i want my first laptop but i have a few questions...
 

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i've been browsing and Compaq Presario 2195us became my first choice. the problem is that it's not listed on http://www.linux-on-laptops.com. i've read some reviews on other presarios around the number 2195 and it seemed like they ran fine, but i guess that's sort of irrelevant.

anyhow, i was just wondering whether any of you think it will work with linux (slackware 9.1) or have tried the laptop.

finally, i use dial-up and i was wondering whether Integrated V.90/V.92 56K modem (RJ-11 connector) will work with linux. it doesn't say anything about the brand of the modem. since i've had no experience with laptops i don't know what kind of modems laptops generally use. if you know whether the modem will work with linux, please let me know.

thanks:study:

EDIT:

i've been kept looking and i found 2 other choices:
Toshiba A25-S207 (this wasn't on the list of laptops revied), and Toshiba 2435-S255 (which was on the list but it seems like there is a modem problem).

so now i have 3 choices, but i'm still leaning towards the presario, but i have a desire to take a risk and give the A25-S207 a shot.

what do you< guys think?
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EDIT2:

so.. i think i'll go with Pavilion ze4560us, but if anyone knows i'll have any kind of trouble with that, i'd be greatful

Here's another site with numerous reviews of many laptops: http://tuxmobil.org/mylaptops.html -- J.W.

oh i did go to that site but it seemed like it was worse/same. none of my choices are listed there.

EDIT:

oh and which is better for linux? athlon-m or pentium? i'll be doing mostly multitasking (music on, word processing, browsing, several more apps), but i might do some gaming too. not too much but i don't want the laptop to just freeze. happenes with my sister's laptop. iono why. it's a good laptop bought a month ago.

anywho. what cpu do you think i should get? pentium's much cheaper, i think, tho.

Choey - if you ask 10 people what they think is the best distro, or CPU, or laptop, or pretty much anything, you are likely to get 10 different answers. It's a subjective thing, and there's no way to answer for sure what is "better" or "best". It pretty much depends on your preferences, experiences, application needs, and so forth. About the only suggestion I can make is that one good way to narrow down the list is to decide what you DON'T want or like. Once you've got a list that contains just the things that you like, well, pretty much any choice you then make would be OK.

If you have already decided on a given model for a laptop, then unless you find out some seriously negative info about it, you probably would want to stick with it. Since it's your money, and you'll be spending your time using that machine, you should buy whichever model you think is best. Sorry if this is a really non-specific answer, but it really is your decision. -- J.W.

I would agree with J.W. on this. Get a well known brand name laptop with a couple of PCMCIA slots and/or USB with RAM, hard disk and CPU specs just like you would shop for a desktop unit.

Even if the laptop has a crappy built-in winmodem, there just may be driver available -- check sites like linmodem.org for info. With PCMCIA slots/USB you can get any decent plug-in modem or NIC to overcome connection problems.

Talking to you right now on an older-than-dirt IBM TP365XD (P120/72MB/3.2GB) with a 3Com NIC running Mandrake 9.1 and using IceWM as my window manager. It can be done, and easily.

If you're going to be gaming you'll need 3d acceleration support, right? This limits you to Nvidia and Ati graphics cards... from my understanding Nvidia has better (or at least better for longer at this point) Linux support... this should narrow your options a bit ;)