New Laptop recomendations

[ACF1]

I am going to buy a new laptop computer soon. What works good with Ubuntu? Also, should I look to get a cheaper one or a more expensive one? I can pick one up here in town for 500-700 dollars. Or else I can get a nicer one built from a local shop for around $1,100. Specs for the nicer one from the shop look like this: Intel 965GM 800FSB motherboard, Core 2 Duo T8300, Intel Pro Wireless 802.11 bg, Intel GMA X3100, Intel 10/100/1000 ethernet. I can also get XP or Vista on it. What would you go with? Or should I just go for a cheap Acer or something? Thanks for the input. I need it for school, so I will probably dual boot Ubuntu and Windows.

[tamoneya]

first of all: definitely get XP. avoid vista like the plague.
Other than that everything looks pretty good. Nice decision on the intel wireless and wired NIC. It should install drivers automatically and you should be error free.

[tuxxy]

I agree avoid vista like the plague, im also getting a new lappy soon, im going for one with an nvidia card in as it will solely run Ubuntu. Yours look cool simialr specs to mine cant wait now :lolflag:

[Icehuck]

What do you want to do with this machine? That way we can recommend something for you to use. Spending money on hardware your not going to use is kind of a waste.

[gn2]

If it's going to be carried around a lot, maybe get a netbook, the Acer Aspire One is good.

[dnns123]

Asus eeePC 1000!

10" screen
Wifi N
Bluetooth
Intel GMA 950
Atom Proc 1.6GHz
2GB RAM
40GB SSD
Webcam 1.3 Mega Pixels
Good Speakers
Less than 1KG


NO CD/DVD DRIVE

[ACF1]

I am going to use it for school. I will be a freshman and studying geography. I was favoring the nicer laptop because I don't want to have the problems that come with "big box" store computers. I am not into gaming much (decided not to go with the nvidia graphics). But I do like a computer that works well.

[71CH]

T
h
i
n
k
p
a
d

[billgoldberg]

I am going to buy a new laptop computer soon. What works good with Ubuntu? Also, should I look to get a cheaper one or a more expensive one? I can pick one up here in town for 500-700 dollars. Or else I can get a nicer one built from a local shop for around $1,100. Specs for the nicer one from the shop look like this: Intel 965GM 800FSB motherboard, Core 2 Duo T8300, Intel Pro Wireless 802.11 bg, Intel GMA X3100, Intel 10/100/1000 ethernet. I can also get XP or Vista on it. What would you go with? Or should I just go for a cheap Acer or something? Thanks for the input. I need it for school, so I will probably dual boot Ubuntu and Windows.

Just get one with as much intel stuff you can get (integrated intel graphic chip, ...).

Ubuntu will run flawelessly on intel hardware.

[OldTimeTech]

You know you can ask everyone of us and each will have his/her own idea of which laptop works the best with Ubuntu. That being said....I have a dell M1530, that came with Vista, I wiped and now only run Ubuntu 8.04...my significant other has an Acer Aspire 5300 that worked great with 7.04, but had tons of problems with 7.10 and I had to do a total clean install for the machine to run 8.04...but it runs it quite well to the point that the wireless worked straight out of the box. Oh yes and it's still running Vista as a dual boot.

I wish companies would let us run our live cd's to see if the machine was compatible and if your going to spend a lot of money and get a computer built to your specs, then you should be able to use the live cd to make sure it's going to work with the new machine. But don't be surprised if the local tech makes the sign of the cross at you...as they are still M$ owned ;))))

[grendel_khan]

I got a Thinkpad T40p used off eBay for under $250. 'Course, the T40p is grievously broken under Hardy, but it worked wonderfully under Gutsy. It's fast enough for me, it's well-built, it's reasonably power-efficient, and it runs very cool. There's a similar variant that has Intel 3D hardware; that's probably a better choice if you can swing it.

[mips]

Just get a Thinkpad, you can't go wrong.

[jbrown96]

I have installed Ubuntu on three different computer and support all three (my laptop included). Lenovo 3000 (maybe 2000, whatever their mainstream laptop is), HP dv6500t, and Lenovo Thinkpad T61p. They all use Intel boards and CPUs, which work great. The Lenovo and HP use Intel graphics which both work with Compiz, which surprised me (Compiz did not work with the Lenovo using Gutsy). The HP and Thinkpad use the Intel 3945ABG wireless which works but kinda sucks since the move from ipw3945 to iwl3945 driver (it will improve as development continues).
My recommendation is the same as many others: Thinkpad. They are awesome machines that have unequaled build quality and reliability. Their tech support (at least in the US) is the best I have ever dealt with. They were able to answer my question before I even finished it, and the hold times were non-existent.

Try to stay away from Broadcomm wireless (it works fairly easily now, but Intel still wins). Intel is the way to go with everything, even graphics if you don't need anything intensive.
I don't think hardware compatibility should be an issue. I have never seen hardware that is unsupported on Linux. You may have to do some hacking (the Lenovo's audio didn't work but a single line added to a config file fixed it), but pretty much everything will work out-of-the-box.
If you aren't planning to use Windows, you may also be able to receive a rebate for it. I believe that someone in the news lately got $200 back from HP!

[defenestratos]

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

[Joey-G]

yeeh i would avoid vista at all costs my worse mistake i ever made. i have a toshiba satelite from the A200 series which works like a charm and ubuntu is brilliant on it

dual core processor 2gb of RAM intel GX300 graphics wireless internet (realtek 8187b) not the best to set up on ubuntu but once done is fine.

best things about it its really good money for the spec.

but yeh my best advice is go with XP NOT vista then of course switch to ubuntu :P

link : http://uk.computers.toshiba-europe.com/cgi-bin/ToshibaCSG/jsp/seriesHomepage.do?service=UK

[ACF1]

What do you guys think of this computer? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220340&cm_sp=DailyDeal-_-34-220-340-_-HomepageI don't know if I want to spend that much, but I am curious as to what you think of it. Thanks.

[gn2]

What do you guys think of this computer? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220340&cm_sp=DailyDeal-_-34-220-340-_-HomepageI don't know if I want to spend that much, but I am curious as to what you think of it. Thanks.

Asus are excellent, the laptop in your link has very good specs, not sure you would need that much graphics card for Linux use though.

I have one of these (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220313) and can recommend it if portability is important to you.

[ACF1]

Asus are excellent, the laptop in your link has very good specs, not sure you would need that much graphics card for Linux use though.

I have one of these (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220313) and can recommend it if portability is important to you.

Thank you. Yes, that is what I thought as well, to much graphics stuff. I was mostly wondering how good Asus computers are.

[ACF1]

Question: Is there any need for a graphics card? Or does the Intel GMA X3100 work fine? Thanks.

[gn2]

Question: Is there any need for a graphics card? Or does the Intel GMA X3100 work fine? Thanks.

I find the Intel graphics to be perfectly good, but I don't do much in the way of games, it'll cope very well with a quick blast of Tuxkart though.
Video playback is excellent.
Frequency scaling is supported and the F9E is very quiet, even with the fan running flat out you can barely hear it.
Evicting the heat from an Nvidia GPU would make much more noise if it's being done effectively enough.

There's a spate of reports of problems with Nvidia 8400m and 8600m GPU's that are doing the rounds just now.
My theory is that Nvidia mistakenly shipped a batch of desktop GPU's as mobile ones.