Hi, I hope this sort of question isn't too irritating, but here it comes:

I'm looking for a nice laptop around the £800-850 (~1600 USD) price range. Ideally I want something quite light and easy to carry around, but I'm also keen to have something with a reasonably nice screen (high-ish res, and perhaps big-ish). Perhaps those two requirements contradict slightly. Most importantly though I'd like something that is fully (or very close to fully) compatible with Linux. I'm not bothered if it has a modem that won't work for example, but things like wi-fi are essential. That is, I really want internal wi-fi, not a PCMCIA card for example.

I've been looking at the Samsung X30 model available for £835 here , and also at the Dell Latitude d610 which was recommended to me by a friend. Preliminary research has hinted that I won't have many problems running Linux on either, but I thought I'd post here before making any final decisions just in case anybody is able to offer any helpful advice or bring any new ideas forward.

Thanks for your suggestions, and again, sorry if this sort of post is unwelcome .

I dont know if this is true but my friend told me that all of the Dell laptops are fully linux compatible for most of the componants, I know I looked at the Dell inspiron 700m which is that very small thin laptop with integrated wireless g b or a or a combination of those 3. I looked it up online and it said that the card worked with linux. Also that computer was on sale for pretty cheap, I think the 2gig centrino was like 1100 starting price. And after I added everything including like 1 gig of ram, wireless abg, a huge battery and all the essential elements it came to about 1600$

hi guys,

i know very well dell laptops, they're quite good for the price you pay them!!

actually there is a large site for linux on dell systems it's : HERE you can check the compability there...

the latitude ones are more resistants cause they're like the enterprise brand, while inspiron is more for home users: new technology and cheap price....

hope this can help!

Get an iBook 12". The only thing that won't work is the wireless card as Broadcom hasn't released any specs for it. Sleep, 3D acceleration, etc all work pretty much right out of the box. Build quality is very good too. You'll find no other laptop with a more solid LCD hinge than the iBooks and Powerbooks. They're the cheapest 12" laptops in the UK to boot.

IBM thinkpad running slackware and dropline gnome with wireless is fun, especially going wardriving.

To be honest, I hate my Dell laptop. Nearly everyone I've seen the LCD hindge eventually breaks. But my 300MHz Inspiron 3500 is running Gentoo quite well.

I just got a new Dell 700m everything works great and the screen is fantastic. The notebook ways 4.1 lbs and has a 1280x800 very bright screen. You can get a top of the line 700m for $1600. The keyboard is taken a little time to get use to, but I feel more comfortable with it every day.


TVR

The thing to look for is that the manufacturer states that the laptop is "Linux Certified". This means they have used only components known to be supported by the Linux kernel.

There are a few vendors who specialize in Linux Laptops. Emperor Linux systems seem pretty expensive to me, for the hardware. So you're definitely paying extra to get all the installation and driver setups done for you.

http://www.emperorlinux.com/mfgr/sha...details&id=202

Linux Certified systems seem more reasonably priced.
http://linuxcertified.com/linux-laptop-lc2210.html

And how could I forget eRacks:
http://eracks.com/products/Laptops

I don't have any first hand experience with this, but I believe Intel has released a Linux module for Centrino mini-pci wireless cards:
http://www.linuxlinks.com/portal/new...50202224458773

I have a Dell 700m with WindowsXP and Slackware Dual boot. It took some time to get all the hardware working in Slackware but it is by far the best choice for ultra portables on the market.

Dell 700m
Intel Pentium M 2.0ghz Dothan
1gb pc2700
80gb
Intel 2915abg miniPCI wifi

I wrote up a lil tutorial too =)

http://decompiled.org/howto/slackware700m.html

Personally, I'd go with Toshiba. I've been on several Toshiba Satellites thru the years with zero issues.

My sony vaio S260 works flawlessly with linux, is light and easy to carry, and has a great LCD. I'd buy it again if I were facing the decision a second time.

--Shade

I've a Dell Inspiron 600m (got it in august 2003). Dell laptops are compatible with Linux just because Linux developers do a great work. When I bought it, most of the hardware didn't work with Linux. Fortunately things have changed and now I even have wireless (I use Gentoo and Debian). Anyway, I wouldn't recommend you a Dell laptop. At least not an Inspiron: Recently I got a Latitude 600 from my job. It looks more "robust" than mine. Personally I'll try to go for a IBM next time. The problem is that they are a lot more expensive...

I think this link hasn't been posted yet Here: http://www.linux-laptop.net/ you can find some tips about installing linux on different laptops.

Hope this helps!

I have ran Slackware 9.0 / 10.0 on a Dell Latitude c610 and everything works perfectly.

Here is a page of Dell latitude's for between $500.00 and $575.00!

https://www.e-topco.com/commerce/sto...?idCategory=99

I HIGHLY recommend ASUS W3000N.
Lots of brand-name notebooks are manufactured by ASUS.
ASUS' own brand notebooks carry 2-year international warranty.
It's around 2 kilograms.
W3000N is a piece of art: a fantastic LCD, all the devices you look for, and most importantly an independent ATI graphic card.

Light-weighted laptops usually come with a CHEAP Intel integrated graphic chipset (855GME 855GM etc).
As I posted (go to linuxquestions.org/questions/showthread.php?s=&threadid=310012), the chipset supports external LCDs natively only at 1024x768. It's very nice to work with a 17 or 19 inch external LCD with your laptop at home. With notebooks with the cheap Intel chipset, you will miss that.

If you NEVER connect a 17, 19 inch or bigger LCD, you might look for other ASUS models: like S5N weighing only 1.3(?) kilograms without the external dvd/cdrw.

If you find W3000N and S5N a littel pricey, you might search for other ASUS or DELL models.