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Two comments on the review:
At $1449 it's not cheap at all by European standards. I recently bought a Samsung I3(-3310?) & hd4000 w 6gig ram, 17.3" 1600x900 & big hd for under €600 = under $700. Your deal on Dell would want to be good for it to make sense.
Second, who paid him to do the review? It reads like Dell did! But I don't read enough reviews to be able to water down their drivel.
Yeah, the Ubuntu Developer Edition model costs a bit more due to higher specs (Ubuntu, Ivy Bridge, i7, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD). I didn't buy that particular model though. As I already mentioned in my previous post, I have the early 2012 XPS 13 base model: Windows 7, Sandy Bridge, i5, 4GB RAM, 128GB SSD. But I got a nice deal from dell.com via Dell's Business/Enterprise. My model was listed @ $1200 but discounted to $799. I then opted to downgrade MS Office Pro to MS Office Home which cut another $310 off the price. Therefore I ended up paying $489 before taxes. I bookmarked the page for my particular model after I ordered it in case someone was looking for a discounted ultrabook. Sure enough, they ran out of the Sandy Bridge models sometime last week. I'd been checking on it at least twice a week since I ordered mine last month to see how long it'd last. I even posted this comment in another thread as a hint to the discount.
Needless to say, I'm happy with my purchase. So far, so good.
Distribution: Debian /Jessie/Stretch/Sid, Linux Mint DE
Posts: 5,195
Rep:
I know the question of this thread is not "which is the best laptop you ever had?", but I also happen to use a 2008 Lenovo T61. It is simply the perfect machine. Fast, matte screen, high resolution, battery life, etc etc. As a matter of fact, a little over a year ago I bought a VAIO to replace it, and dumped it because it had a number of awkward unacceptable properties. Then I purchased a ASUS 17" monster because I need the high screen resolution. Although I have successfully installed Debian I never use it, the protective plastic is still on. I prefer the T61.
As for the cooling fan, once I cleaned it out on my hotel room when I was traveling. I do carry a small toolkist, yes.
This is one of the instruction pages around: http://www.insidemylaptop.com/replac...ad-t61-laptop/
There are many more. If you aren't born with two left hands you can do it.
Bottom line: it is only delaying execution. Sooner or later your T61 will be worn out. There is simply not a replacement (for a professional) as good as this one was.
I know the question of this thread is not "which is the best laptop you ever had?", but I also happen to use a 2008 Lenovo T61. It is simply the perfect machine. Fast, matte screen, high resolution, battery life, etc etc. As a matter of fact, a little over a year ago I bought a VAIO to replace it, and dumped it because it had a number of awkward unacceptable properties. Then I purchased a ASUS 17" monster because I need the high screen resolution. Although I have successfully installed Debian I never use it, the protective plastic is still on. I prefer the T61.
As for the cooling fan, once I cleaned it out on my hotel room when I was traveling. I do carry a small toolkist, yes.
This is one of the instruction pages around: http://www.insidemylaptop.com/replac...ad-t61-laptop/
There are many more. If you aren't born with two left hands you can do it.
Bottom line: it is only delaying execution. Sooner or later your T61 will be worn out. There is simply not a replacement (for a professional) as good as this one was.
jlinkels
I hear ya. Nothing like the classic thinkpads for quality anymore and it's a damned shame. That said, ye ol' thinkpad is a brick that my old back would love to stop hauling around, know what I mean?
Actually couldn't bring myself to grab the chromebook yet. That fan and heatsink is only $25 off ebay.... damned if I don't feed obliged to give it a try. Though I also found another website www.cowboom.com (best buy affiliate) today selling a bunch consumer grade laptops on the cheap. Refurbished and Used ofc, but tons of them for the price of a chromebook (which really makes the chromebook look like a silly investment). Still trying to tease out what their returns policy is, but could be promising.
Last edited by proletaria; 03-13-2013 at 10:47 PM.
Samsung; I'll leave that up to our Guru; business_kidd to explain.
That "Guru" is a most undeserved rating I somehow picked up recently for asking too many questions :-/. Moderators if ypu're reading, restore order and demote me :-).
That said, I wouldn't recommend Samsung. You have to reformat MBR and disable UEFI, and forget support. Do not buy with windows 8. That said, it's a nice laptop, which I bought because it was cheap, I liked the screen, and generally felt I'd shoehorn something onto it.
That sounds wonderful. I wish I didn't need to take out the keyboard, trackpad, and everything else just to get at the guts of my T61. I've been watching a few videos of the process on youtube and it takes the guys with appropriate tools more than 20mins. I could build a complete desktop in less time than that, haha.
Last edited by proletaria; 03-14-2013 at 07:46 PM.
That sounds wonderful. I wish I didn't need to take out the keyboard, trackpad, and everything else just to get at the guts of my T61. I've been watching a few videos of the process on youtube and it takes the guys with appropriate tools more than 20mins. I could build a complete desktop in less time than that, haha.
Well I tell ya, my first time ever working on a laptop was an little hp. I had to clean it out. Out came everything and hundreds of pieces on my table. Put it all back together and it went without a hitch. Took some time yes but I learned along the way. Been building desktop PCs since the days of DOS and I would rate a laptop on a scale of one to ten (ten being hardest) about a four. Was not that bad and I would walk mm kids through it I think without much issue. Not that hard.
Well I tell ya, my first time ever working on a laptop was an little hp. I had to clean it out. Out came everything and hundreds of pieces on my table. Put it all back together and it went without a hitch. Took some time yes but I learned along the way. Been building desktop PCs since the days of DOS and I would rate a laptop on a scale of one to ten (ten being hardest) about a four. Was not that bad and I would walk mm kids through it I think without much issue. Not that hard.
If you don't mind me asking about how long did it take to make complete sense of a motherboard, power supply and all of the components and devices?
I'm not exactly having the time of my life with it--
That sounds wonderful. I wish I didn't need to take out the keyboard, trackpad, and everything else just to get at the guts of my T61. I've been watching a few videos of the process on youtube and it takes the guys with appropriate tools more than 20mins. I could build a complete desktop in less time than that, haha.
Location: Through Death's Door on Washington Island, Wisconsin in Lake Michigan
Distribution: Fedora
Posts: 28
Rep:
I'm a newbie, two weeks of Fedora (after 30 years 'dozing), on my five year old Dell Inspiron 1520, and with no issues that I have attributed to the OS, only to my occasional stupidity. If this is considered difficult then easy must be REALLY easy.
If you don't mind me asking about how long did it take to make complete sense of a motherboard, power supply and all of the components and devices?
I'm not exactly having the time of my life with it--
In a laptop? Or a desktop?
It is much easier to make sense of components on a desktop. Laptop is not hard but requires more thought and remembering how things go back together.
I think they are both rather easy. Desktop can be thrown together fast where a laptop takes some time. Not bad.
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