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Choosing a new laptop
The situation is looking well here after my job change, so it is time to consider what laptop to buy. I've previously had an IBM/Lenovo X60s and been reasonably happy with it. I've written about my experiences running Gentoo on it previously.
I still want an ultra portable laptop so now I'm considering my options. Currently I'm looking at:
- IBM X60s again (1250+€)
- Sony Vaio TX series (2250+€)
- Possibly a small MacBook (1200+€)
Before running out and buying a new laptop I'd love to hear if anyone have any comments about running Gentoo on those or new proposals and their general quality. Anyone can comment but everything is moderated.
Thanks in advance!
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5 comments
Comment from: Henry Miller [Visitor] 
I love the Levento laptops - at least so far they have not decended into the typical lack of quality you get from many vendors - (particularly Chinese vendors, but other countries decend to the same thing)
Still I didn't buy one last month, in large part because it came with a Microsoft tax. I urge you to look closely at the linux pre-installed vendors to see if something meets your needs. (This obviously doesn't apply if you want Microsoft Windows)
I personally bought the LS1250 from rcubed systems. Sure it came with ubunto, (which lasted all of 5 minutes before I reinstalled) but I figgure any money sent to ubunto at least goes to something useful. Redhat puts money into x.org development (I don't know what ubunto puts money into, but I figured I try that), while money sent to Microsoft does nothing for me.
The down side of my laptop is the keyboard is too small, but that is the price you pay for portability. (One of these days I'm going to see if dasher meets my input needs, it sounds like it should) The quality is otherwise good enough (not quite Leveno, but good), and it was a lto cheaper than any of the leveno options I looked at. (Part of this is Leveno offers upgrade options that I didn't get - I'm not comparing apples here)
I'm personally a freebsd guy, so I can't say how gentoo will work, but I would expect it to work fine.
I don't know anyone who has installed Linux on a mac, but the mac laptops are wonderful from what I have seen. The single mouse button turns me off though. (in fact I'm turned off by the dual buttons on my current machine, if anyone knows of a hack to add the middle button let me know, as I need 3 mouse buttons)
Good luck.
Still I didn't buy one last month, in large part because it came with a Microsoft tax. I urge you to look closely at the linux pre-installed vendors to see if something meets your needs. (This obviously doesn't apply if you want Microsoft Windows)
I personally bought the LS1250 from rcubed systems. Sure it came with ubunto, (which lasted all of 5 minutes before I reinstalled) but I figgure any money sent to ubunto at least goes to something useful. Redhat puts money into x.org development (I don't know what ubunto puts money into, but I figured I try that), while money sent to Microsoft does nothing for me.
The down side of my laptop is the keyboard is too small, but that is the price you pay for portability. (One of these days I'm going to see if dasher meets my input needs, it sounds like it should) The quality is otherwise good enough (not quite Leveno, but good), and it was a lto cheaper than any of the leveno options I looked at. (Part of this is Leveno offers upgrade options that I didn't get - I'm not comparing apples here)
I'm personally a freebsd guy, so I can't say how gentoo will work, but I would expect it to work fine.
I don't know anyone who has installed Linux on a mac, but the mac laptops are wonderful from what I have seen. The single mouse button turns me off though. (in fact I'm turned off by the dual buttons on my current machine, if anyone knows of a hack to add the middle button let me know, as I need 3 mouse buttons)
Good luck.
2006-11-30 @ 18:57
Comment from: Daniel Arvesen [Visitor]
I have an IBM/Lenovo X40 that runs perfectly under Gentoo. 3 mouse buttons makes it very ideal for Linux. Everything that I need works including wireless (ipw2200), power management (standby, suspend to memory and disk), and video. Much work has been put into ibm-acpi which has been part of the mainline kernel for a while now. One thing that I have not gotten to work (and I have not tried very hard getting it to work) is the external VGA. There are a variety of hacks out there, but again, I haven't tried them.
There is a wiki devoted to Linux on Thinkpads at thinkwiki.org
There is a wiki devoted to Linux on Thinkpads at thinkwiki.org
2006-11-30 @ 20:57
* IBM X60s
Definately my number one choice when the time comes for me to change my X31 for a newer model - perhaps with an Atheros wireless card instead of the default IPW3945.
* Sony Vaio TX series
The Vaios I have tried have not been very ... how to put it ... open source friendly. Broken ACPI implementations and proprietary hardware interfaces aren't the best for running OSS on a laptop.
* Possibly a small MacBook
If it wasn't for their defective (comes with a touchpad and only one mouse button) pointing device, these would be cool...
Definately my number one choice when the time comes for me to change my X31 for a newer model - perhaps with an Atheros wireless card instead of the default IPW3945.
* Sony Vaio TX series
The Vaios I have tried have not been very ... how to put it ... open source friendly. Broken ACPI implementations and proprietary hardware interfaces aren't the best for running OSS on a laptop.
* Possibly a small MacBook
If it wasn't for their defective (comes with a touchpad and only one mouse button) pointing device, these would be cool...
2006-12-01 @ 14:15
Comment from: jaervosz [Member]
Thx for all the comments.
I've ordered an IBM X60s and is eagerly awaiting it's arrival :)
I've ordered an IBM X60s and is eagerly awaiting it's arrival :)
2006-12-05 @ 09:40
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