On 13 Aug 2004, John M. Flinchbaugh wrote:
> i must buy a new notebook to replace my declining inspiron 3800.
> as it is unplanned, i must be a bit budget-minded, but i still
> need some power features. i don't need a desktop replacement,
> but i also don't need ultra-portable.
>
> inspiron 5150's, hp pavilions, and ibm thinkpad r41's look sort
> of attractive at first glance, but i keep finding horror stories
> on tuxmobil.com.
>
> i'd like to actually be able to use all the integrated hardware,
> like bluetooth, 802.11, ethernet, acpi, maybe even the modem.
> i'm leary of having to screw with ndiswrapper to support the
> wireless nic. battery-life is also a consideration.
>
> can anyone recommend an excellent notebook on which to run linux
> which is still available new?
My recommendation would be for an IBM laptop.
There are two primary factors in this; firstly, their support is better
than any other that I have dealt with. While most vendors are a PITA to
get to service things with any warranty, but especially the default one,
IBM have always been responsive and reasonable.
Their hardware is also a lot more rugged than other vendors which, if
you are like me and don't fancy replacing it often, is a big bonus --
less failures means less costs and a longer life.
The second reason is that most of their hardware is well supported by
Linux, including the graphics chips (ATI or Intel) which will eventually
work with an OSS driver, even if they don't support hardware 3D
today[1].
Traditionally, the only non-OSS hardware was the software modem, which
is exactly what *every* vendor shipped, and was one of the few that
actually had a reasonable non-free driver out there.
These days you get the Centrino wireless card as well, which sucks, but
people are getting there, and Intel are now getting into an OSS driver
for it.
Daniel
Footnotes:
[1] ATI release the 3D specs to OSS after some years, and have done so
for a while now, while Nvidia don't... so, even if you get the
choice of a binary driver or no hardware 3D today, ATI gives you
something to look forward too with the free driver...
--
What we call reality is an agreement that people have arrived at to
make life more livable.
-- Louise Nevelson
