Shopping time! Which laptop?

[potatan]

Hi,

I will be off shopping for a laptop with a friend who spilt red wine all over her previous one. The insurance has paid out £600, so that is the budget she is working to.

Unfortunately, the stipulation is that she can only buy from PC World, Dixons or Currys (in the UK - and I know they are all part of the same chain). As I understand it, she can only buy in-store too.

The good news - as she is a fairly light user (email, IM, word processing, browsing), she has let me persuade her to install Ubuntu rather than be stuck with Vista as supplied by the shops concerned. As a new user, it'd be nice for this to be as unintrusive to her as possible.

So, any particularly good make/models of laptop that are supported very easily by Ubuntu 8.04? I know I had a few problems with my HP Pavilion 5xxx under Gutsy, that took a little while to resolve, so preferably a laptop that is easily configured please.

Some links:
PC World
http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/edi.../?int=home_nav

Dixons
http://www.dixons.co.uk/martprd/stor.../All%20Laptops

Currys
http://www.currys.co.uk/martprd/stor...0&tm=undefined

Remember, the budget is GBP 600 - happy shopping!

[zvbxrpl]

The DELL Inspiron 1720 is £599 at Dixons. I can't post a direct link because of how their site works but searching for it should be easy enough. The test for this model is here:

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/LaptopTestin...llInspiron1720

It looks like the former issue with the sound has been resolved in Hardy and the only things you might have issues with are suspend and the internal modem.

[starcannon]

These all work outta the box

http://www.dell.com/content/topics/s...=19&l=en&s=dhs

As do these:

http://system76.com/index.php?cPath=28

And don't forget:

http://www.zareason.com/shop/home.php

Enjoy, I wish I was out shopping for new laptops hehe, I already own more than I can use, but man, nothings better than unpacking a new toy

[zvbxrpl]

starcannon is quite right - it's much better to buy a machine with Ubuntu preinstalled if you can. But I understand you're limited to buying from Dixons/Currys/PC World here, and they don't deal with Ubuntu as far as I know. I noticed that one of the Ubuntu-preloaded laptops that Dell sell is also sold by PC World the Inspiron 1525) although it's less powerful than the 1720. But I also don't know whether the Ubuntu-preinstalled Dells have the same hardware specifications as Dell machines sold with Vista with the same model number. They might, for example, have used a different wireless card for their Ubuntu models. So I think it's better to check the Laptop Testing Wiki (linked to in my earlier post) rather than second-guess which models will work.

[potatan]

Thanks for the replies. Looks like the Dells are the promising ones. I'll persuade her to go for either the 1720, or the 1525 with some accessories to make the price up to £600. Digital camera or something perhaps... Oh, and as they are available in PINK that may be a clincher!

It's a shame she's limited to this chain of stores as I don't believe they'll offer a discount for having one without Windows pre-installed.

I'll see if I can contribute to the laptop Wiki after we've bought the PC and installed Hardy Heron on it.

Thanks all.

[zvbxrpl]

It's a shame she's limited to this chain of stores as I don't believe they'll offer a discount for having one without Windows pre-installed.

In theory, you should be able to claim back the portion of the price that went towards the pre-installed OS by not accepting the EULA (when you first boot the new machine up) and by writing to the store for a refund. In practice, you won't get back anything like the retail price of Vista, and it may be too much bother. However, it's worth doing from the perspective of spreading free software should you feel so inclined: if enough people claim refunds, they may start to realise (as Dell have done) that there's a growing market for free software on the desktop and may consider offering machines with Ubuntu pre-installed instead.

Please do add your experiences to the laptop testing wiki. If you run into problems with the install give this thread another bump and I'll try to help you out. Good luck!