Inspiron 1420n Laptop?

[Dennis Kibbe]

Phillip Waclawski wrote:
> So, I'm still interested in getting a laptop that I can run Linux on,
> and now I'm not so pressed for time.
> 
> Has anyone gotten the new Dell Laptops? I'm curious because the prices
> for the various upgrade features seem to change daily. The 2Gig ram is
> now extra, when it was included, the 4 gig ram has gone down, but is
> still obscene. The cost for other colors went up $30....
> 
> I would love a review, or suggestions for other laptops (or someone who
> can tell me what an Intel 4229   device is from a wireless perspective?)
> 
> Thanks,
> Phil W.
> 
> &*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*
> CIS Faculty: Phil Waclawski
> http://www.mc.maricopa.edu/~waclawski
> &*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*

Hi Phil,

I too have noticed that prices and models have changed a lot on the Dell
site in the last two weeks. Wonder if it has anything to do with school
starting.

I have a couple of Dell Latitudes (D610 & D810) the build quality is a
step above the Inspirons. I dropped my D810 hard enough to bend the
internal metal frame and it still works just wobbles a bit on the desk.

Another advantage of the Latitude is that with in the D series (most)
everything is interchangeable. so I can swap power supplies with my
boss' D420 and the CD-ROM/DVD bays are interchangeable.

Dell offers the Latitude D520, D620 & D820 as Open Source options under
the small business section.

Checkout Dell's outlet store as well. That's where I found the D810 as a
new return.

The Intel miniPCI internal wifi cards are well supported under Linux,
the most you'll need to do is install the firmware. I've bought a couple
of IPW2200 cards off of eBay new for under $25 to replace the Broadcom
wifi card that came with the laptop. Depending on the model Dell the
miniPCI slot is either accessible from bottom or is under the keyboard.

Dell has service manuals online to help you.

Buy your RAM and HDD upgrades from Newegg and install them yourself to
save $$. 100GB 7200rpm Seagate is about #110 from Newegg.

Fedora 7 runs well on the Latitude D810 with full support for wifi,
hibernation & Beryl.

Dennisk
-- 
Phoenix Linux Users Group
"Penguins in the desert"