Recommended laptops

[BBQdave]

One thing I was not explicit about was my desire to avoid buying Windows if I'm not going to use it. Not only would I save money, but I don't much care for Microsoft.

You can support System76 or Zareason for hardware with Linux pre-installed, it is a little more coin-age, but your supporting business's supporting the GNU/Linux community.

+1 for Toshiba
I am running Fedora 17 on a Toshiba Satellite C655 - intel i3 with intel graphics, smooth

And I would offer, with all the crap-ware loaded on a Win-doze machine, your actual MicroSuck tax is kept to a minimum. Though I understand if you do not want to give Steve Bummer one red cent

[Bartender]

Wi-fi problems are not yet a thing of the past, are they? I'm guessing most of us can get by with a few buttons not working like they did with Windows. But non-functional wireless is a different story.

I thought that buying a 'Centrino' laptop in 2006 would keep me out of trouble, but there was some sort of regression in the Intel chipset software recently and I had to manually disable 'n' to get it working.

If you go looking at some craigslist laptops, bring along a LiveCD and spin it up. If they won't let you, move on. If they let you, see if the network manager looks for wireless networks.

[mastablasta]

Dell entry level still come with ubuntu preinstalled. i think model is 3000 something. in any case they come with "Celeron" (called Intel B815 or something like that). Which is a dumbed down Core i3.

I saw here Acer (just this weekend) with this Celeron CPU on display with Ubuntu preloaded (330EUR here probably arround 330USD there ). didn't remember the exact model.

then the aforementioned companies with better (and more expencive) preinstalled Ubuntu mashines.

Another option is Lenovo (some models) and some little higher than entry (business?!) level HP (here they came with Suse Enterprise Linux preloaded).

IF you're looking for something smaller and more portable then Lenovo S205 or HP Dm1.

for basic work Celeron is OK. if you need something stronger go with Core i and intel GPU.

Or even stronger check certain Hybrid models with AMD cards have support for linux. Avoid laptops with nvidia (Optimus issue).

there are also a few that have 14" screen, are thin, light, portable and use low power AMD CPU. Like X500 series (from ASUS) that works great with Ubuntu apparently.

[black veils]

just because a version of ubuntu works with various brands, doesnt mean it works with any model by that brand.

so people, state your computer models, and their age if possible.

i would state mine, but it is about £450 british pounds.

[cmcanulty]

good prices and service Ubuntu installed

http://www.linucity.com/Scripts/default.asp

[mastablasta]

just because a version of ubuntu works with various brands, doesnt mean it works with any model by that brand.
.

ofcourse not. but entry levels with intel chip/intel graphics seem to often come ubuntu (or other linux) preloaded. on a company i checked there is 17 laptops that come linux preloaded (Ubuntu and Suse). so they will work.

for the others it's kind of hard to say without trying.

it will be hard to find a new notebook with good CPU and 14" screen that has low price. there aren't that many out there.

[dwb814]

Hi,
Sorry for the late reply but I just saw the thread. I can recommend two laptops. The Compaq Presario cq57 & the Acer Aspire 5532. Both installed Ubuntu 12.04 32bit flawlessly. I put gnome-session-fallback on both for my winblows family so they have a familiar type of desktop.

I am happy to say I have converted my entire family, they all now use Ubuntu. They absolutely love the speed, safety and stability. Their laptops run better than ever.