I have a Lenovo T430 that I bought directly from Lenovo, it has the US keyboard layout (like Mark describes). It is a 14" IPS screen, the only concern is that I would have liked a higher resolution than 1600x900. I opted for the 9 cell battery for longer battery life.
For optical drives I have a usb bus powered blueray/dvd/cd burner that I picked up from memory express. I rarely use optical media these days so I replaced the optical drive with a 2.5" drive adapter. The keyboard also withstood a cup of coffee (there are vents that channel the fluid around delicate parts and out the bottom). I also like the feel of the keyboard better than any other manufacturer. I would try to avoid non-intel based GPUs as they suck a lot more power and can be a pain to run on non-Window OSs. One neat thing about the T430 is that you can have 3 block devices. I have a 256 GB mSATA, a 7.5 mm Samsung SSD, and a 1 TB hybrid drive (SSHD) in the optical bay adapter. Pretty awesome if you like to have a decent amount of storage. If you want to run Windows, I would actually recommend Window 8/8.1. The under the hood improvements are really nice, with better battery performance. I am not a fan of the UI, but things like classic shell or the Stardock enhancements go a long way to rectifying this. Having said that I am running KDE + Ubuntu 13.10 exclusively on my laptop. Hth, On Sun, Jan 5, 2014 at 11:34 AM, Mark Carlson <carlsonm...@gmail.com> wrote: > I hear ya. You can often request different keyboards if you buy it online. > "US English" has a wide '\' key above the Enter key, as I prefer it. The > "Bilingual" option which Future Shop, BestBuy, etc. stock have the extra > keys. > > As for the original thread... I bought a Thinkpad W530 online from Lenovo > two years ago, and it has been great! I decided to just run Windows as my > main OS and run various Linux VMs under it, rarely touching Windows. This > means that I have to switch to Windows to watch fullscreen flash videos and > play 3D games, but I do not do those things on my work computer anyway, so > it has worked out quite well. > > P.S. The W530 was able to drink an entire cup of coffee through the > keyboard without being any worse the wear! > > -Mark C. > > > On Sat, Jan 4, 2014 at 8:24 PM, Lewko, Robert <lew...@uleth.ca> wrote: > >> One thing that bugs me about laptops that are sold in Canada is the >> keyboard with the extra keys like the pound symbol etc. To fit these keys >> the keyboard usually has shortened shift keys and they relocate the '\' >> key to make room for them. I find a laptop keyboards bad enough without >> all those extra keys that make it awkward to use. >> >> Does anyone know if one can buy a laptop in Canada without the extra keys. >> >> > good point. Don't guess or take the risk. TQ >> > >> > On 14-01-04 04:30 PM, TekBudda wrote: >> >> One thing I can recommend. Do the same thing that I did when I bought >> >> my last laptop. Take a USB Key or CD with the Live distro you are >> >> planning to install & test it. It freaked the salespeople out who then >> >> called over a manager but when I explained what I was doing & there was >> >> no harm being done he said...oh...carry on then. Love the laptop I >> >> bought by the way. >> >> >> >> It is a Samsung SF510 & is a couple years old now. But runs pretty >> >> flawless. i5 processor...4 or 6 GB ram (can't remember), 640 GB HDD, 1 >> >> GB video, good camera, sleak design, 15.6" screen, full keyboard (with >> >> number keys), up to 8 hours battery (stated but not tested) robust >> >> build. It is lightweight but feels substantial in your hand. Only >> came >> >> with W7 Home Premium though. >> >> >> >> On 14-01-04 01:44 AM, caziz wrote: >> >>> Hi Guys, >> >>> >> >>> Need laptop advice as the choices are making me dizzy. >> >>> Last purchase was refurbished Think Pad (XP) 5 years ago. >> >>> >> >>> Understand my wish list will require some compromise. >> >>> >> >>> Basic plan is 500GB HD 300GB Win 7 Pro (64 bit); 200GB Mint 15 >> >>> >> >>> Min 14 inch screen, 15.6 looks good >> >>> good built-in camera/mic for online chat >> >>> 2.5 kg or less not too heavy but rugged is better >> >>> DVD burner (BluRay nice but not needed) >> >>> longer battery life (6 hours or more if possible) >> >>> much prefer under $1000 >> >>> >> >>> most likely buy at Memory Express >> >>> >> >>> Thanks, >> >>> Chris >> >>> >> >>> >> >>> _______________________________________________ >> >>> clug-talk mailing list >> >>> clug-talk@clug.ca >> >>> http://clug.ca/mailman/listinfo/clug-talk_clug.ca >> >>> Mailing List Guidelines (http://clug.ca/ml_guidelines.php) >> >>> **Please remove these lines when replying >> >>> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> >> clug-talk mailing list >> >> clug-talk@clug.ca >> >> http://clug.ca/mailman/listinfo/clug-talk_clug.ca >> >> Mailing List Guidelines (http://clug.ca/ml_guidelines.php) >> >> **Please remove these lines when replying >> >> >> > >> > >> > _______________________________________________ >> > clug-talk mailing list >> > clug-talk@clug.ca >> > http://clug.ca/mailman/listinfo/clug-talk_clug.ca >> > Mailing List Guidelines (http://clug.ca/ml_guidelines.php) >> > **Please remove these lines when replying >> > >> >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> clug-talk mailing list >> clug-talk@clug.ca >> http://clug.ca/mailman/listinfo/clug-talk_clug.ca >> Mailing List Guidelines (http://clug.ca/ml_guidelines.php) >> **Please remove these lines when replying >> > > > _______________________________________________ > clug-talk mailing list > clug-talk@clug.ca > http://clug.ca/mailman/listinfo/clug-talk_clug.ca > Mailing List Guidelines (http://clug.ca/ml_guidelines.php) > **Please remove these lines when replying >
_______________________________________________ clug-talk mailing list clug-talk@clug.ca http://clug.ca/mailman/listinfo/clug-talk_clug.ca Mailing List Guidelines (http://clug.ca/ml_guidelines.php) **Please remove these lines when replying
