What Laptop/Notebook ?

[justbill]

I thought I would check with the vast knowledge of the Justlinux membership on this question. And, I realize that in some ways it is a "loaded" question, in the sense of, in some ways it's just a matter of opinion. So here goes!

I am getting ready to buy my son a laptop/notebook for his birthday/high school graduation present. He will be attending the local junior college in the fall, and, this I believe is something he will be able to use.

The question is this, he wants to dual boot. He realizes that at school, a lot of what he will have to deal with is M$ windows, however, the boy loves linux! He is partial to Ubuntu, or FC5.

So which laptop/notebook is going to give us the least amount of problems, with out spending an amount equal to the national debt (US)? What would you recomend as far as, for instance what I should look for in a processor, AMD or Intel? Do some respond to, or install linux better than others?

My limited experience is with desktops. A Compaq, and a HP. Both have Intel processors, and both run my Ubuntu "Dapper" very well. The Compaq is my dual boot machine, win XP & Dapper.

I looked at some HP's today, and they seemed pretty nice (around $1,000 US), but if there is one thing I've learned around here (Justlinux forum), its ok too look, but its better to ask before you leap!

Thanks in advance for any suggestions

Justbill

[con]

Acer Travelmate 4400 series is a great buy but maybe not what you want to run linux on. AMD Turion and ATI graphics, ATI isnt really compatible with linux if you want 3d but the open source driver is fine for homework, netsurfing and such. We got these at the school I'm working in now, but I havent had a chance to try them with linux yet... The typical problem with linux on acer is getting battery monitoring to work, but if you find a fixed DSDT there shouldnt be a problem.

[je_fro]

Look for nvidia cards and amd processors, that's my $0.02...

[ladoga]

IBM/lenovo stuff works great with linux.

I recently bought Thinkpad x41, it was breeze to install linux on it (almost everything works "out of the box") and im very very happy with it. Keyboard is better than any i've used before and it feels very solid and well built overall. Thinkpads are bit on expensive side, but personally i rather get slightly older Thinkpad than newer better performing HP. I've heard that Toshiba laptops are nice also, but haven't tried them recently.

To get idea what kind of support thinkpad line has on linux: http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/ThinkWiki

[hard candy]

linux on laptops (http://www.linux-laptop.net/)
Tuxmobile (http://tuxmobil.org/mylaptops.html)
are two sites to check out for other peoples' experiences installing linux on laptops.
The main thing to check is the wireless chip if the laptop has wireless, would it be compatible under linux. Also, if it is dual booting with WinXP, it will need at least 512MB RAM for WinXP to run with good speed.
And since he will hopefully be using it in class, at least 3 hours battery life is necessary.

[APwrs]

I'm always partial to nVidia and especially to AMD. However, I do own an older Dell Latitude and Linux installed on it just fine.

[irlandes]

which is what happens when you have a pension. I have an old Dell Inspiron 2650, and the only problem is the wireless. I use Mandriva 2005, and frankly am losing patience with Mandriva though I have used it since 199?. Each version seems to be changed after Beta and something always is busted (i.e. - bugs)

But, on mine, pclinuxos seems to work perfectly as a Live CD.

I always buy the cheapest laptop I can find, and the only problem I have is the wireless (except for bugs mentioned above.) I assume some of you guys could have my linksys wireless card working in minutes, but I get lost.

In any case, I would be the cheapest Dell will work fine. Mine has Geoforce video, works great.

Google for your choice by model name and number and word "linux" and see what you find.

[ddaas]

Hi,
I've researched the market and I am ready to buy a notebook in a few days. Now, I have to choose between 4 models (2 turion64 and 2 centrino).
What do you thing? What would you recommend?
Let’s suppose the price is the same, the height is not so important, power consume is important (but not extremely important) and that I have no interest in running games. Running Linux under very good condition is the most important thing.


1) Acer Aspire 5003WLMi - AMD Turion64 1.8GHz, 512 cache (L2), HDD 80 G, RAM 512, SiSM760GX, 15.4''

2) HP Pavilion dv5115nr - turion64 1.8 Ghz, 512 cache (L2), HDD 80 GB, 512 RAM, ATI RADEON XPRESS 200M IGP (dedicated), 15.4''

3) Compaq Presario - V4435NR, Centrino 1.7 GHz, hdd 80 GB, 512 RAM, 400Mhz Bus, 2M Cache(L2),Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 900, 15.4''


4) Acer Aspire 1640 - Centrino 1.7 Ghz, HDD 80 GB, 512 RAM, Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950, 15.4''



Thanks you for your advices

[hard candy]

Numbers 1 & 2 are off the list. Number 1 because it has a SIS graphics chip which can be a problem with linux. Number 2 because it has an ATI graphics chip which can, depending on the distro you install, also be a problem. If you use Suse, a Slackware based distro, or perhaps another rpm based distro like Mandriva, the ATI may not be a problem. I know form personal experience, you can use ATI with Suse and Vector linux (see "How I Did It").
Number 4 is a bit iffy, the Intel 950 graphics seem to work with a few distros, most reported success is with recent Suse. Opensuse 10.1 is a free download, I use it and it is nice.
Number 3 is the best choice for all around compatability. Number 2 if you use something like Vector and the 2.6 kernel.
Now the next consideration you should have is if these laptops have built in wireless and is the wireless chip successfully enabled with linux? Or if you use a modem, how well does the modem work? (If it doesn't you can always carry a small external serial modem, most work with linux).

[ddaas]

Now the next consideration you should have is if these laptops have built in wireless and is the wireless chip successfully enabled with linux? Or if you use a modem, how well does the modem work? (If it doesn't you can always carry a small external serial modem, most work with linux).
Thanks a lot for your advices. I think I'll go with Hp pavilion (Compaq - second choice).

All 4 notebooks have buildin wireless. Do you know any problems related to these wireless spec?

- Compaq Presario - Built-in Intel® PRO/Wireless 2200BG network connection (802.11b/g)
- HP Pavilion - Built-in 54g high-speed wireless LAN (802.11b/g) with 125HSM/ SpeedBooster support

[hard candy]

The Intel site has linux drivers for some of their wireless chips and instructions. The Compaq with Intel Pro should work OK either with a linux driver or with a driver wrapper. The HP does not say what the chip is, Speed Booster chips are variable with Linux depending on the manufacturer.

[blingbling!!]

http://ndiswrapper.sourceforge.net/

Not sure if this is an 'optimal' solution?

hth
--Robin

[ph34r]

Why not get a Mac laptop, either a powerbook or ibooK?

[hard candy]

Why not get a Mac laptop, either a powerbook or ibooK?
Overpriced for the hardware.

[ladoga]

Overpriced for the hardware.

Depends what you're looking for. Certainly they are better constructed than HPs, Dells etc. So if you buy it to carry it around and want it to last then it might be worth it.

I think that performance wise the cheapest brands offer the best price/performance, but that often comes with cost of build quality, portability, ergonomics and product support.

There were pretty good 12" IBooks at ca. 1000€ few months ago when i was searching for a laptop. I ended up with twice more expensive 12" IBM x41, which surely isn't twice faster, but it has other qualities i didn't want to compromise.

[Richard Craneum]

Dell Latitud D600 with Mandriva 2006 and the Kernel 2.6.12-19mdk and all works including WiFi. Mine is dual boot with W2K. I personaly hate XP with passion!

[ladoga]

Compaq Presario - Built-in Intel® PRO/Wireless 2200BG network connection (802.11b/g)

Works with http://ipw2200.sourceforge.net/

[justbill]

Well, I've had pretty good luck with Compaq so far, so........ I picked up a
Compaq Presario V2630US Notebook PC
AMD Turion 64 Mobile Processor ML-34 with PowerNow! Technology
(1.8GHz, 1MB L2 cache, up to 1600MHz system bus)
512 MB ram
80GB hard drive
DVD+R/RW CD-RW combo drive

So, we're going to give this a whirl.

Thanks to everyone for all the input, advice, and experience!

Justbill

[je_fro]

If you can, update this thread with any gotchas with the installation :D

[justbill]

This is my sons notebook. He does want Ubuntu on it, I suggested he wait until "Dapper is a final release before we install it (even though I am currently using "Dapper" with no problems on our main computer).

I will definitely update as we make progress!

Justbill

[rdeschene2]

If you're interested in USING Linux on a laptop, as opposed to the fun/frustration of trying to select and get all the builtin hardware to work, here are a couple of suggestions I have made before:

(1) http://www.linuxcertified.com/linux_laptops.html
- seem pretty reasonably priced, especially the used units. Can always use a PCMCIA wireless card, Netgear WAG511 works well in Suse 9.2 at least, if you have a PCMCIA slot.

(2) http://www.emperorlinux.com
- seem pretty expensive for the hardware, to me at least. Linux Journal reviews have been very favourable though.

(3) http://www.shoprcubed.com
- I have never seen anything about them other than their ad.

Definitely price out the cost of (from the mfg or third party) replacement battery, because you will need one probably within the first year or so. I've tried various things to "baby" the batteries on my Dell Latitude laptops, and I always end up with bad cells after a year or so.

[EnigmaOne]

Everybody will tell you something different, so let me tell you something different...

I've had problems with HP notebooks, and would shy-away from them until I'm certain that they won't let me down.

I've had 100% success with just about every Toshiba I've laid hands on (Linux-wise) and Dell seems to be fairly lucid in that respect as well.

The only Compaq I've tried (mfr'd before the cursed merger) did Linux fine, but was memory constrained; thus slow.

[ddaas]

I've already bought a Toshiba Satellite a105-4011. It is on its way...
I'll let you know how it works with Linux. I'll start with FC5.

[m3rlin]

i have a Toshiba Tecra A4. and it's a Pentium Centrino with an ATI graphic card, and its working fine, but i can't seam to get the wireless to work, i mean its working because i can get signal but i can't get an ip.. wierd... but i stoped trying to fix... maybe some day :P

[ladoga]

i have a Toshiba Tecra A4. and it's a Pentium Centrino with an ATI graphic card, and its working fine, but i can't seam to get the wireless to work, i mean its working because i can get signal but i can't get an ip.. wierd... but i stoped trying to fix... maybe some day :P

Is that Intel Pro/Wireless 2200? (check with lspci if unsure)

Have you installed driver from http://ipw2200.sourceforge.net/ ?
Latest driver and firmware works like charm for me.

If you get the signal ok, maybe the problem could be with iwconfig?

here is my /etc/network/interfaces
# This is a list of hotpluggable network interfaces.
# They will be activated automatically by the hotplug subsystem.
mapping hotplug
script grep
map eth0


### LAN ###
allow-hotplug eth0
iface eth0 inet dhcp


### WLAN ###
auto eth1
iface eth1 inet dhcp
wireless_essid any
# wireless_key
# wireless_mode
wireless_ap any
wireless_power on
# wireless_channel

If you do any changes to your interfaces file, then either reboot or restart networking by # /etc/init.d/networking restart (that's on debian, location might differ on your distro)

Currently you need wpasupplicant to use WPA encryption, which can be bit of hassle to setup. If I were you I would try first without any encryption just to see if it works. To enable WEP just add key to your /etc/network/interfaces

[m3rlin]

hmm its a bit diferent from my configuration, but i will give your config a try :)
Thanks