[TriLUG] Shopping for new laptop...

[Scott Chilcote]

Tom Eisenmenger wrote:
> Thanks to all for your suggestions and comments - I'm slowly  
> digesting it all.  From what I can tell, the general thinking is that  
> the proc doesn't really matter as long as it's fast enough for my  
> purposes, that I should look for something other than Broadcom  
> wireless if possible, that ATI is the least preferred graphics proc  
> (although I'll admit it's been fine on my current Dell when running  
> the "Radeon" driver), and that 2 gigs ram is the way to go.  Sadly,  
> I've discovered that most machines sport 1 gig and they use both  
> slots to achieve dual-channel.

Hi Tom,

A few other considerations.  I bought a new laptop last year and these 
were things that I picked up while shopping.

- Battery Time: Some laptops go through their batteries in two hours or 
less.  Some are this way on purpose and offer a larger battery pack as 
an upgrade.  Something to consider if you have to use it without an 
outlet for extended periods.

- Heat Output: Some of the recent higher powered machines get very warm, 
even uncomfortable to touch near the CPU on the cabinet.  Check the 
magazine reviews if you'd rather not have a hot machine.

- Size: a laptop with a 17" display is one large slab of plastic (or 
aluminum/titanium/platinum/whatever).  I wouldn't give up the 1680x1050 
display, but it has a *big* footprint that draws attention.  Nothing 
your old laptop fit into is going to work.

- Sound card support: this was the weak point for my purchase.  The 
sound chip on the one I bought was considered supported, but it turns 
out that each new implementation varies and my sound didn't work despite 
several tweaks.  I was fortunate, the ALSA team added support for it and 
it was working in Ubuntu Feisty.

BTW, the laptop I bought has Intel PRO/wireless, gigabit LAN and 
bluetooth, and it all works fine in Feisty.

--
Scott C.