Maura Edeweiss Monville mailto:memonvil@artsci.wustl.edu wrote:
Thank you very much for this info. With regard to the laptop weight i have to stress I don't care a bout its weight. I do care about my laptop having performances as close as possible to a ast generation desktop. Short-lived batteries are not an issue for me asi'l be using the laptop once arrived at destination rather tha during the trip itself.
Regards, Maura
On Thu, 8 Jul 2004, Richard Mixon (qwest) wrote:
Maura Edeweiss Monville mailto:memonvil@artsci.wustl.edu wrote:
I've ben thinking for a long time of buying a laptop for working on my projectduring trips and overseas stays ... rather than renting desktops. Needless to say I wish to rn SuSE. Up to last year most laptops were shipped with Windows installed and vendors/makers denied any responsibility about replacing Windows with SuSE satisfactorily. Another drawback is the particular configuration I need. Basically I'm looking for at least 1GB RAM, Pentiun IV or equivalent processor at least 3.06 GHz or faster. I aslso need the wireless network and a true model for occasional dial-up connections. Last year i thought I had found a laptop with the above characteristics but a better look at its components revealed an extrmely slow access to the data bus which would result in many CPU idle cycles.
During the last year laptops have evolved and maybe the current market offers even more than I need ... I havent' found any time to follow up unluckily ... recently I've been offered a laptop ECS which is to me a totally unknown brand name. My understanding is that some third parties buy the main components and then they assembly them together according to the customer's requests .. which sounds pretty convenient.. But there may be a pitfall I cannot see out of ignorance in this field. Honestly I do not know whether it's better to buy a known brand like Dell, HP, IMB, etc ... or save some money and still have a reliable laptop specially made for me by these third parties ... I'd greatly appreciate some advice
Maura EM
Maura,
Several days ago there was quite a long thread describing which laptops (in various user's opinion and experience) worked well with SuSE. Search the list history and you should find it (not sure where history is though ).
First, do you want a really light-weight portable laptop, or a heavier desktop replacement in a laptop form factor. I say this because a number o outfits (maybe even Dell??) are making laptops with desktop processors (both AMD 64 and Pentium 4 3+ghz) in them with even a fast 7200 RPM drive. Their battery life is just so-so. But if your purpose is to travel and then work, they can be the best solution.
If you want a traditional, light-weight lapt, personally I've been well rewarded by sticking with IBM Thinkpad's since 1992. I have also run Dell and Toshiba laptops in the past. IBM's are usually not the fastest but they are close and their integration and support are still as good as anyones. The thing that impresses me is that they continue to support their laptops with new drivers even when they are several years old. I've heard of too many other brands that do not bring out drivers for new operating systems once the system is a year old.
I am sure other's have good experience with other brands to.
- Richard
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Maura, If this is for work, and reliability is important, I would still say check out an IBM Thinkpad or HP equivalent. The extra few percent of performance you might get with a less well-known brand may not be worth the risk, unless you have the time to devote to such issues. One of the IBM G40's with a 3GHZ Pentium 4 is priced quite reasonably (around $1700 US) and can be located at this URL (or more simply www.ibm.com/thinkpad and find the G40's): http://www-132.ibm.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?categor yId=2580117&storeId=1&catalogId=-840&langId=-1 An similar HP with a 17" display can be seen at: http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/us/en/sm/WF05a/321957-64295-89315-321838- f1-417058.html You may find a workstation laptop with more extreme performance from one of the 2nd tier vendors (alienware.com, ??) - but you will need to check them out very, very carefully as to their Linux support. Maybe someone else has a specific recommendation. - Richard