First: Congratulations to this really nice software system: Mate 16.04. I tried several times to switch from Windows 10 to Linux and this time I’m still using it now - private and for office work.
I tried it with Mate 16.04 again because from one day to another Windows 10 did not support my Optimus card multiple screens any more (or better: it did not work any more). Either I use the external monitor or I could use the internal LCD display. That was the time to retry Linux again.
W520 is a 4-core system, i7-CPU and Optimus graphics card (1000er card). My system has 16MB and SSD installed and DVD drive. Also installed a WWAN-card and this system has an UEFI BIOS.
Impression:
The first installation was pretty successful, but I did not a clean UEFI installation but a legacy OS support installation. The installation went fine - but dual booting (Windows 10 one disc, mate on another disc) was not real possible. I had to change settings in the BIOS to make that work. But after one day of switching several times back and for Linux did not start anymore. In a situation like this I noticed, that a normal user is pretty much out of luck.
Second installation was a clean UEFI installation and NO dual boot anymore - this system is still working in my machine.
Plus:
- WLAN was recognized and worked out of the box
- Optimus graphics system was recognized and multiple screen (with docking station) worked more or less out of the box.
- WWAN was recognized and is working
Minus:
- Switching between different docking stations and different monitor settings, Mate does not recognizes the system always in a correct way. One screen is always missing and one has to open the screen configuration application and “apply” the current settings (one even has not to do any changes - all screens were recognised - only the actual output was missing) and then all stuff is working.
- WLAN is always on after reboot
- WWAN PIn is always asked after login
- WWAN is more difficult to configure, but worked somehow
Minus-Minus:
- Working in battery mode is not possible anymore. During booting or at least just after doing a login (before the desktop is build) the system switches the system off (pretty much 8 of 10 attempts). I think, that this has to do with the energy - the system takes too much power from the battery. I’ve seen this behaviour also under several Thinkpad W510 system.
To-DO:
Put the “Bildschirm” (“Screen configuration application”) as an icon on your desktop. This way you can (and one must do this) get access to the screen configuration.
Summary:
Speedy system, VirtualBox pretty nice to have tools under Windows. Printer support is good, but could be better.
Maybe you mean 16 Gig? 