Linux - Laptop and NetbookHaving a problem installing or configuring Linux on your laptop? Need help running Linux on your netbook? This forum is for you. This forum is for any topics relating to Linux and either traditional laptops or netbooks (such as the Asus EEE PC, Everex CloudBook or MSI Wind).
Notices
Welcome to LinuxQuestions.org, a friendly and active Linux Community.
You are currently viewing LQ as a guest. By joining our community you will have the ability to post topics, receive our newsletter, use the advanced search, subscribe to threads and access many other special features. Registration is quick, simple and absolutely free. Join our community today!
Note that registered members see fewer ads, and ContentLink is completely disabled once you log in.
If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us. If you need to reset your password, click here.
Having a problem logging in? Please visit this page to clear all LQ-related cookies.
Get a virtual cloud desktop with the Linux distro that you want in less than five minutes with Shells! With over 10 pre-installed distros to choose from, the worry-free installation life is here! Whether you are a digital nomad or just looking for flexibility, Shells can put your Linux machine on the device that you want to use.
Exclusive for LQ members, get up to 45% off per month. Click here for more info.
I am looking for a laptop or tablet computer that will run linux flawlessly. I need it to be small and light to take to class, have great wireless support, and have a nvidia video card. An intel pentium M (no celeron or sparc, but AMD is ok), and at least 512 memory. Cost less than 1200 dollars. I currently run an Inspiron 9100, have tried Suse 10, and there are simply too many hardware issues to try and resolve. Therefore, I really need a seperate laptop that doesn't weigh 9 lbs and has longer than a 1.5 hour battery life. I intend to run linux solely on this new computer, no dual boot for windowns. Optical drive is a must. I have found several linux laptops on the net, but I am not sure about their quality. If you have a setup that all of the hardware works on with linux that originally came with windows, that is fine, I can just wipe the disk and install linux with the cds. I look forward to the day when I can be windows free alltogether, but we will take baby steps for now. I know that these are some pretty stiff requirements, but I'm a dreamer. Please just list anything close. Thanks for your help
Well, I have a Compaq Presario R3120 and it works well enough with Gentoo, but I don't think you could call it 'flawless'. I think these days IBM has a line of laptops certified for Linux, why not check them out?
You are getting mighty specific, but I would endorse IBM Thinkpads. I've got a T40 that I wouldn't trade for anything, and it is highly Linux-friendly. It uses ATI video though, so I guess it fails your test, but nonetheless I'd still recommend it.
For fully configured Linux laptops, you may be interested in Emperor Linux
Yeah, I really like the thinkpads. The only reason I wanted nvidia over ATI is that their are more supportive of open source drivers. I actually prefer ATI hardware, but they act all pooty when you email their support people for flgrx help. Maybe I'll send them a reciept for my next nvidia card along with the reason why I dropped their products. It can't be that hard to write a decent driver, so why don't they please alot of people and just spend a couple days hacking one out? Their are alienating a growing population.
You should consider VAIO S-series. I have the S560 which is very light (4 lb), Pentium M at 1.8 Ghz, and 512 MB memory. It has nVidia Go with 128 Ram and wireless B/G to start with. The harddrive is 100 GB and the screen is around 13". Mine is a bit older model and slightly used (open box) so the price was right around 1,400 bucks.
SUSE 10.0 running almost flawlessly on this notebook. The screen is selectable at 1280x800 using nVidia driver with 3D enabled at 24bit color. The wireless is easy to setup using YAST and KDE Control Center. The Power Management is working fine also. I didn't check the built-in modem though.
Everythings else is working as I expected. Not really flawless though because the function buttons and windows button were not working.
LinuxQuestions.org is looking for people interested in writing
Editorials, Articles, Reviews, and more. If you'd like to contribute
content, let us know.