[arch-general] Anyone willing to share experiences running Arch on a current-gen MacBook Pro?

[Ankur Sethi]

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