Any Opinions On This Laptop for Linux, any other suggestions

[D. Hugh Redelmeier]

| From: jim ruxton <cinetron-uEvt2TsIf2EsA/PxXw9srA at public.gmane.org>

| It will be around 1300.00 + taxes . Can anyone recommend anything else
| that will be Linux friendly with similar components.

I'm cheap so I would not pay that much for a notebook without reason.
The half-life of a notebook is often fairly short.

What is your "objective function" i.e. what features are important to
you and what features would be nice?  Oh, and how much shopping are
you willing to do?

Recently Lenovo has had quite good sales on random notebooks.  In
other words, if you want something in particular, it probably won't
come up, but if you are flexible, something might.  Dell has always
done this.

Here's what I care about in a notebook.  This has evolved.

- I don't care about processor speed: middle of the road isn't that
  different from top of the line.  My intuition is that disk speed
  (4500 vs 5400 vs 7200 vs SSD) is more noticeable.  Of course
  your workload may differ.

- I don't care about fast video: I don't do anything for which it
  matters.  I'm using a ~$50 video card in my current desktop because
  I'm too lazy to install the ~$500 video card (and requisite power
  supply) from my dead desktop.

- I do want open source video drivers.  That means I like Intel video.
  Except that there is some problem with one of the new Intel video
  chips (the one used in the Dell Mini 10, for example).

- I care a lot about weight, size, and battery duration.  I have a
  desktop if I want something that is heavy, large, and has no
  battery life.

- I want more pixels.

- I think that VT hardware is a Nice Thing to have even if I've rarely
  used it.  That rules out a lot of Intel-based notebooks.  It takes
  research to figure out which processors have VT (the T8100 does).

- Linux compatible sleep may be very useful.  Some problems are in the
  BIOS and some problems are in the Linux video drivers.  Many
  problems are mysteries.

My current notebook is a Lenovo X61t tablet with a high-res screen
(that option is no longer available as far as I know).  I paid
$829+tax eight months ago (a Lenovo sale + botch).  Included a 3 year
warranty!

Linux problems with it: takes arcane customizing to get the stylus to
work and to get the extra buttons to work.  Bluetooth stopped working
in Ubuntu 8.10 in a recent update but fiddling can get it going again.

The tablet features don't seem important to me at this point (you
can't know without trying, and I haven't given it a fair try).  Linux
support for tablet PCs is not bountiful.

Suspend is a problem with a lot of notebooks.  The x61t is the best
I've had from that standpoint (my 10-year-old notebook used APM and
that worked but APM was ditched by progress).
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