OT: notebook shopping

[Vaughn Treude]

Cat Chapman wrote:
> I'm using a system76 laptop to post this. They make Linux lappies, and
> so far I've had nothing but great things with this machine.
> Check them out at http://system76.com
> 

Interesting. Their specs look good. They're about $200 more expensive 
for an equivalent system, but it costs less to go beyond that, to max 
out the RAM for example. Most of the other manufacturers want an arm and 
a leg to go to 4G. It's worth considering, I guess.

VT

> On Sun, 2008-04-20 at 13:30 -0700, Jason Spatafore wrote:
>> While the Lenovo is cheaper, I would advise against any IBM style laptop
>> based on the x6x model. We have had several issues with these at work
>> with failing hard drives and wireless connections just dropping out.
>> (Lenovo took over the IBM desktop and laptop lines a couple years ago). 
>>
>> As for the MAC...same hardware for 2x the money? Not worth it unless you
>> think pretty is the most important aspect. 
>>
>> With all that said, I would go with the Dell myself. You should also
>> look into HP and Toshiba though just to be sure. My Daughter's HP is
>> still running after 3 years...and she used it so much that the letters
>> on the keyboard have disappeared on some keys. But the keyboard still
>> works. Weird eh? 
>>
>>
>> On Sun, 2008-04-20 at 13:05 -0700, Vaughn Treude wrote:
>>> Hello everybody!
>>>
>>> I'm planning to buy a new notebook, as my Vaio is now 8 years old, and 
>>> shows signs of getting ready to give up the ghost. (Specifically, the 
>>> LCD backlight occasionally doesn't come on.) So I've been doing some 
>>> serious online shopping and I'm trying to make a final decision. This 
>>> being a computer-savvy group, I thought I'd ask for some feedback.
>>>
>>> The goal:
>>> As high-performance as possible for $2000 or less. In particular, I want 
>>> to be able to boot as fast as possible. (I will of course install Linux 
>>> and tweak it to start only the most essential services.)
>>> I plan to make it dual-boot, because it would be useful to have Windoze 
>>> available so I can run Visual Studio. I detest Vista, so this means the 
>>> notebook should have XP as an available option. (If it's super-cheap, it 
>>> _might_ be worth buying an XP CD and blasting away Vista, but I'd like 
>>> to avoid this if possible.)
>>>
>>> The minimum parameters:
>>> 15" wide screen WXGA+
>>> 2.4 GHz CPU
>>> 2 GB RAM
>>> 100 GB drive @ 7200 RPM
>>> Read/write DVD.
>>> Wireless "n" version support
>>> Bluetooth support
>>> 2 USB ports, preferably 3.
>>>
>>> The finalists:
>>> Dell Inspiron 1520 - with all the options I want it's around $1500. (But 
>>> one of the reviewers claimed its physical construction was flimsy.)
>>> Toshiba Tecra A9 - also around $1500 with options.
>>> Lenovo ThinkPad R61 - the fully-loaded version is on sale for around $1200.
>>> Mac Book Pro - the 2.4GHz 15" version, with the high-speed drive option, 
>>> is $2100, a bit out of my range. I _could_ set it up triple-boot with XP 
>>> (and Linux, of course) which would bring it up to $2200. But I've always 
>>> admired the Mac's design, the fact that OS X is based on Unix, and the 
>>> Mac's excellent video-editing software. (I've been unhappy with the 
>>> hassle of setting up this kind of stuff on Linux.) So I'm still 
>>> considering it, but don't know if it would be worthwhile.
>>>
>>> At the moment I'm leaning toward the Lenovo. As far as I can tell, its 
>>> primary drawbacks are relatively short battery life, and the fact that 
>>> it is (IMHO) one butt-ugly machine. The battery isn't that big of a 
>>> problem, as I have two externals I bought for my ailing Sony, and I can 
>>> live with ugly.
>>>
>>> Any comments or relevant experiences any of you could share?
>>> Thanks,
>>> Vaughn
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