Laptop recommendation

[tajreed]

My 6 yr old Acer 5610 has failed. It has been running Ubuntu since 6.1. Any recommendations on a suitable touchscreen replacement. I assume Ubuntu will be touchscreen in 2014. Is there a brand that is more receptive to Ubuntu than some other? Should I stick with Intell graphics given the sometimes difficulties with Nivida, et.al.? Don't need a big hard drive ( we have U cloud) nor the fastest or newest processor. I don't do gaming. I'll probably end up dual-booting U and Win7, my current set-up.

Thanks for your help

[kaldor]

ThinkPads, particularly the T series. Configure a ThinkPad T430 with Intel graphics and Intel wireless and you should have absolutely no problems with Linux, but it has no touch screen. If you wait a little, you can get the new T440 (replaces the T430) with a higher resolution touch screen after you check for the Linux support. All of the ThinkPads give you the option between Windows 7 and Windows 8.

Personally, I don't see any reason to care about a touch screen on a laptop.

[zer010]

My preference is hp. Mine has been pretty great so far. Just remember to check if the graphics card is fully supported. This thing has the Optimus configuration and it's a small pain having to enable discreet graphics manually, but I really don't use Linux much for games that need it. The Intel graphics do just fine for most everything.

[Welly Wu]

Have you considered a Linux certified PC yet?

You can choose a ZaReason or System76 or Emperor Linux certified PC. Emperor Linux sells Lenovo IBM ThinkPad notebook PCs in particular.

What do you need to do with a new PC?

What's your budget?

[tajreed]

Thanks for the replies guys. I need one for writing, browsing and email. No real heavy lifting. No games. Budget at around $500. Am I correct in the Ubuntu will be touch enabled next year? Probably would also be used as primary computer connected to a larger monitor when my PC begins to fail-it's also aging.

[kaldor]

Still higher than $500, but the older generation ThinkPad T420 can still be bought some places for much less than the current generation: http://www.amazon.com/Lenovo-ThinkPad-4177RVU-14-Inch-Notebook/dp/B0070XYG96/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1378426291&sr=8-1&keywords=thinkpad+t420