What Laptop to get?
 

I'm getting a laptop in the next month or so, and I thought I'd ask what people at LQ think.

I want something small, but not too small (ie 14" or 15" screen) and reliable processor that doesn't have to be insanely fast (ie no need for P4, I'd much rather have Centrino or Pentium M). I've been told Intel mobile processors are better than the AMD Turion processors is that true?

I also want 1gig of RAM, minimum 100Gig HD, and I would like a DVD burner.
So those are the basic things I want...probably pretty standard. Price of under $2000Canadian.

I've been looking mostly at Toshiba and HP, though I would love suggestions.

I'm currently leaning towards the HP DV1440CA (with 12 cell battery, 1gig RAM, 100gig HD, Intel Centrino 750 1.86GHz), whos only problem seems to be Intel graphics.
I'm not much of a gamer, though I do like to play a game every once in a while...I would love to try Doom 3 one of these days. How big of an issue is the graphics card?

Are there any other things I should be looking for in a laptop?
I've looked at LG, Dell and Gateway too but I don't trust them. I've been warned by friends not to go with these brands...friends who have them mostly.


How is Centrino's wireless? I remember hearing it didn't work in Linux and really sucked in general. Is this still true?

Thanks, and I hope this information can help others too. This info goes out of date so fast these days.

100gig, 1Gig of RAM, and the DVD burner are going to be your limiting factors I think. That being said, if youre looking for good Linux compatible laptop thats built like a tank, IBM is the way to go. Youll find alot of folks use them around here, and for good reason.

IBM eh?
Anything other than IBM? I'm not a fan of the Thinkpad, I've seen too many overpriced IBM thinkpads break down and die...though I haven't seen anyone with a Thinkpad for about 5 years, so I'm sure that has changed now...especially for the prices they sell at. I have looked into it though, and they do seem to be great laptops now, but aimed more at business users.

I've noticed a lot of people saying Dell is the way to go...I definitely disagree with that. Dell used to make good quality computers, but their laptops are cheap (I've seen lots of reviews say they are amazing! They only had to replace the hard drive once and the motherboard once...hows that amazing?)

Toshibas seem good, I like them, but the ones in my price range have a cheap feel to them, and they are often bulky. But they are definitely in my top 5.

HPs look good, feel lightning fast when you play with them in the store. I also have a few friends with HPs, other than Toshiba, these are the only laptops that haven't needed repairs yet. People give HP a bad rating, and I would have too up to about 2 years ago or less. Anyone care to elaborate on why HP is bad?
Oh, and Compaq...I just have avoided these, but maybe someone can tell me how they compare.

Acer looks good, but no one I know has an Acer. I hate how most of these have AMD Turion processors. All reviews seem to say Turion is no good. That being said, Acer laptops often get decent reviews. The Ferrari line looks really cool too.

LG laptops feel cheap, though I haven't really looked at them much. A friend just won one, but people don't seem to like them (unless they are free).


If anyone could elaborate on why or why not to go with a certain brand it would be awesome. I do want Linux on my laptop, but this doesn't mean I want the most linux compatable labtop...I'm also interested in hardware specs...I won't budge on the RAM and I need a minimum of 80gigs HD, so IBM barely got in with that. Especially if I'm going to have Linux and Windows, I need lots of HD space. I basically want a laptop that will last 3 years without crapping out.



ALSO, is it worth waiting for the Dual-core Intel processors? They are supposed to be released in January I think...but I need my laptop by mid-January. Is it worth waiting ?


If this post doesn't seem to fit in 100% at Linuxquestions, its because it doesn't, but I figure I'll get educated responses here...not some person who "calls" tech support every two seconds because they think they might have a virus, or something stupid. Tech support is not very important to me, as long as they repair hardware problems quickly.

Well, Ill put it this way. Ive had no problems out of my Thinkpad. I also had a Compaq, that I sent to HP/Compaq to be repaired at least once every 5-6 months while it was under warranty, yet it was never fixed. I finally opened it up to find bits of solder and other garbage that was probably left in it from the manufacturing processes, or their "repairs". They also managed to not seat the heatsink properly, so it fried the processor, twice. Think about these things when you compare the cost of an HP/Compaq, but also think about build quality. Try sitting one on your lap, and chances are that HP screen will rock back and forth every time you move. My screen doesnt budge on my IBM. Why? Because IBM has better build quality, hands down. Pick up the HP, and listen to the plastic creak. Pick up an IBM, and notice that noise is absent. If you want a laptop that will last you 3+ years, I strongly urge you to consider the IBM. Hard drive space or RAM isnt that important, because they are easily upgraded on the Thinkpad. Basically, buy the basement as far as those are concerned, and upgrade aftermarket, youll come out much cheaper in the long run.

Help me design an IBM system
 

Ok, so I'm listening. IBM has superior quality, but lower specs.
I've been looking at the IBM website and I can't decide what would be best.

I like the size of the widescreen models personally, but they generally have Intel graphics. Thats my preference, but that aside...I have ~$2000 for a laptop (not including taxes), and I want something great. Anyone want to help me out a little and help design the ideal system to buy? I have no idea which series to even look at.

DVD burner is almost a must. Feel free to include aftermarket parts to get up to $2000.
I am finding it hard to look at computers with lower specs, trying to decide what I can cut, and what I can upgrade later.

I'd recommend this:

http://www-131.ibm.com/webapp/wcs/st...catalogId=-840

Should have everything you need, or if you could do without the x300 (which you will need for gaming, don't even consider it with that intel integrated crap), then I'd recommend a lower model with the lowest model pentium m, and then look on newegg, you can get a dvd burner for 80$, a 100 gig hdd for 140$ or so, and a gig of ram for about 100$ or so. That should save you some money.

That laptop looks pretty good...but it isn't available in Canada from what I can tell.

Acer laptops seem to work alright with Linux. I bought one recently and everything works fine with Suse 10. A friend has a different model and was running the Suse Live CD without any problems.

I've got a Sony FS742W that I really like. I haven't loaded it up with Linux yet, but when I booted up with Knoppix, I was able to do just about everything.