Help with buying a laptop

[ihavenoname]

haha yea I have often looked at laptops and desktops and felt like laptops where too expensive, but it appears I need it for collage....

[Bagster]

Hi,

I've got the Dell e4105 (It's called the 640m in the U.K) and I'm generally very happy with it. I got the screen resolution upgrade, and the battery life upgrade, and and running the low end core 2 duo with 2GB of ram. Battery live is good, generally lasting well over 6 hours with compiz running using the high capacity battery, and the screen is great - there is slight light leakage at the bottom, but nothing too significant. The only downside in my opinion is the intel grphics driver. This is perfectly good for everyday use, running beryl (and aero glass, but who cares?) perfectly well, but if you want a gaming laptop, you will need a better graphics card.

By the way, go for the core 2 duo. It is significantly faster than the core duo. Despite the similar names, the core 2 and the core duo are extremely different. A core duo is more like a pentium M than a core 2 duo....

Incedentally, the laptop nearly passed the "Just Works" test. Everything except the screen resolution, including wifi, ad the function buttons worked out of the box. To get the screen working I had to install the later version of the intel drivers ( xserver-xorg-video-intel ), or the 915 resolution hack (both worked, but later driver probably a better idea)

Overall, I'd say that you probably won't be able to find a better value laptop than the dell - I couldn't - and you certainly won't find a laptop with as good a screen resolution without doubling the price. Build quality is quite good too. Although I don't like the dell styling on larger laptops, on one of this size it actually looks quite good!

[Bagster]

Oh, yeah, and the small 14'' size is a godsend if you are lugging it about campus, well worth sacrificing the graphics card for

[ihavenoname]

Oh, yeah, and the small 14'' size is a godsend if you are lugging it about campus, well worth sacrificing the graphics card for

Excellent advice, and that is actually the laptop I was looking at. The only thing is about the processor, adding the extra few bucks to make it a core 2 duo really puts a strain on the budget if you know what I mean. How noticeable is it (if you can actually articulate that...lol) Right now I have a desktop p4 with 1.7 ghz single core. Also if I add extra ram (2gb) do you think that could ofset the difference? The Core 2 duo sounds nice, but it adds quite a bit to the laptop's price.

[Bagster]

Wil you notice the difference? Tricky question... A couple of review sites say that clock for clock the core2 is about 10% faster than the core, and has similar or better power consumption. On saying that, you will only notice if doing processor intensive stuff - the difference will be negligible for word processing, etc.

As for the RAM, I have 2GB - you can never have too much ram Mind you, for everyday usage under ubuntu, I don't ever really see Ram usage go above a few hundred MB (including cache).
1GB will do fine.

Give the choice between core 2 or 2Gb ram i'd go for the core 2 - you can get more ram when you need it or have the cash, you cant get a new processor quite as easily! You will probably notice the diference more, since more than 1 gig of ram will hardly ever be used.

[ihavenoname]

Wil you notice the difference? Tricky question... A couple of review sites say that clock for clock the core2 is about 10% faster than the core, and has similar or better power consumption. On saying that, you will only notice if doing processor intensive stuff - the difference will be negligible for word processing, etc.

As for the RAM, I have 2GB - you can never have too much ram Mind you, for everyday usage under ubuntu, I don't ever really see Ram usage go above a few hundred MB (including cache).
1GB will do fine.

Give the choice between core 2 or 2Gb ram i'd go for the core 2 - you can get more ram when you need it or have the cash, you cant get a new processor quite as easily! You will probably notice the diference more, since more than 1 gig of ram will hardly ever be used.

Ah! excellent you have answered all my questions about this issue. I think I'll probably work a little harder and get the Core 2 just cause I don't want to have to core through the processor. And your righ on linux there isn't much need for excessive ram. My Desktop has 512 ram. One of the sticks went out and my ram was down to 256. I ran open office, firefox, and beryl on that quite alright. Much better than I ran Vista on the same machine with 512. But I am glad vista is such a hog because this has made manufacturers push up the specs of their hardware.

[maniacmusician]

Definitely go for a core 2 duo. It's not even a question. They have better battery life, run cooler, perform much, much better.

Have you looked at system76 for laptops? they're one of my favorite companies. Their machines are a little more expensive than the stock dell stuff, but they go above and beyond with customer service. They even have a support section on this forum.

[Bakerconspiracy]

You should consider buying a Mac.

[ihavenoname]

I actually did decide that coughing up the extra money for the Core 2 Duo was a better option. I also liked that it would be 64bit which would give me a chance to try that out. I really wanted to buy one from System 76, but it was a little too expensive for me.

About Macs, umm I though it was too expensive. I don't know I just wouldn't buy a Mac out right.

Doest anyone know if the Dell Instant Dvd button (I don't know what it's called but apprently it let's you watch dvds and look at your music etc. Without starting Windows) works if you install Linux. I mean I figure it won't work on my files but will it work in terms of letting me play dvd etc. I think that maybe when they get the Linux ones out that it will work with linux as well (maybe they will provide an upgrade).

[tehhaxorr]

My Suggestion:

Don't buy a laptop. I've never been a fan...

Thanks for being helpful...


I would recommend the Dell Inspiron 6400, Thats what i'm typing this message on now, everything worked perfectly out of the box.


The upgrade to the Core 2 Duo is really worth the money, Better performance, lower power usage, better scaling and it's cooler. Pentium's are literally an obsolete architecture.

Don't worry about buying expensive graphics chips either unless you play games, the Intel 945GM runs Beryl/Compiz without a hitch.