Laptops Compatible with Virtualization and Linux

[Madison Kelly]

Ivan Avery Frey wrote:
> Is there a review out there of laptops compatible with virtualization
> and Linux.
> 
> Ivan.

Hi Ivan,

   I've had my Thinkpad T400s for about a month now. It's got a p9400 
Core 2 Duo (http://tinyurl.com/yex33o3 - wikipedia link) which supports 
hardware virtualization. The T400 version is a bit heavier, but a fair 
bit less expensive. That said, if you have a bit more to spare, I 
*sighly* recommend the T400s.

   It supports Linux fine. I got the Bluetooth, camera and Intel 5300 
wifi options and all worked on Ubuntu 9.04 out of the box. The 
fingerprint reader did not, not does the Fn+F8 touchpad toggle though. 
Personally, this doesn't bug me. The important things like power 
management, CPU throttling and what not is all fine.

   As for the actual machine; The keyboard and weight are probably the 
main highlights. The machine, with DVD-RW, 6-cell battery and 14.1" 
1440x900 screen is only 3.9lbs. To compare, my Eee 10" netbook is 
3.3lbs! What is probably less noticed but even more impressive is just 
how cool this machine runs. I've got it sitting on my lap, on a blanket 
and it's just barely warm directly under the CPU!

   The keyboard... well, I can't exactly describe just how amazing the 
keyboard is. I would say that it's tactile feedback is as close to the 
old IBM click keyboards I've ever used; desktop or laptop. It's slightly 
annoying that they moved the Insert key above F12 being a vim user, but 
I got used to that pretty quick. The feel of the keys though... I can 
not overstate just how awesome this keyboard feels to type on. It's 
just... it's a work of tactile art!

   The only two downsides I could really think of, if pressed, are;

1. The battery is a bit small, so I only get about two hours of real use 
out of it. There is no bigger battery, either. Unlike the T400 and most 
other Thinkpads, the battery does not slot in the back It sits in a 
pocket under the base, so there is no room for a 9-cell. However, the 
T400 proper does not have this limitation. Personally, I kinda wish I'd 
gotten the spare ultra-bay battery given how rarely I use the optical drove.

2. I decided to get the platter drive and wait for SSDs to come down in 
price over the next year. This is a noticeable performance hit. The 
drive is a 1.8" uSATA drive, which are rare. Intel has a version though, 
but it is still too expensive for my taste. If you worry about disk I/O, 
splurge for the SSD or go with the T400 proper which uses normal sized 
2.5" platter disks and get a 7,200rpm drive.

   Other than those two caveats, I can't really think of anything bad to 
say. It's certainly no gaming machine... It's 100% business. For coding 
and work though, I looked for a long time, considered a Macbook Pro, 
looked at ASUS B* series... nothing comes close to being as sturdy and 
as well built.

Madi
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