Re: Opinions invited on Linux laptops

Chris Cox wrote:

Geico Caveman wrote:
Hi folks,

I know the website linux-laptop exists and I do go through it now and
then. However, it is not easy to separate out current hardware from
discontinued hardware on that website. Hence, I am inviting some
suggestions.

I have a LinuxCertified LC2210D laptop that I purchased in April 2004.
Came preloaded with Linux (no M$ tax there - check). However, I was less
than happy about the quality of the hardware. No complaints about service
- it was great (perhaps one of the best I have seen) - they shipped me a
replacement CMOS battery which failed 6 months after purchase (odd in
itself) for free, replaced the battery that died within 6-7 months for
free, the hard disk died a little over a year later, which they also
fixed for free, and finally when the BIOS started failing, they sent me a
replacement laptop (refurbished). Now, the display of this laptop has
started giving me problems (some loose connection in the hinge, I guess).
I am definitely past the warranty period, so I cannot expect them to fix
it again, but I cannot help contrast this experience with my experience
with an IBM ThinkPad i1300 which lasted me about 3 years and I gave that
up only because it started overheating.

LinuxCertified is a great company as far as service goes, but I am not
really interested in having my laptop gone for servicing so many times
for 15-20 days (the overall turnaround time, including shipping) at a
time. My work needs my laptop around and if components like CMOS
batteries start failing six months after purchase and hard disks start
failing about a year after purchase, it does not reflect well on the
parts supplier that LinuxCertified uses.

Any suggestions as to which new laptop I should buy ? My current laptop
has an Intel 855GM graphics chipset, and recent versions of Xorg (I run
Debian Etch (Testing)) have a ValidatePCI bug associated with it :

http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=345914&trim=no

Now, I cannot seem to find the Debian source packages for xorg even after
adding :

deb-src http://debian.lcs.mit.edu/debian etch main contrib non-free

to my apt sources.list.

That apart, Intel graphics chips use system memory, which means that
accelerated graphics can become a hog on the system as a whole. Hence, I
want to go for a machine that has a video card with on-board memory (like
nvidia - I have had good experience with an nvidia GeForce 2MX on my old
desktop). I have found an HP laptop
(http://h18004.www1.hp.com/products/quickspecs/12446_div/12446_div.HTML)
that might be good and during a chat with their sales rep, I found that
you can have the laptop preloaded with FreeDOS (no M$ tax). Further, this
laptop (among many others that HP offers) is certified for SuSE Linux
(and RHEL - no Debian certification here, but if it works with one linux
distro, it must work for all major ones).

What do you folks think of this choice / HP laptops in general (the ones
that are certified for Linux) / other major brands that allow the no M$
choice ?

I'm just going to say it. HP makes some of the WORST laptops for Linux.
Everything that HP says about supporting Linux on the laptop I
believe is a lie and they are strictly using the Linux name
to get some sales. All of the HP laptops I've tried have had
horrible problems.

With that said, they make excellent servers for Linux.

Best big-brand for Linux IMHO, is still Dell... especially their
Latitude and Precision lines. HP's servers is about 3x better than
any Dell offering. But Dell does make a better laptop.

Just my opinion.

What do you think of Dell Latitude D820 and D620 ? The only concern I have
is whether all the hardware like the modem etc. work with Linux on these
laptops. I also want to avoid ATI video cards as they are notorious for not
working with Linux.
.

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