searching for an new laptop

[Linuxglider]

Hello,
please can you give me some suggests for newer Laptops.
In January i want to buy a new one and of course it should run pclos only.

[menotu]

Hi Linuxglider - have you got a price range in mind?

Do you want a desktop replacement with a big 17inch screen or a "regular" laptop? If so what size screen should it have?

What type of things will you be doing - movie making; or CAD  apps;  Do you run Virtual machines. Or is it for Office and Web/email stuff (or all of the above)

Should it have ethernet and wireless (although most do nowadays)

Sound capabilites

Web Cam

How many USB ports should it have

If you can provide details along those lines I'm sure you'll be offered lots of suggestions.

[Linuxglider]

oh sorry i desribe it a little bit clearer
it should fast enough for 1080p.
quake 4 and doom3 should run.
15,6 or 15,4 " widescreen
wlan and lan
touchscreen (ok i dream a little bit)
4gb ddr3
nvidia graphic (because i think it runs better then ati in linux)
webcam
and all of pclos compatible

[firefly]

Lenovo Thinkpads.  They appear to be committed to quality.  My machine is 2 years old now and I rarely even bother to powerup the desktop.  Oh ..... you can get really good deals at the Lenovo outlet store on refurbs, overstock, returns, etc.

Do yourself a favor and buy a dock, wireless mouse and wireless keyboard when you make your move.


 

[parnote]

Lenovo Thinkpads.  They appear to be committed to quality.  My machine is 2 years old now and I rarely even bother to powerup the desktop.  Oh ..... you can get really good deals at the Lenovo outlet store on refurbs, overstock, returns, etc.

Do yourself a favor and buy a dock, wireless mouse and wireless keyboard when you make your move.

Also, Newegg.com has some pretty good (and regular) sale prices on Lenovo laptops.

parnote

[Crow]

+1 for Lenovo

Check prices but an i3 with nvidia graphics and 4 GB memory may be a good buy.  I don't know your needs but I tried one and PCLOS love it.

[trinux]

Another vote for thinkpads, I've got a t410 that I love.

trinux

[bilyo]

Linuxglider,
I have a Lenovo G550 and I find no fault with it except the touchpad is lousy (tried all sorts of software adjustments). I bought a trackball/mouse to use in place of it.
Other more experienced users might have another opinion on this, but I found that if you buy a computer with Windows pre-loaded and you replace it with Linux, the manufacturer will no longer give you support.  I called Lenovo about the touchpad and they told me they wouldn't help me with Linux installed. I guess I should have left it dual-booting for this purpose.
Good Luck

[bnc75ohm]

Another vote here for the Lenovo G550.  I've had mine for about a year and it does a great job running PCLOS/KDE4.

I purchased it from LinPC which helps support PC Linux OS.

I'm also a fan of Nvidia video but this machine has an Intel graphics adapter but so far no problems.

Good Luck
--

[horusfalcon]

One question: does "fast enough to do 1080p" mean it also has a display capable of 1080p, too?  If so, you're gonna get into the higher end machines (i.e., you won't be getting by on the cheap).  A quick check at Newegg.com shows about six models and the cheapest brand-new one was a little over a grand.  Once your resolution comes down to about 1280 X 800 or 1366 X 768, though, prices drop dramatically.

I'm a Dell man, myself, simply because I can get reasonably good technical data on them beforehand so it's easy to make decisions about hardware.  (Try downloading the repair guides and tech manuals for anyone else's equipment...)

That said, my most recent laptop is not "new" by any standard - it's a refurbished Latitude D620 and doesn't fit the profile you mentioned.

Among other brands that I've had good luck with running Linux (and PCLinuxOS):  Gateway (believe it or not), IBM, MSI, Asus, Acer, Toshiba.  I'm sure there are other equally good brands, and that other folks may have better results (or worse) with Dell than I have, so take what I'm saying for what it's worth - my own personal experience.

(MSI deserves special mention:  their hardware is first-rate, and available from LinPC.us preloaded with PCLOS and ready to go... that's something to think about if being ready to go out of the box is worth something to you.  They currently offer only one model from MSI, though, and the Lenovo G550 others have mentioned.)

In the end, no matter what you buy, something newer, faster and better will be out thirty days after you buy it.  Get something that does what you want it to do and does it well.  That should minimize any buyer's regrets.

Later On,
D

[Crow]

horusfalcon  I'm glad you mentioned Dell, I'm asking for a laptop replacement and last year was a good one for me at work and my boss included it in the 2011 budget (I want the XPS in 14 or 15.6 in.). I like Dell, good machines and service is great (something not that common in Mexico) but never had one.

I could choose another brand, Lenovo is very good and my present laptop is a Toshiba that had endured hard work for several years. My only doubt with Dell is if PCLOS will recognize all the hardware, since the buy is by mail I can't use a live cd.

[horusfalcon]

horusfalcon  I'm glad you mentioned Dell, I'm asking for a laptop replacement and last year was a good one for me at work and my boss included it in the 2011 budget (I want the XPS in 14 or 15.6 in.). I like Dell, good machines and service is great (something not that common in Mexico) but never had one.

I could choose another brand, Lenovo is very good and my present laptop is a Toshiba that had endured hard work for several years. My only doubt with Dell is if PCLOS will recognize all the hardware, since the buy is by mail I can't use a live cd.

Get out to Dell's support website and download or just read the manuals for the XPS models you're interested in.  (Note that for Optiplex, Precision, and Latitude models it may be necessary to go to the Small Business, Large Business, or Government sections of the site as that is who these models are targeted to.)

Another great resource for this is to look at the Linux On Laptops website:  http://www.linux-laptop.net/.  Everything is sorted there by brand, and relates experience from other Linux users who took the plunge of installing on a laptop.  Great info, even if not all of it is PCLOS specific.  (I'm delinquent in writing up my Latitude D620 over there, but lots of folks have that model up already.  My old Gateway 3522GZ is there from my Pre-PCLOS days...)

Later On,
D

[phorneker]

My recommendation is to choose either a Lenovo, or a Toshiba laptop.  These brands, especially with their low end models like the Satellite L305 that I use, tend to have hardware that is directly supported with any Linux distribution, not just PCLinuxOS.

If you have a Best Buy store near where you live, that is a place to check out working models of what you wish to purchase.  Best Buy does not sell Lenove, though, but they do have Hewlett-Packard and Toshiba.  I mention Best Buy as it is where I purchased my Toshiba laptop.

Keep one thing in mind, though.  Be sure there is a way you can create restore DVDs, or have a way to reinstall the factory configuration in case things go wrong during installation, not that much can go wrong with a PCLinuxOS installation, but it is always better to be safe than sorry.

[parnote]

If you're on a REALLY tight budget, check out Ubid.com's RedTag Deal of the Day. I just picked up a Lenovo Thinkpad Z61T laptop (Intel Dual Core, 2.0 GHz, 2 GB RAM, 14+ inch screen, DVD-ROM, multi-card reader, 100 GB HD) for $239 (U.S.). It's an "off corporate lease" laptop that has been refurbished. It also comes with a brand new copy of WinXP (if you like to dual boot). It's a really sweet deal, and one I couldn't pass up.

Just check them daily (or get on their email mailing list), since the "deals" vary daily. Oh, and another bonus was that the shipping charge was only $1.95.

parnote

[Ferdes Fides]

Hello,

I think if you set your upper limit at no more than $399 you can grab
some nice laptops.  Big 15.6" screens, all the drives, etc..

regards,


Patrick013