Is a System76 laptop right for me?

[XBMC old School]

Coming from a guy who has gone through and Eng. Educ. and working in industry, I would review your program and see what courses require which types of software. So some software that might be an issue; AutoCAD, can't get it; spreadsheets, the vba tools maybe lacking; Formula software, ie equations solvers; etc.

I heard of a guy in geomatics just giving up.

There is always a windows vmware solution?

i work in windows, and live in ubuntu/linux at home.

Come crunch time you don't want to argue with linux software. Unless you are an intermediate user and have time to create solutions to your unique problems.

[yenic]

You're going to want a ultrabook.. gives you the power you need and the portability you require. A tablet IMO is a bad choice because you're going to have to end up turning it into an ultrabook anyway with a keyboard. It's always kind of a pathetic site seeing people turn tablets into laptops. Having to worry about 1 device is much nicer as a student.

I'd take a hard look at the Samsung 9 series or Macbook Air.. depending on what you want. With Macs being Unix-based you don't really need Ubuntu unless you're a diehard. If you're like me and like Trackpoints, then the new Lenovo X1 Carbon is worth a look as well.

You'll get the best battery life with Windows or OSX, then run Ubuntu in a VirtualBox VM.
Until Steam comes to Ubuntu, there's not a huge incentive to not run it in a VM.

I have nothing against System76.. but I can't in good faith suggest that for you. Get a MBA or 9series.

[zenlunatic]

I don't know... the asus transformer pulls the convertible tablet off amazingly. Their Zenbook is really nice too. That thinkpad xseries aint too bad either.

[RedRat]

Be Aware!
Running Windows programs under Wine usually works--'usually' is the keyword here. You might be able to get some programs to run under Wine and some you may well have to futz about with to get it up and running. I got accustomed to running a graphics-picture manipulation program called ThumbsPlus on Windows and found that I could install it on old Ubuntu 8.04; however, I had a deuce of time getting it on 12.04-64. It took a couple of days of fiddling around and downloading some DLLs from MS. I cannot get it installed on my Mint 13 installation on another machine (a Dell Inspiron). However, I could get my another program I use for searching Newsgroups, NewsRover, to install on the Mint 13 machine, but it will not run properly on the Ubuntu 12.04!

I give these examples to demonstrate that not all Windows programs run or install under Wine. You may well have to find Linux equivalents of some programs that you are interested in using. While the Linux community tried to provide programs that are used in Windows, many of these programs either are limited in their capabilities or only do a partial job. Be aware of that.

Since you are thinking of notetaking in classes, battery life is going to be important. In many classrooms, you just do not have access to a wall plug. I would suggest a larger battery because, depending on performance and other factors, you may well need a battery life of several hours.

[nevius]

I highly recommend using Crossover. It has a really nice interface and is dead simple to get MS office running under it. They also put a lot of work into the Wine project. You can think of the license cost as putting a bit back into WINE.
http://www.codeweavers.com/products/

Be Aware!
Running Windows programs under Wine usually works--'usually' is the keyword here. You might be able to get some programs to run under Wine and some you may well have to futz about with to get it up and running. I got accustomed to running a graphics-picture manipulation program called ThumbsPlus on Windows and found that I could install it on old Ubuntu 8.04; however, I had a deuce of time getting it on 12.04-64. It took a couple of days of fiddling around and downloading some DLLs from MS. I cannot get it installed on my Mint 13 installation on another machine (a Dell Inspiron). However, I could get my another program I use for searching Newsgroups, NewsRover, to install on the Mint 13 machine, but it will not run properly on the Ubuntu 12.04!

I give these examples to demonstrate that not all Windows programs run or install under Wine. You may well have to find Linux equivalents of some programs that you are interested in using. While the Linux community tried to provide programs that are used in Windows, many of these programs either are limited in their capabilities or only do a partial job. Be aware of that.

Since you are thinking of notetaking in classes, battery life is going to be important. In many classrooms, you just do not have access to a wall plug. I would suggest a larger battery because, depending on performance and other factors, you may well need a battery life of several hours.

[gaussian]

Since you are thinking of notetaking in classes, battery life is going to be important. In many classrooms, you just do not have access to a wall plug. I would suggest a larger battery because, depending on performance and other factors, you may well need a battery life of several hours.

Let me first say something relevant to the OPs post. I agree with Wine (and Crossover, last time I tried it about four years ago) being imperfect solutions for running Windows programs. Virtualbox (and other competing products) work perfectly as far my experience goes for anything except games.

Now to what I really wanted to say. I have taught post-secondary (i.e. college) for more than a decade now. I hate to shout, but I will. YOU DON'T NEED A LAPTOP FOR NOTETAKING. Barring a very bad case of carpotunnel or something similar, a pen and paper is the superior technology. First, it does not distract you (no Facebook in your pen). This is not that important advantage since you probably will have your distractive cell phone with you. The bigger advantage is that with pen and paper you can make notes that are in a completely free format easily. Even with a tablet you cannot (unless you are much better than me) make diagrams, write math etc with the same easeness as with pen and paper. With a laptop you are positively scr*wed when the first math notation/diagram comes. Obviously you can do math/diagrams with computers, but it is quite slow. I teach economics and typically none of my students have their computers out in the open during class. If you want to go high tech, you can look into products like Livescribe. I have not used Livescribe or similar products myself, but at least they could work in principle.

None of this is to say you don't need a laptop for your studies. You do. Or at least it will make your life much more convenient. Just keep it in your dorm room or your backpack during lectures.

[RedRat]

....
Now to what I really wanted to say. I have taught post-secondary (i.e. college) for more than a decade now. I hate to shout, but I will. YOU DON'T NEED A LAPTOP FOR NOTETAKING....

Gaussian You make an excellent point! I agree, paper and pen are still the best way to note take. two thumbs up.

[joe4ska]

My Lemur Ultra has been a wonderful machine in since I got it in June and At 4.5 lbs It's quite lightweight.

With Jupiter installed it tops out at 4:15 hours. I get about 2:30 hours under A heavier load like surfing YouTube and watching video's fullscreen.

Admittedly the trackpad can be overly sensitive if you have clicks enabled.

Keep in mind that although the screen is 720P (glossy) you can always hook up a monitor via HDMI or VGA when at your desk.

I went with the i7 upgrade and a 128gb SSD and am still running Ubuntu 12.04. I'm getting boot times of about 10 seconds.

Even after 3 months I'd buy the Lemur again, I've very happy with this machine.