Suggestions for buying a new laptop

[Canis familiaris]

Hello , i am finally going to buy a new laptop but i need some help with it. basically most of the time i will be running kubuntu on my new laptop and i will be compiling a lot (kernel,trunk etc), so these are my needs as such and my budget is of 1000$+ and the laptop i am looking for should ultra portable and fast enough for all the compiling i need to do , there are some models i have in mind like thinkpad X201 and Macbook pro 13" but i would really like your help on deciding a good laptop for my work, so can you suggest me a perfect laptop ?

( sidenote : i would also like a thinkpad X220 but sadly its not available here in india as of now.)

[ratcheer]

I just bought my son a 13" Macbook Pro, yesterday. I would love to have one myself. Don't forget, deep on the inside it is BSD UNIX.

Tim

[Canis familiaris]

but i will be using kubuntu on my macbook pro so is it still a good buy ? and i hear that wireless lan has problem with linux in the recent macbook pros , can anyone clarify on this ?

[Simian Man]

If you are not going to run OSX, there is not much point in buying a Mac IMHO. Yeah the hardware is nice, but it's not worth the cash. Otherwise, the most important thing when considering laptops is to be sure to not get one with switchable graphics as they are not supported well under Linux yet. Unfortunately this will rule out many high-end newer laptops.

Also compiling is usually not that intensive a task on the grand scale of things. Even Gentoo users don't spend that many clock cycles on it.

[krapp]

If you are not going to run OSX, there is not much point in buying a Mac IMHO. Yeah the hardware is nice, but it's not worth the cash. Otherwise, the most important thing when considering laptops is to be sure to not get one with switchable graphics as they are not supported well under Linux yet. Unfortunately this will rule out many high-end newer laptops.

Superb post. I would follow these two stipulations to the letter.

Do a Google search along the lines of [laptop model] linux/ubuntu compatibility. I think as a rule stay away from any brand new technology and you should be fine. That however doesn't mean you can't have the latest Atoms and Corei*s which all work great.

[Canis familiaris]

ah i see, so macbook wouldn't be a good choice as i am not using OS X , so can anyone suggest me any other laptops, like i said before my main criteria is performance with ultra portability that's the reason why i am reluctant to get some high end laptops as they are just too heavy , so again can anyone suggest me any other laptop models

[Retlol]

Laptops suck. They do. Compared to a desktop, you'll be getting less bang for buck, it will break faster, overheat, underperform and you'll be looking at a 15" inch screen all day :S

If you really want a laptop, stay away from Toshiba and HP, it's all I can say.

[wolfen69]

System 76

[linuxforartists]

I just went through this shopping research a couple months ago when I bought a new laptop.

--Ditto on avoiding switchable graphics. There is a project called Bumblebee that has potential, but I wouldn't count on it.

--Go all-out Intel: processor, wireless Internet card, and graphics card. Intel is the most Linux-friendly component maker.

--Like previous users said, don't buy a machine that's totally new and cutting-edge. Last year's hot laptop should work a lot better with Linux. The community will have had time to upgrade the kernel to work with most machines that are a little older.

As for specific brands, my favorite is Asus. People swear by Lenovo and their ThinkPads. I would avoid Japanese and Korean brands, mainly because I haven't heard too much. Dell and HP should be okay.

Good luck with your shopping!

[Quadunit404]

I would avoid Japanese and Korean brands, mainly because I haven't heard too much.

The Samsung NP-RF510 (Samsung is a Korean brand btw) works quite fine with Natty. Aside from a minor suspension problem (occasionally doesn't suspend right) everything from the wireless card to the mic to the webcam to USB3 to Unity works ootb (Unity obviously requires the nVIDIA proprietary driver, but afaik Ubuntu installs it immediately.)

I remember there used to be a deal where you could buy one new off of Amazon for $729 (compared to the normal list price of $959) but I believe that deal was either discontinued or all the laptops sold under that deal sold out