IBM's X series are 12.1" only which is outside your 15-17" suggestion. If
you want a cheap X series laptop preferably go for the X32 - it's faster and
newer than the X31 and has a 2.5" hard drive. The X40/X41 are very OpenBSD
compatible but have a 1.8" hard drive (slow, expensive, difficult to
replace).. You might find an X32 with at outstanding warranty if you're
lucky. Otherwise go for a T series.
I wouldn't bother going for an X series unless you need a really portable
laptop with lots of battery life. OK, so it's cool, but you get more out of
an equivalently priced T series including a much better graphics chipset. If
not IBM/Lenovo, I also tend to favour Toshiba laptops, or possibly HP.
I presume you've read http://www.openbsd.org/i386-laptop.html and
http://jcs.org/laptops/
I think your primary concern should be the warranty. Either get something
very cheap with no warranty, or something more expensive with a warranty
(which can then be renewed with IBM), plus obviously insurance.. Buying
something inbetween is stupid.
Personally I've just gone rather over the top and ordered a second hand X61
from ebay (assuming it arrives!). Core2Duo (64 bit, supports VT and NX) and
a Santa Rosa chipset (up to 8GB, with painfully priced 4GB modules, should I
ever need it) should mean I won't need to change it for a *long* time
(hopefully!).
PK
