Hey Everyone,

I am looking for a new laptop and I wanted to know what all the geniuses on the forum thought. I was thinking about getting a Macbook Pro but after one visit to the local Mac store I realized I am in no way a Mac person if you will. A brief talk with one of the "Mac Geniuses" telling me that OS X is the "perfect" OS was enough for me. But back to my question. I am currently looking at a Thinkpad, a T61 actually, and wanted to know if anyone had any experience with one. Also, if anyone had any suggestions for a good laptop.

Thanks.

Thinkpads are a great choice, and probably have the most Linux friendly hardware out of the box among the big name manufacturers.

I "cheaped out" and got an R61 and am very pleased with it.

Now looks like a great time to buy too as they look to be 30% off.

I understand what you mean about the Mac "cult". Nothing much else needs to be said :P

Good luck.

I got the R61i and works great with Slack 12 with minimum effort (alsa related issues only)

Look at this beast.

http://www.alienware.com/product_pag...book_m15x.aspx

I've been drooling over this thing ever since it was announced... Quite possibly the best lappy on the market performance wise and is OHHHH so sweet looking...

I just customized one at the highest specs... 4k USD... OUCH!

Now if I were to get the upgraded GPU in the T series is there any kernel issues or anything weird like that?

BTW, that Alienware laptop is very nice. Way to make my laptop selection even harder...

I also recommend Thinkpads. They work great and don't ever quit. My TP 600E (PII) from the '90s still runs like a champ!

I also second the drooling over the alienware laptop. I don't think I should look at that site again...

Well... Looks like they are coming out with a poor man's laptop... Just don't hit the customize button or your in the same boat again. Ever since I had my MBP, I'm completely spoiled on the backlit keyboard. It's a must if you prefer to sit at your computer with the lights off. You can also switch the lights to several different colors, independently of one another or all one color scheme like they show...

Yea. I get myself in a bad mood everytime I look at them...

Will add what not to take for linux: do not buy ASUS. Couldn't get the most of hardware working, simply because there are no drivers for it. But still why should I need SD slot so much?..

I have nothing against Asus as they are pretty decent low-end machines but avoid Acer brand... horrible machines. Sold mine and got T60 instead.

I'm all for Thinkpads, the best laptops you can get IMHO. Been drooling over the X61s that I saw at OpenCON... pretty sweet machine.

6 years on T41 and T43p ThinkPads - all have run what ever distro I've installed.

Check out the excellent ThinkWiki site for advice on running Linux on ThinkPads. It will also be a useful source of info deciding on which model to go for if you do buy one.

Good to see so many people recommend one particular type of laptop. Must be something to it...

Sorry, forgot to exclude AUSUS'es eee pc.