Ubuntu 11.04 (Natty Narwhal), Reviewed In Depth

Features
By Adam Overa
published

Ubuntu 11.04 (Natty Narwhal) has arrived, and we have the scoop on everything you need to know about Canonical's latest Linux, along with the usual review and benchmarks. Is this the change we've been waiting for, or is the Natty Narwhal a fail whale?

Test System Specs

64-bit Desktop Test System

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Operating System 1Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal (64-bit) w/ Unity
Operating System 2Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal (64-bit) w/ GNOME 2 Shell
Operating System 3Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Lucid Lynx (64-bit)
ProcessorIntel Core i5-750(Lynnfield) @ 2.88 GHz (quad-core)
MotherboardGigabyte GA-P55A-UD7 (F7 BIOS)
Memory8 GB Crucial DDR3 @ 1333 MT/s (2 x 4 GB)
GraphicsAMD Radeon HD 4870 Reference Board 512 MB GDDR5 (PCIe 2.0)
StorageSeagate Barracuda 7200.12 500 GB SATA 3Gb/s, 7200 RPM, 16 MB Cache
OpticalAsus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS
Power SupplyCorsair TX750W (750 W max)
ChassisZalman MS-1000 HS2
CPU CoolerScythe Mugen 2 Revision B
Mouse 1Logitech Cordless TrackMan Wheel
Mouse 2Apple Magic Trackpad

32-bit Mobile Test System

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Operating System 1Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal (32-bit) w/ Unity
Operating System 2Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal (32-bit) w/ GNOME 2 Shell
Operating System 3Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat (32-bit)
Operating System 4Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Lucid Lynx (32-bit)
ModelDell Inspiron Mini 10v (first-generation)
ProcessorIntel Atom N270 @ 1.6 GHz
Memory1 GB DDR2-533
GraphicsIntel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 950
Storage120 GB 2.5-inch 5400 RPM SATA HDD
Adam Overa
121 Comments Comment from the forums
  • jryan388
    One problem I faced with the standard unity desktop is the horrible performance even on my Athlon II @ 3.6 and Radeon 5750. I upgraded on launch day, so maybe canonical fixed it by now, but the performance was absolutely abysmal. The easiest fix is the unity-2d package. Great performance, doesn't look any worse.
    Reply
  • ksa-_-jed
    U should add more distros to the benchmarks like Debian, Fedora, and open SUSE.
    Reply
  • shiftmx112
    Meh is exactly how I described 10.10 Still gonna try Unity.
    Reply
  • -Fran-
    11.04 sucks; plain and simple.

    Power users can do little to nothing to fix things between gnome3 and the buggy Unity.

    I wouldn't even bother with 11.04 when 10.04 is rock solid.

    Cheers!
    Reply
  • davewolfgang
    I tried the upgrade, but unity is blech. I am still using the upgrade, but doing the classic.

    But I may go back to 10.10 for my EeePC.
    Reply
  • adamovera
    jryan388One problem I faced with the standard unity desktop is the horrible performance even on my Athlon II @ 3.6 and Radeon 5750. I upgraded on launch day, so maybe canonical fixed it by now, but the performance was absolutely abysmal. The easiest fix is the unity-2d package. Great performance, doesn't look any worse.Wow, that isn't right, the old X2 test system which has a considerably older Nvidia card runs it great. What's the full specs?
    Reply
  • adamovera
    ksa-_-jedU should add more distros to the benchmarks like Debian, Fedora, and open SUSE.Fedora 15/GNOME 3 coming up next. I have never had any luck whatsoever with openSUSE, will keep trying new versions as they come out though.
    Reply
  • bellman80
    I tried 11.04. Unity was more annoying than useful. I installed the new Linux Mint instead, I'm a happy camper now.
    Reply
  • Tamz_msc
    I'm going to stick with 10.04, because it has been running rock-solid without a glitch for almost a year. It was able to find drivers for my on-board audio which even Windows 7 could not find.

    Unity is not my cup of tea., though I'm looking forward to GNOME 3.0.

    Till then Lucid Lynx FTW!
    Reply
  • RogueKitsune
    Unity is a nice idea, but not my cup of tea. Overall I am happy with the changes in 11.04. Right now i have my laptop(AMD Turion x2, radeon x1200)running it with no problems(everything worked out of the box)
    Reply