We got this laptop as an evaluation laptop for possible purchases from Dell. I tested this with Redhat 3WS which had no problems. Everything was detected. The only thing we had to do extra was to install the nvidia driver for the video to be able to get the full 1920x1200 display resolution which didn't give me any problems.

I think the laptop with options we were given retails for about $3500.00 USD.

I give this laptop a 8/10, and I will explain why. I got it from my school after my previous XP computer was stolen. Disgruntled and betrayed, I decided to try Linux for the first time to reacquaint with computing and to accelerate my know-how. So I installed the SUSE 9.1 ISO from LinuxISO.org. It has paid off. Almost everything worked, but here are the modifications I had to make:

-I had to download the NVIDIA driver from their driver website, and install it at runlevel 3. That introduced me to the concept of runlevels.

-I had to update the kernel, but couldn't do it RPM-style, for whatever reason. Instead, I used the already included YOU, or susewatcher, to update it for me through the internet.

-To get my wireless card working, I had to build ndiswrapper from source and load it using modprobe. This has been a constant hassle, and it still doesn't work 100%. It freezes when I load the ndiswrapper module using modprobe because I have to alter my kernel to utilize 8K stacks. That is a bit much for a newbie, so I'm holding off. In the meantime, I used the how-to on this site (nextgen.no-ip.org/~andrew/ndiswrapper/index.html), which introduced me to compiling my own sources and the concept of modules. The card doesn't kill my system sometimes. I am posting over a wireless connection right now.

-Samba (Windows networking protocol) has its home on SUSE in the form of a very advanced command line program that is difficult to use. LinNeighborhood, a GUI, doesn't work without a patch in most cases, and the patch doesn't compile properly, even with all the necessary packages installed.

-Finally, I haven't tried to get a printer working directly, but the printer connected to the Windows machine on my network won't find itself recognized. I have a feeling that by installing the Unix printing component in Add/Remove Programs under Windows XP (need disk). I erm.. believe in a free OS, so I don't necessarily have my Windows XP disk... unable to test it out.

So, this is how it breaks down:

Video, sound, ethernet, USB mouse, digital camera: +8

Couldn't recompile kernel from packages: -1
Wifi only 70% working without editting the kernel: -1

All-in-all, you will get a great Linux experience out of this machine. Good luck, technophiles.