What laptop could I install Slackware 12.1 on, and it works right out of the box. All I need to do is build web sites, a little programming, Browse Internet, use spreadsheets.

I want to buy a laptop, install Slackware 12.1 on it, input wireless wifi settings and get right to Work.

I have two Toshiba Laptops with Slackware 12.1/Slamd64 12.1 on them. I can't tell you that everything works out of the box, but most things do. These are older models but the hardware is similar to the new models and they are available refurbished:

Laptop No. 1 Toshiba A135-S2386 (15.4" 1280x800)
Pentium Dual-Core (Not 64-Bit), ATI Radeon XPress 200M Chipset (128Mb Video RAM), Atheros 802.11 b/g. GNOME 2.22.3 Desktop
Notes-I used the proprietary ATI Linux drivers. They worked after uncommenting the DRI 0666 line in Xorg.conf created by the ATI installation and I get 3D acceleration. The Atheros wireless card worked with the madwifi-0.9.4. However, you still have to add network info to /etc/rc.d/rc.inet1.conf. Everything else worked: DMA Accel on HDD and DVD-ROM, Sound (Sound wheel did NOT work), PCMCIA worked, Touchpad worked.

Laptop No. 2 Toshiba P105-S6104 (17" 1440x900)
Core 2 Duo (64-Bit), Intel 945GM Express Chipset, Intel Pro/Wireless 3945ABG, Intel PRO/100 VE Ethernet, Intel GMA 950 (32Mb-128Mb Video RAM). GNOME 2.22.3 Desktop
Notes-I used the i810 video driver and got 3D Video Acceleration, however, I had to manually configure xorg.conf with xorgconfig and know my monitors Horizontal Sync and Vertical Refresh rates. I have not configured wireless as I use the wired connection and it works out of the box. The 3945 microcode is in the default Slackware 12.1 Install, but I believe you still need the firmware to make it work. To enable DMA Acceleration for HDD and DVD-ROM, you have to pass a Lilo boot parameter:
hda=noprobe hdc=noprobe libata.atapi_enabled=1
Everything else worked: Sound (Sound wheel DID work), PCMCIA worked, Touchpad worked, Numberpad worked.

Hope my lengthy response helps. If I were going to buy a laptop, I would stick with Intel hardware even though it costs more, since I find it more reliable and can run BSD also. Dell has an Ubuntu laptop that would be compatible with Slackware. Just a thought.

I've Been looking at the Dell's with Ubuntu, but did not know how compatible it would be if at all. I just bought a New HP dv5 about a month and a half ago and never could get the sound or wireless working, so I sold it. Now I need something I can use to completely migrate to Slackware 12 without a lot of hassle, and the sound & wifi would also need to work. I really don't care if I need to buy an older machine or Brand new...

I have a Dell 700m, and everything worked out of the box. Except for cpu speedscaling. I had dealt with this issue back with 10.2, so it wasn't hard for me to get that working. But the wireless, video, sound all worked without a hiccup.

Oh and it also has a SD card reader, but anytime I plug a card into it, the laptop hard locks. This isn't a huge deal, as I have a portable card reader that works fine, and I also have one on my desktop.

My laptop is a couple of years old, so it won't win any awards on speed, but it is still a pretty decent machine. It is a Centrino based system with a Pentium M 1.6GHz proc, 1GB ram, and I upgraded the hard drive to a 160GB. The video is an integrated Intel 855 with 64MB shared ram. The wireless is an Intel 2200BG which supports 802.11b and g. It is a little smaller than a lot of people like (I prefer smaller machines). It is a 12.1" widescreen with a resolution of 1280x800.

I've just bought a Dell X1 and stuck Slackware 12.1 on it without delay. It was easy. There's no CD drive (laptop weighs just over 1kg). But creating a boot usb drive and installing from a usb drive with 12.1 packages was very straight forward. Everything works including wireless. Really nice laptop

I've got a Fujitsu Lifebook 565Tx that works with out any problems running slackware 12.1.

Acer Extensa 5220 with an unusable Linux preinstalled. Slackware runs fine, I only upgraded to a newer kernel to use the new driver for wireless card.
All works so far. The onboard Intel graphics adapter is supported by the xorg release Slack 12.1 ships. Wireless works with 2.6.25 and greater kernels. Firewire is ok. And the USB ports on the backside have enough power to drive my external Freecom USB harddisk without an additional Y-cable.

What is not working or untested: Bluetooth (untested), external VGA output (untested), read xD cards with internal card reader (unsupported AFAIK, SD card worked the one and only time I tried). And I have no PCMCIA cards to test the cardbus slots, so I can not say anything about it.

The only thing I don't like about it is that the Celeron 560 has no speedstep technology, so the CPU runs all the time with full power consumption.

There are two Lenovo Thinkpad R61i's in my house, both running Slack 12.1. Everything works well with them; the only thing I did was update the kernel to get the wireless drivers working correctly. I don't see that as a drawback, as there are some really good things you can get out of 2.6.27.

I also installed 12.1 on an EeePc 700, though that took a little bit of work to get together- not really an 'out-of-the-box' experience, but well worth it.