Sorry if this in the wrong section I not have much time. I need to buy laptop computer and I don't know anything about them. Anybody have advice what to buy? Are they good enough to play advanced 3D games these days? Could I save a lot of money by getting something with less graphical capabilites? I need to put Slack 13.1 on the laptop.

Is best option to buy online? Used, new? Wal-mart? I have no idea. I know I don't really want to put anything together. I just want to buy it in one piece.

I don't know about the USA, but here in the UK laptops tend to be cheaper when bought online.
Apparently, Asus laptops are very reliable:
http://www.t3.com/news/asus-and-tosh...laptops?=42319
I've always had HP notebooks and didn't complain much, though.

As far as a video card is concerned, regardless if you are a gamer or not, my personal experience (also with Slackware) is that NVIDIA is better supported in linux.
Although they supply proprietary drivers, they are extremely easy to install. I haven't had any real problems with them.
As far as wifi is concerned, it's much better to get a notebook with eg. an atheros chipset. They are supported out of the box. Some broadcom chipsets, on the other hand, still
require ndiswrapper to work on linux.

Once you've found the one you want to buy it, make some thorough research on the internet to find out if people have had any problems with it.
Also, don't forget about the Hardware Compatibility List here on LQ.

HTH

Me, Robby Workman and Alien Bob all have T400 Thinkpads. They're perfect for Linux and Slackware. Highly recommended.

The integrated video cards won't play advanced 3D games, but they'll play most indy games fine. Integrated video also has the advantage of generating much less heat and drawing much less power.

Yeah, it's a nice laptop. The price slightly puzzles me, though

Someone posted it on alt.os.linux.slackware:

http://www.linuxcertified.com/linux_laptops.html
http://www.linux-laptop.net/
http://www.cyberciti.biz/tips/linux-laptop.html

I'm the great fan of ThinkPads too but I prefer used laptops then new ones. Used laptop is cheaper than new one so for the same money you can buy better machine. The best option is to follow auctions and wait for machine with at least a few months of guarantee.

My last buy was ThinkPad T60 with two years of guarantee. During these two years Lenovo replaced two times combo drive (DVD/CD-RW) and once a fan. In my opinion DVD/CD drives and fans are weakest parts of ThinkPads.

My previous laptop was ThinkPad T41. At the end of the guarantee IBM replaced defective mainboard, fan, and combo drive.

My prior laptop was ThinkPad T40. I bought it used without guarantee. After two years of usage I noticed keyboard problem (jamming key ,,A''). I replaced the keyboard with a new one and since that time that laptop works flawlessly.

Now I use T60 as my main machine and T40 as a spare one. T41 I gave as a gift to my girlfriend.

***

You ask:

The reply to the first question is ``yes''. The reply to the second question is ``yes''. The reply to both questions is ``no''. Before you decide what machine you need to buy you should to precisely define your needs.

Just an FYI - I have two Dell laptops, a Studio 17 with Intel graphics and a XPS 13 with Nvidia graphics that run Fedora 13 flawlessly, everything works. If interested the fedora forum has a thread on laptops that run fedora, which should be a good read for anyone looking to see what problems are encountered with different laptops while running ANY Linux.

The thread was stated in 2006, go to the end and work backwards:
http://forums.fedoraforum.org/showthread.php?t=137531

I think the best laptop brands these days are Lenovo and Toshiba. Of course, make sure that the hardware you need is present. That is a dual core processor and at lest 2 Gb RAM. If you need to play games, choose one with a non-integrated video cart, preferably RADEON.

I can second GoinEasy9 about Dell -- currently running 13.1 (after 12.x and 13.0) on an Inspiron 1750, dual-core 64-bit, doesn't cost an arm or leg, works just fine. Only downside is that it comes with Win 7 (which you can simply blow away completely if you don't want it during Slackware disk partitioning and installation; otherwise, you can shrink Win 7 and then install Slackware and dual-boot). Lots of bang for the buck.

Hope this helps some.

I have an Asus K50IJ and my wife has a P50IJ. I am happy with both of them. Good battery life, cool running temp, runs Slackware 13.1 without a hitch. I also have a Toshiba Satellite A215 running 13.1, but that machine has a poor thermal design. It runs hot and will cook your legs. Newegg.com has decent deals on laptops, and typically ground shipping comes in 2 days or less. This being "back-to-school" time good deals can be had a retailers too. Hope this helps, good luck.

Anyone have experience with the Lenovo Thinkpad T410 and Slackware (or any Linux distribution)? I know they're similar to the T400 discussed above, but I'm aiming at a model with an Intel Core i7-620M and want to know how well that works (Frequency scaling, turbo mode, etc..)

-A

Wow, this a lot of help, thanks. I have 30 minute stint on internet at library right now. Frustrating to research anything.

Hey actually I don't need to play StarCraft II or Dragon Age or any advanced games of today. But I need to run a program that uses SDL and OpenGL. Mostly 2D OpenGL and maybe some 3D but nothing serious. Could the integrated video card handle it?

Don't have time to read the whole thread, but will vote for
the Lenovo T61. First laptop I've used that everything works
in Linux. Presently running Gentoo, with a Win7 partition
for some things Linux can not do at present.

Check our HCL for other laptops. Lenovo was making the IBM
ThinkPads as OEM before they bought the PC division from IBM.

Another thing to consider is that Thinkpads have good Linux support at the Thinkwiki.

I've got an older IBM Thinkpad A22m that runs Slackware 13.1 and KDE without a hitch.

Regards,