hello, Well, there are lots of local sales on laptops. It's been a few years and much has changed (that I'm not up on with boot CDs). Naturally, I'd like gentoo/kde on a boot cd, but then there are different images for AMD and intel arches.
So my questions are, is there just one CD I need to burn that will allow me to boot up any and all AMD/Intel architecture machines into a graphical interface (kde preferred?). Or do I need to burn several discs and if so which ones. You really never know what a given store will have in inventory.... 2. (heresy I know) are there better linux CDs to use to test the wide variety of machines for speed, graphics, drive and chipsets? Knoppix has been good in the past....? 3. OK, here is my list of things to look at the ensure the machine is what I want (hardware wise). lshw and lspci. Any others? Any wireless chipsets that are to be avoided with Linux? Poor driver support? 4. Some reasonable graphics benchmark, either one that is part of the CD or put it on a usb stick or how to get onto the system in a store? Any quick method to ensure it's 1920 x 1280 (1080p) or better resolution on the LCD screen? 5. Any other suggestions as to evaluating a laptop in a store, before purchase? 6. Anyone make a really cool laptop purchase recently? (target range 500-800 usd). I like dell, but hard to find a bargain.... Toshiba? Toshiba Satellite® L555D-S7005 17.3" Widescreen Notebook Computer With AMD Turion™ II Dual-Core Processor M520, ATI Radeon 4200 (I prefer AMD/ATI) $500 USD at office depot..... James
