In search of the perfect laptop
Hello everyone,
My current PC is 6 years old and my laptop is even older. Things don't go as smoothly and fast as I want it to, so I want to replace them both with one shiny, kickass new laptop. Now that I have made the jump to Linux completely I want to go even further in terms of an open system by getting a laptop that has coreboot or one that is coreboot compatible. But openness is not my only concern because the hell that starts all the Treacherous Computing bullshit is the BIOS. With Coreboot I can safely circumvent that peace of trash, so it is a serious requirement. The laptop should be laptop, not a notebook. I want to actually be able to sit with it in the backyard on my lap. That means that the laptop shouldn't be bigger than 15,4 inches. Maybe smaller if possible but only if it meets my other requirements stated below. Because of various reasons I prefer to build the laptop myself but only if that is a possibility (barebone laptop). My other requirements are: Quote:
I don't care if the parts have to come from all over the globe, as long as I can have the above. Purchasing via internet is no problem. I live in the Netherlands (EU). So my question is: can any of you please aid me in finding the laptop, or the laptop parts, that I am looking for? PS: I am going to bed now so I won't be able to respond in about 12 hours. |
Well, I can't suggest any systems to you (I am an Eee owner myself...) but I can tell you that you will need to cut short the dream of building your own laptop. There is only one "barebones" laptop I am aware of on the market, and it isn't a particularly good deal.
The problem is that unlike normal desktop machines, there are few standards in place in the realm of laptops. Parts can't be swapped as easily, as all the manufacturers have a different spin on things. For instance, the case is built to fit that specific motherboard and nothing else, the LCD pinout may be different from one model of laptop to the next, etc, etc. You are going to need to buy something "off-the-shelf" as it where, though most of the manufacturers allow a fair degree of customization at this point. |
How about Dell's Inspiron 15xx or 14xx series?
You will get 3 or 4GB RAM, with Intel integrated graphics. Intel is old supporter for FOSS and opened up before ATI. I will suggest to look particularly at Inspiron 1520 model. I don't have any information about wireless card/chip about the model. |
Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
|
Quote:
Agreed! I am out of idea. But please do post your decision in the topic. I am also going to buy a new laptop in near future. Your input will greatly help me. Thanks in advance. |
Toshiba Satellite® : A300 : A305D-S6835
I didn't do any leg work to see how Linux friendly this Laptop would be, but it does have your ATI Graphics and Atheros Wireless, as well as 3GB RAM standard.. That's one possible option Hrm as far as I can see ATI has not released the 4000 series for laptops yet... http://ati.amd.com/Products/mobile.html Nor can I find anyone that has the 2000 or 3000 series in the laptops and I can't even find this line of notebooks from toshiba.. http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/27/t...book-txw-69dw/ AMD Announces PUMA Platform ATI Radeon 3800 AMD64, etc.. June 4, 2008 http://blogs.zdnet.com/processors/?p=178 Puma = Toshiba A305D http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=4440 |
Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
|
I doubt with the announcement of the PUMA platform barely a month past you will see anything in the 4000 series for quite a while..
If I were you I would follow up on that Toshiba A305D. some of the articles indicated the tested Laptops that had better specs than the one I found on the Toshiba site, which leads me to believe there are higher spec A305D laptops in the works now. It was also the ONLY laptop I was able to find that is listed as having the PUMA designation. Best of luck in your search |
Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
|
Your way of specifying is strange. One side you are looking on the user level (battery life, speed, fast graphics, size), at the same time you are specifying on the technical level (AMD CPU, ATI graphics, etc).
That makes it kinda hard to find something which is both perfect form a user point of view and a technical point of view. Why ATI? Although they do support FOSS, Linux support by NVIDIA is very good as well, although not open. AMD instead of Intel? Maybe the AMD product line has changed, but Intel delivered quite some energy efficient powerful processors for notebooks recently. And would you like to trade in, say, a non-functional wireless adapter for your ATI and AMD processor? I don't think there is such thing like a perfect notebook, that is one which complies to your specs and contains the components you want. I would first spend a considerable amount of time at linux-on-laptops.com and tuxmobile.org to see which laptop complies with your (user side) specifications and is Linux compatible, and THEN look in that selection for AMD/ATI manufactured hardware. I am very happy with my Lenovo laptop (http://pdis.rnw.nl/~hansl/linux/T61/T61.html), and I recently turned away from HP/Compaq. (http://pdis.rnw.nl/~hansl/linux/nc62...ex_nc6230.html). I also installed an ACER 5315, but that's not quality. jlinkels |
Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
Thanks for the help though :) |
My two cents about Lenovo.
I used Lenovo 3000 N100 with dual-boot fedora and other distro for last 1 year, now I sold it. Wireless, fingerprint and webcam never worked out of the box. It has infamous broadcom chipset and microdia webcam. One of my friend's Dell is happily powered by Ubuntu at the same time. I agree Lenovo is good for business portables, but they are beyond common man's purchase power. In India, good Dell or HP laptop costs around $1100, but same config Lenovo will cost $300-400 more. |
Quote:
Props to Lenevo for building laptops that are not meant to break. However, only business laptops are build that way and not the consumer laptops, so that's why Lenevo for consumers sucks. |
Quote:
Lenovos are built in China like so many other laptops, and quite frankly the two Lenovos I purchased recently are nothing to brag about. yes they have the accelerometer to park the HD, and a fingerprint reader, but that's about it.. Their performance is not any better than my old Dell, and quite frankly I think it's worse.. Noteook repairs conmparison Quote:
|
It is a well-none psychological property of human beings to be more postive than justified about a recent purchase to show that they have made the right choice. (Farslayer, I said recent don't feel attacked). So any postive remarks about Lenovo might be due to this behaviour.
There is about a twofold difference in price between consumer notebooks and business notebooks. I did not check today, but for my feeling there is a range of (consumer) notebooks in the $700-$1000 range and another in the $1500-$2200 range. That price difference must have a reason. One thing is for sure, if a company sells notebooks to professionals, it cannot afford too many failures. It is simply not accepted. No professional would accept a notebook failure on a business trip. It would mean bad publicity and in no time the notebook sales of that company will stall. Like I said, I have experienced two failures of this generation of HP/Compaq notebooks in my department and HP is out. I don't think any company will take chances on that an try to program a predictable failure. On the other hand, I can imagine that for consumer notebooks the situation is different. First price is even more important, and that might influence the design, both on specifications and quality. Secondly, many consumers make their decision based on other criteria than professionals. There is much less rationality in such decisions, and might consumers might be focused on screen size, megapixels, gigahertz, blue-ray and whatnot. Third, I assume all notebook manufacturs might have the same attitude meaning that they all might have there turn in experiencing mass failures and bad press. I am not sure whether the article pointed to by Farslayer made this distinction as well. There is a difference between manufacturers, not based on components, but on production accuracy and quality. And yes, my Lenovo is from the higher price segment. jlinkels |
All times are GMT -5. The time now is 05:01 PM. |