[TriLUG] Shopping for new laptop...

[Jason Faulkner]

We've had AMAZING luck here with getting good value with the Dell
Latitude 131L. It's their "entry level" lat, but it's actually a bit
lighter than the D8[2,3]0 and pretty nice. Has AMD Turion X2 procs.
Nice setup.

--Jay

On 7/11/07, Tom Eisenmenger <teisenmenger at charter.net> wrote:
> I've been floored by recent price cuts on laptops and have decided it
> might be time to retire my Dell Latitude C610 (256mb RAM, 40g HD,
> 1MHz PIIIM).  One of the reasons for my upgrading is that I need to
> have a machine capable of running Vista (no catcalls, please!) - my
> work as IT instructor and occasional PC troubleshooter really require
> that I keep up with the latest software;  sadly, my Dell won't even
> load Vista unless I upgrade it, then there's the price of the OS
> itself - I might as well buy new.
>
> Since I run a Linux distro as the primary OS on my notebook
> (currently running Mint along side XP and about to try eLive), I want
> to find a Linux-friendly notebook but knowing how various distros
> balk at one technology/chipset I want to buy smart as well as
> cheap.   With that in mind, here are a few comments/questions:
>
> 1) I'd prefer going AMD;  is there a problem or caveat if I go with
> one of their 64-bit X2 chips?  Better to stick with single core?  32-
> bit?  Any reason why I should seriously consider Intel instead?
>
> 2) Storage:  I'm assuming SATA is a non-issue in Linux?
>
> 3) Graphics chipsets:  if I go AMD it'll probably have ATI (which is
> what my Dell has now).  Is there a compelling reason to look for
> nVidia instead?  Does Linus handle the newer widescreen monitors
> reasonably well (1280 x 800)?
>
> 4) Wireless:  It  looks like most of today's offerings include
> Broadcom wireless;  how's its Linux support?  Should I opt for
> something else if it's out there?
>
> 5) Anything else I should consider?  I'm looking most closely at
> 15.4" widescreen models as I actually do use mine as a laptop on
> occasion - 17" is more of a desktop replacement in my book...
>
> FWIW, there are some great deals out there.  Of particular interest
> is the Compaq Presario F572US (15.4" "Briteview" widescreen, Athlon
> 64 X2 TK-53, 1gig DDR2, 80g 5400RPM SATA (might have to upgrade that)
> $479 at Staples after rebates.  Comparable Turions seem to up the
> price by about $200.  Comments?
>
> Thanks all,
>
> Tom Eisenmenger
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-- 
Jason Faulkner
http://oldos.org