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View Full Version : New year, new laptop



ograndedienne
January 2nd, 2011, 02:44 AM
Hello guys,
i've a almost-5-years-old HP compaq NC6400 powered with Ubuntu. Sadly, today the cooling fan stopped working and i am planning to buy a new laptop.

(Do you have an idea about how much money HP customer service asks for fan substitution ?)

I was thinking to buy an HP ElitePro 2740p, because:


It's an HP small business machine, like my NC6400, and i totally loved it for its resistance and hp customer care.
it's certified for linux (Suse :( )
it's a tablet


Question for tablet-laptop owners: do you think it's worth to buy a tablet and use it with Ubuntu ? Are the convertible functionalities working well-enough ? A non-laptop machine with the same power is cheaper...

tablet/non-tablet issue apart, which laptop would you suggest?

I need:

to study and develop (90% of the time); play some game (10% of the time)
a very light laptop, so: screen-size <= 14 (when i play i use an external monitor)
4 gigs (and one free slot) of RAM
ssd disk
hopefully long-lasting battery: i move very often


What do you think about DELL machines? they seem to have the best Ubuntu support..

Thank you!

O( n ) :P

Quadunit404
January 2nd, 2011, 02:52 AM
I can answer the Dell part right away.

Be careful of their customer support. I don't own any Dell machines and I never will but I know two people irl who had Dell computers and had an extremely hard time with their customer support... and they aren't the only ones. (http://www.ihatedell.net/forum/phpBB3/)

weasel fierce
January 2nd, 2011, 03:38 AM
I've generally liked the Dell machines I have owned, but their customer service is pretty legendary for being awful.

kaldor
January 2nd, 2011, 07:01 AM
I hear lots of bad about Dell also. A friend of mine had a Dell but the motherboard fried after about 2 years.

Why not take a look at System76 or ZaReason? They have out-of-the-box Linux support. ZaReason has a nice selection of distros and lots of configuration options.

ograndedienne
January 2nd, 2011, 03:21 PM
Why not take a look at System76 or ZaReason? They have out-of-the-box Linux support. ZaReason has a nice selection of distros and lots of configuration options.

I gave a look to both producers websites, but their machines seem not very powerful.

The only option would be a lemur ultra thin: http://www.system76.com/product_info.php?cPath=28&products_id=106&osCsid=njhthjch8uop9mgm5olg0n68p1

but i don't think it's very wise buying an laptop today with a Core i3-330UM Processor. :-? I want to buy a laptop for the next 4 years :)


O( n )

Pimmetje
April 28th, 2011, 12:02 PM
I own a 2740p ill try ubuntu in about (a few days to a week). If u have any questions on it fire away. Let me note, besides the price its a great laptop so if ur willing to spend the money its great :).

Note i only tested windows & Buis for now (have it for little over a month now).