Help me choose a laptop!

[Kareeser]

Hey guys,

Recently, my laptop's speakers broke due to a design flaw of the 700m (google "700m speaker"), and in a dire attempt at fixing it, the battery got short circuited, which meant it wouldn't hold a charge anymore.

So screw it, I'm buying a new laptop.

I know of two laptop manufacturers that offer solutions without Windows: Dell and System76. Unfortunately, neither of them have what I want.


12.1 screen at 1280x800 (flexible, but I like small :))
Intel 9xx or nVIDIA (I'm sure ATi is fine, but I'd rather not risk it)
Sexy...


For some reason or another, Dell.ca doesn't sell Ubuntu notebooks. They sell 3 kinds of netbooks, but I'm not necessarily interested in that. I'd LOVE to get an Adamo, but that's way out of my price range.

System76 bundles ATi cards with their lower end laptops (and an Intel GMA 950 on their netbook), and nVIDIA on their higher end (and larger) models... I also think their laptops are kind of unsexy. Which means if I want the size I want, I'd have to live with an ATi card. Preferably not.

If need be, I'll buy a Windows laptop... I could always use a second Windows license :)

Any ideas?

Edit:
In hindsight, it seems as though dell.com/ubuntu DOES sell normal laptops with Ubuntu. The XPS m1330n looks to be good, but nowhere on the page denotes the size of the screen.... grah.

Edit 2:
As it now turns out, I'm an idiot and assumed the X4500HD was an ATi card. It's apparently an intel card. Problem solved... perhaps.

[gn2]

Dell XPS m1330 has a 13" screen.

[Kareeser]

Much obliged, gn2. :)

[Viranh]

I've found that System 76's support is really great, and I can't really say the same for Dell. I've been really pleased with my Serval, and it was cheaper than a comparable Dell, too.

[avilella]

How about an MSI X-Slim X340? It's in the ultrathin category but less pricey than the Adamo:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultrathin_laptops


Hey guys,

Recently, my laptop's speakers broke due to a design flaw of the 700m (google "700m speaker"), and in a dire attempt at fixing it, the battery got short circuited, which meant it wouldn't hold a charge anymore.

So screw it, I'm buying a new laptop.

I know of two laptop manufacturers that offer solutions without Windows: Dell and System76. Unfortunately, neither of them have what I want.


12.1 screen at 1280x800 (flexible, but I like small :))
Intel 9xx or nVIDIA (I'm sure ATi is fine, but I'd rather not risk it)
Sexy...


For some reason or another, Dell.ca doesn't sell Ubuntu notebooks. They sell 3 kinds of netbooks, but I'm not necessarily interested in that. I'd LOVE to get an Adamo, but that's way out of my price range.

System76 bundles ATi cards with their lower end laptops (and an Intel GMA 950 on their netbook), and nVIDIA on their higher end (and larger) models... I also think their laptops are kind of unsexy. Which means if I want the size I want, I'd have to live with an ATi card. Preferably not.

If need be, I'll buy a Windows laptop... I could always use a second Windows license :)

Any ideas?

Edit:
In hindsight, it seems as though dell.com/ubuntu DOES sell normal laptops with Ubuntu. The XPS m1330n looks to be good, but nowhere on the page denotes the size of the screen.... grah.

Edit 2:
As it now turns out, I'm an idiot and assumed the X4500HD was an ATi card. It's apparently an intel card. Problem solved... perhaps.

[drawkcab]

I've bought two $1500ish custom notebooks from powernotebooks.com. Basically they buy whitebooks/barebones from Taiwan (usually Asus, MSI and Compal) and then outfit them with whatever you want.

The nice part is that you can sometimes get the very latest products and features, a good price and the option of not having to pay for windows. Their best deals are on the notebooks that they rebrand as powerpro because you get a free three-year warranty.

Xotic is another similar company. Anyway, those smaller vendors are out there if you take some time to look for them.