. I have also been confused by threads here that say something about problems with the two graphics cards on the CULV UL80vt. Some say you can put UBUNTU directly onto this computer but it will use BOTH processors and drain your battery faster however. So, there are comments posted about driver's etc., but it is confusing me.

Can someone put it into layman's terms and help me to know what I'll be wanting to do in order to enjoy both worlds on this new Laptop? Please and thank you.

I teach computers in elementary school, so don't need a lot of high tech knowledge there.....so...I NEED HELP!

Thank you!

 

^^ What both processors?
This laptop has a dedicated and a onboard graphic card. It switches to onboard one to save battery life. people have been facing problem to switch from onboard to dedicated and vice versa.

 

What he wants to know is whether or not there's an Nvidia driver for Ubuntu that does the switching properly, including powering down the gpu not in use so it's not draining the battery for nothing.

If there happens to be a bios setting to disable one of the gpus and you don't need both, that could also be an alternative.

Out of the two cards which is more important to you, the one for battery life or the more powerful one?

Ask owners of that laptop if there's a gpu related bios setting.

 

Thanks for the responses:

NO, there is not a current switch in the BIOS for the 2 graphics cards, so NOT knowing anything about Ubuntu as of yet, was just wondering how it will be to run on this machine and if loading it on and doing a "Dual boot" will goof anything up?

Like, okay, if you boot into Ubuntu and you are using both graphics cards it will drain your battery quicker, okay I can live with that, but when I switch back to Windows 7- will the computer revert back to doing what it is designed to do with the two graphics cards etc., again?

Like, I said, I am new to Ubuntu and this idea of having the two OS's working on one machine.

Thank you for trying to figure out what it is I am trying to inquire about!

 

I'm pretty sure Ubuntu will exclusively use the Nvidia card, though I haven't run Ubuntu in a while. I don't think they have switchable graphics support yet.

Two OSes on a system is just like having two OSes on two systems. Computers are dumb. They can't tell the difference.

 

Thank you Lithus!

So if I were download lets say Ubuntu and Wubi to install it alongside my windows 7 64-bit, if I chose a 32-bit Ubuntu it would work appropriately and also not goof up the other side of the equation then....am I right?

Thanks for putting things into "regular" layman terms for me.

 

I'm not a big fan of Wubi. I would just do it the "hard" way and install it manually.

Installing a Dual-Boot with Windows and Ubuntu

 

Thanks Lithus:

Okay, so let's say that I install this and eventually want to return my laptop back to being all Windows 7- can I uninstall Ubuntu and restore the partition back to the way it was before or would I have to like re-format the drive and reinstall everything from backup disks?

Also, Thank you for the GREAT Link earlier! That will be GREAT help and education!!!!!

 

You can just format the Ubuntu partition, then make it unused space, and then add it back to your Windows partition while keeping all your files. I would always recommend having backups of important things though.