[plug] Seeing advice on a recommended laptop

[Richard Meyer]

On Sat, 2006-02-25 at 15:45 +0400, Brad Campbell wrote:
> James Leven wrote:
> > G'day
> > 
> > I would like to purchase a laptop to setup with dual boot Windows/Linux,
> > and I am seeking some advice on recommended laptops (notepads).  Also
> > looking for any good or bad experiences in terms of warranty and repairs.
> > 
> > I have had good experience with an ECS bought over two years ago,
> > but woudl be grateful for advice from other linux users.
> 
> My 2001 vintage Acer seems to think that they do ok machines..
> If you are staying in Aus one of the great points I always loved about their machines is the 3 year 
> 1 hour repair warranty.. Take it in to the service centre and if they can't fix it in one hour they 
> either replace the machine or loan you one to get you going while they fix yours..  Which is nice 
> when your lighting control laptop blows up about 4 hours prior to a huge gig.

:-)   Strange, I asked my neighbour, since his wife has a laptop that
has unending problems, and it's an Acer (she runs XP on it).

Been in for MB replacements, screen replacements, and other booting
problems. He tried to extend the warranty for $$ (as he says is an
option anywhere within the first year), and they refused - they also
refused to replace the lappy, after it had been into the shop for weeks
at a time. His advice it somewhat opposed to Brad's   ;-)
> 
> Always worth the extra couple of $$ to get an extended warranty. I used that on my Gateway too when 
> it caught fire in my lap..

Good idea.
> 
> My worst linux laptop experience was Sharp. (It just had to much quirky hardware and bad ACPI 
> tables) Plus Portacom used to be the agent and their service sucked.
> 
> Worst laptop ever was Toshiba. (That was a long time ago though.. 7 out of 15 laptops with faults)

Funny, I've got 4090XCDT that just keeps on going - old but it works as
well as a 400MHz Celery can be expected to, I suppose.
> 
> Best has been Acer, Gateway and Dell (On hardware and service actually)

Personally I'd buy an IBM if I had the cash. I despise Dell (but that's
me).

For more than you ever wanted to know about Linux on different laptops,
see http://www.linux-laptops.org/ 

It's good info, but doesn't necessarily cover the experiences of the
members of the list, or Australian models.
> 
> Mitac were ok, but the battery or charge ccts usually died within 12 months
> 
> Compaq and HP have been ok.. just cheap and heavy.
> 
> These days almost any Centrino machine will work quite nicely, but take a recent Knoppix disk and do 
> your homework 1st.
> 
> I take knoppix and a USB keystick.
> I go through all the likely laptops and save the lsmod, dmesg and lspci to the usb keystick.. check 
> basic functions.. then I go home and do my research on the hardware in each machine.
> 
> If the shop is not interested in letting me do that.. (some get funny about it) I take my business 
> elsewhere.

Good advice on the live CD and the USB key, and the attitude of the
shop  ;-)
> 
> I'd love a new machine, but a 15.1" 1400x1050 display with a real 4 hrs battery life + all the usual 
> fruit and under 3kg is just so expensive... it's just not worth upgrading

Funny I'm looking for a small screen, light job, so I'm looking at BENQ,
and IBM X series.
> 
> I've had about 7 Linux laptops in 9 years.. but this one I've had for 5..
> 
> Brad
-- 
Richard Meyer <meyerri at westnet.com.au>
My Hovercraft is full of eels.
   --Monty Python's Flying Circus

Linux Counter user #306629