> ... and even Intel video is lacking compared to GNU/Linux.
Not so sure about that, or maybe it depends on the situation. For instance, I've been running FBSD and Linux in VMs (specifically, Hyper-V/Win 8.1 on a Surface Pro 2).
After updating to FBSD 10.1, I decided to try the Lumina DE (from PC-BSD). I've been surprised at the performance of the GUI under the constrained memory and CPU availability. It's about as good as the host (Windows), albeit running minimally demanding applications.
OTOH Linux versions (SUSE, CentOS) have been much more sluggish and GUI usability much lower. I realize this is impressionistic and hardly a deep analysis. Nonetheless, I think it points out that it's risky to make assumptions when circumstances and system requirements are so tremendously variable.
Then you're abstracting away from the video hardware, and not getting the same results as you would on bare metal. The only thing really lacking in Intel video versus Nvidia is proper KMS support; Intel video on FreeBSD works generally well otherwise. The FreeBSD Nvidia-provided driver, while closed source and binary only, is more or less feature complete.
Not so sure about that, or maybe it depends on the situation. For instance, I've been running FBSD and Linux in VMs (specifically, Hyper-V/Win 8.1 on a Surface Pro 2).
After updating to FBSD 10.1, I decided to try the Lumina DE (from PC-BSD). I've been surprised at the performance of the GUI under the constrained memory and CPU availability. It's about as good as the host (Windows), albeit running minimally demanding applications.
OTOH Linux versions (SUSE, CentOS) have been much more sluggish and GUI usability much lower. I realize this is impressionistic and hardly a deep analysis. Nonetheless, I think it points out that it's risky to make assumptions when circumstances and system requirements are so tremendously variable.