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.

After looking at android tablets I realized that the better models would ultimately cost as much or more than the discounted inspiron.

MCM isn't exaggerating, by the way, Dell provides an absurd amount of incentives and discounts to enterprise consumers.

Going to grab a chrome-buntu-book for $199 and see what I can make of that instead.

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.

I have helped a few folks put Linux on their Mac's and it was a real headache!

I've been running Fedora on this new Sony Vaio for about 6 months and it's great!
But I had it custom built.

A Developer that I talk to has a Lenovo and he loves it no problems.

Samsung; I'll leave that up to our Guru; business_kidd to explain.

And, Toshiba a friend of mine has one old and one brand new; graphics rock but for some reason the hard drive
makes start up noise for no reason.

Most merchant's have the 30 day return policy.
But they are playing games with a 15% re-stocking fee

Lenovo
http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/General-...tly/td-p/72950

Office Depot changed their policy to 14 days-
http://www.planetfeedback.com/office...+policy/310746

Good luck on your new purchase. Your distribution will look good regardless:-

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.

Just stay away from anything with Nvidia Optimus. Not well supported.

Thinkpads are so easy to clean. I love how easy it was to clean mine and replace the thermal paste.

Pop the back cover and there you are with the heat guts right in front of you. Get cleaning. Easy.

Thermal paste is easy as well. Clean old off (old towel or whatever) and replace by using a sandwich bag over a finger, easy. Use sparingly. Like new!

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.

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--

20 min's! Amazing!

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.

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.

Desktop; not ready to take apart a laptop yet- Still reading and learning.
Thanks for the confirmation.