Linux-friendly laptops

[Tyler Aviss]

Hmmm. Looks like now is perhaps not a great time to buy a laptop with
an Nvidia chipset:

http://mobile.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/08/01/0142219

I haven't bought anything but NV graphics cards for the last 5-6 years
though, so I'm not really sure what the comparable ATI chipsets would
be.

On Thu, Jul 31, 2008 at 10:08 AM, Tyler Aviss <tjaviss-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w at public.gmane.org> wrote:
> Hey all,
>
>
> I've been laptop shopping recently and was wondering if anyone had
> good/bad experiences to share with whatever's available in the area.
> My current laptop is getting a bit long in the tooth, and seems to be
> running a bit hot these days (despite the fans being nicely clear of
> obstruction), as well as a bit slower for modern apps.
>
> I'm mainly looking at HP and possibly Asus laptops. Anyone recently
> buy a laptop and have any happy/horror stories to share?
>
> Preferred specs are:
> * 14-15.4" LCD (17" seems a bit bulky/heavy, but bigger might be OK if
> light enough)
> * Good graphics card (NVidia or ATI, seems that ATI's drivers for 'nix
> are a lot better after the AMD buyout)
> * 2GB+ of RAM
> * 64-bit Dual-Core CPU, maybe around the 2Ghz+ range per core? I
> believe the Core2Duo's are supposed to perform better, but I do still
> have a soft-spot for AMD...
> * Decent soundcard+speakers. Harmon Kardon?
> * 802.11N if possible, native linux drivers a definite plus (Intel IPW
> or otherwise? preferably *not* Broadcomm, current experiences even
> with the native driver /w firmware seem to suck compared to windows)
> * Cardreader that works in 'nix
> * Bluetooth that works in 'nix (never had any problems getting BT
> working on 'nix though, even the cheap ones)
> * An integrated camera that has linux drivers would be nice
> * 3-4+ USB ports
> * DVD-RW (lightscribe would be nice)
> * PCMCIA slot (nice, but seems to be less needed with most things USB
> these days)
> * TV-in (linux compatible) would be a great, if unlikely, feature...
> * Firewire would be nice, if linux-compatible
>
> So far I've seen a lot of nice-looking HP's at the big-box stores
> (Best-Buy, Future Shop) and some decent-seeming Asus's at places like
> Filtech, etc.
>
>
>
> Suggestions?
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-- 
Tyler Aviss
Systems Support
LPIC/LPIC-2
(647) 302-0942
--
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TLUG requests: Linux topics, No HTML, wrap text below 80 columns
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