In the market for laptop, looking for HW recommendations...

eric_42

So my old Toshiba Satellite P3 450 mhz running gentoo died today. It was a trustly old book, and I shall miss it dearly.

On the bright side, this means I can justify the purchase of a new laptop. Can anyone recommend some hardware that works especially well with linux? I'd like something with an N-Vidia GPU, that has wireless and USB2 working out of the box.

Thanks,

-Eric

iamarug · Apprentice Joined: 09 Feb 2003 Posts: 220

i cant recommend anything with nvidia gpu because I have never used one in linux.

I can tell you that I have had good experiences with IBM laptops (T40-T42 personally, other models are quite similar). Also, I have had good experiences with some dell pentium-m ati based models.

IBM seems to be quite popular among the linux crows since it seems that alot of open source hackers work on it (I read someplace that it is a popular laptop choice amongst developers).

May I ask why you specifically need an nvidia chip? Dont mean to start any sort of inquisition or anything...

eric_42 · Posted: Sat Feb 19, 2005 4:29 am Post subject:

I'd like to take advantage of the new xorg composite extensions and I have found that nvidia driver quality is better than ATI's. 2D performance is important to me.

To be honest, an ATI chipset would suffice as well.

I think IBM is a little out of my price range, though. I am looking for something ~$1000 USD ($1300 CAD). I don't need anything too powerful. Most of the notebooks I've seen either have an ATI or Intel graphics adapter.

I'm not a developer, but I am a CS student, so I'm hoping to be one some day

. I'd like something that is well supported, affordable, and long lasting.

BitJam · Posted: Sat Feb 19, 2005 5:48 am Post subject:

I've been very happy running Gentoo on a Dell i8200. The 1600x1200 resolution has been sweet. They have some now with wide screens and I would choose one of those if I had to get a laptop today.

There was a period when Dell outsourced their customer service/tech support and their support totally sucked then. But recently, even though my laptop has been out of waranty for over a year (or two?), I still get *great* telephone support for free.

iamarug · Apprentice Joined: 09 Feb 2003 Posts: 220

I understand your predicament.

I would really make a few general recommendations:

1. pentium-m is the way to go if you are actually looking for a mobile laptop as opposed to a desktop replacement.

2. if you can afford a slightly extended warranty, get it. It is much more difficult to fix a laptop than it is to fix a desktop. It also costs ALOT more.

3. dells are good. Also, may want to look at their refurbished systems. I have seen IBM refurbished being sold on EBAY (officially) when I was looking for my own laptop. Dell has alot of nice refurbished deals also.

4. If you plan on hauling it around to class/library/etc.. I would suggest getting something around 5 pounds (or less if you find a good deal). I am also a CS student and anything more than what I carry usually (laptop + 2 notebooks + 1-2 books) would be too much for me.

I recall when I was looking for laptops I saw good deals on compaq/hp while searching online. I have always been very afraid of loosing my investment which is why I decided to pay a bit more to get 3 year warranty. I certainly could not afford buying a second latop during my studies.

good luck

eric_42 · Posted: Sat Feb 19, 2005 7:19 pm Post subject:

Well, I think I might go the mac route. A 12" 1.2 ghz ibook would cost me $1250 Canadian. Compared to a Toshiba A70 at the same price (discount), It's smaller, much lighter, has 6 hours of battery life opposed to two.

I was looking into Pentium M but the prices are too much for me at this point. If I buy the ibook I get a *nix operating system with no fuss that automagically works, with top-notch hardware. (My friend's ibook has twice the wireless range as my old laptop does). All of the PC notebooks I have looked at that sell for less than $1300 Canadian seem cheap and not well constructed. In addition, many of these notebooks are absolute monsters, bigger than I want or need. I really don't want a wide screen cinematic display or a 3 ghz P4 - I have a desktop machine at home that is similar, and, like you said, I'm not really looking for a desktop replacement.

So, although the ibook is somewhat lacking in specs, I am hoping that the overall quality of the system will make up for that. I'm a little worried that the integrated Radeon 9200 won't be quick enough to handle OSX, but I'm sure it won't be too bad. Also, when I get the gumption, I can install Gentoo PPC

. However, unlike an x86 system, I won't be stuck with a terrible OS until I decide to do that. I need a working notebook by Monday to take notes with. It's a darn good thing I backed up my /home/user information before my hard drive died.

Thanks for the suggestions. Any mac gentooers out there that can give any tips about gentoo PPC?