buying computer need advice

[Campitor]

Hello all:

I received 500 dollars from my department, and I really want to buy a computer to replace my old desktop. I know 500 bucks is not much, but some options are available. I need a cheap comp, small size (need to put it in a suitcase and take it home when I finish my degree).

I was thinking of getting the HP Pavilion Slimline s7700e series, with AMD Sempron 3500+ and 1GB of RAM. This comes to about 480 bucks. I was wondering if any of you had experience setting up ubuntu on one of these machines. I plan to put Dapper on it (ubuntu versions come out too fast for me to catch up, so LTS is my thing).

Or, if anybody would suggest a better option with similar configuration and SMALL size. I've looked at laptops, but nothing has picked my fancy just yet.

Thanks in advance for your comments....

Camp

[mips]

Rather get something with an AMD Athlon 64 X2, for a wee bit more.

[maxamillion]

http://www.dell.com/linux
www.hp.com/wwsolutions/linux/

[%hMa@?b<C]

get an Opteron 165, ther are cheap (~150) I have one and I love it, dual core 64 bit goodness!

[Campitor]

Thanks for all the replies.

Hey, jeffc313, where can I get an Opteron system. everywhere I look, they're over 1500 bucks. but most of them are servers or something with a thinclient (which I have no idea what it is?).

Thanks.

[fenian]

Opteron dualcore processors are approx. $150 ,for just the processor.Those open source Dells look pretty good think you can configure them in small form factors.

[Campitor]

Opteron dualcore processors are approx. $150 ,for just the processor.Those open source Dells look pretty good think you can configure them in small form factors.

Yes...they do. But the HP slimline is still better, cheaper (free shipping versus 69 dollars in dell) and a lot smaller.

Is there anything wrong with HP computers? I have always used Dell, but I was under the impression HP was rather OK. Is there any information that I'm missing? would Dapper run in an HP like the s7700e model?

thanks for all your comments. It has been very interesting to know, many companies have started offering OpenSource machines. Plus the anticipation of buying a new box, and installing ubuntu, is just GREAT.

Camp.

[%hMa@?b<C]

oh, I built my system. If you build it yourself you will learn a lot and probably save cash.
opteron 165 is the processor I used.

[macogw]

oh, I built my system. If you build it yourself you will learn a lot and probably save cash.
opteron 165 is the processor I used.

That's only true on desktops. Barebones laptops (whitebooks) have little choice involved and are often overpriced. For instance, I have yet to find a whitebook that doesn't include the hard drive and processor and Windows. I thought the point was to have it come with *nothing* not to get all the pieces and assemble it yourself.