Hi-res refurb Dell laptop. Comments?

[Digimer]

On 08/03/2012 01:33 PM, Lennart Sorensen wrote:
> On Fri, Aug 03, 2012 at 12:47:43PM -0400, Digimer wrote:
>> Until this generation, the Thinkpads still had a mostly traditional
>> 104-key keyboard layout, except that the insert key was moved to the
>> left to make the del key double-height. The pg up/pg down, home/end
>> and other keys were all in the usual 2x3 grid at the top-right of
>> the keyboard. While every other OEM was moving to the macbook style
>> "chicklet" keys, Thinkpad stayed traditional.
>>
>> So when the current xn30 line came out, like the T430 and W530, they
>> mentioned they were changing to the chicklet-style keys as well. I
>> was extremely concerned because the keyboard was always one of the
>> biggest selling features of the thinkpads, to me. Every macbook (or
>> similar key style) keyboard I have used sucked.
>>
>> I decided to give it a try anyway, after reading about the insane
>> R&D they put into the new-style keyboard. The tactile feedback from
>> the keys is amazing! I was very surprised at how nice it feels.
>>
>> I do still miss the traditional layout though... The 2x3 layout is
>> now, in order, home - end - insert - delete on the top-right row and
>> pgup and pgdown are directly above the left and right arrow keys,
>> respectively. I got used to this pretty quickly, but I do still find
>> myself hitting backspace when I want delete, and vice-versa. I'd
>> still prefer the old layout, but it's not the show-stopper I had
>> worried about.
>
> Well my thinkpad (an SL500) doesn't have that particular layout that
> you apparently like.  I have pageup and page down to the left and right
> of the cursor up key.  To me that is way more useful than the back and
> forward button that many other thinkpads seem to have.
>
> home/end/delete/insert are in a line at the top right in a bit of an odd
> layout, but I guess I have gotten used to them by now.  I don't use them
> that often anyhow.
>
> My wife's ideapad has the chicklet keyboard.  Originally it was french
> canadian, but it has been swapped for a US layout after a cat broke
> the spacebar.
>
>> Something long-time thinkpad users and new converts might like; The
>> Fn and l-ctrl keys have always been left/right, where almost all
>> other laptops have l-ctrl on the left and Fn to it's right. Now you
>> can swap the keys in the BIOS. I'm used to it, as I've used
>> Thinkpads for >10 years, but it was something I had wanted back when
>> I first started with them.
>
> Actually the location of fn and l-ctrl has swapped on thinkpads over time,
> although they did add that bios option.
>
>> As for the rest of the laptop... I could still fend off a small army
>> with this thing. It runs very cool, even under load. It's missing
>> eSATA, which is sad, but I suspect that's a gamble on USB3 taking
>> over.
>>
>> Lastly; Fedora 17 "just works", save the fingerprint reader. Do note
>> that I immediately disabled the nvidia gpu, as I prefer battery >
>> graphics. That said, Gnome3 runs brilliantly on the Intel GPU.
>
> Yeah the fingerprint scanner takes a bit of work to get going although
> it is supposed to be possible.  I can't be bothered.

Ah, sorry. I should have clarified that when I say "Thinkpad", I'm 
referring to the models that are direct descendants on the IBM lines; 
T-series and W-Series specifically.

As for the fingerprint reader; I took a quick look and the USB device is 
seen, but fprintd-enroll doesn't recognize it. I figured it's a udev 
rule away from fixing, but it's just not made it up my priority stack, 
despite enjoying it on my T400s.

-- 
Digimer
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