Re: gEDA-user: OT: Recommendations for laptop?

[Peter Clifton <pcjc2@xxxxxxxxx>]

On Fri, 2008-12-26 at 09:13 -0700, Bdale Garbee wrote:
> On Fri, 2008-12-26 at 07:33 -0500, Stuart Brorson wrote:
> 
> > So, does anybody in here have recommendations for a good laptop?  Or
> > do you have any laptops to avoid?
> 
> I'm a gEDA user who happens to work for HP in a relevant role.  See
> www.gag.com/~bdale for details if you wish.

Cool. My HP Compaq nc6320 works nicely with recent kernels, suspends,
resumes and everything!

+points:
well built - has survived multiple strip-down / repairs - I managed to
blow a chip in its PSU due to one of the -ve points below. I did notice
on last dis-assembly that one of the screen hinges had partly broken
though.

Spare parts are easily (and for items like KBD, fan etc., _cheaply_)
available, identifiable, and supplied without fuss through a number of
distributors.

-ve points:
I've got through 3x power adaptors now due to "wiggle" faults, and
managed to spike the data / feedback line on the feed during a quick
bodge type repair, and ended up having to rework the mother board.

ACPI support was a little crufty, but that ought to be better now Vista
is out, and demanding better ACPI implementations for full compliance.

Screen died :(.. Don't think we can blame HP for that one.. blame LG
+Philips.


> All of the notebook computers in the business series from HP are tested
> for use with a couple commercial Linux distributions.  If you pick one
> of the units with Intel graphics and wireless, which means you'll also
> be getting an Intel CPU, then you're likely to be very happy with the
> resulting experience using Linux.  

Mine is from the commercial series. Much of the consumer range I saw at
shops sadly followed a growing trend to be _hideously_ ugly, and adorned
with pointless stickers (advertising features) over every square inch of
spare chassis.

> My best advice, regardless of which vendor you choose, is to troll
> interesting looking models, then do some web searching to see if people
> have reported good or bad experiences loading and using Linux on that
> model.  And if you end up buying something retail, take a live-boot CD
> along and see if the sales people will let you try it on a demo unit
> first.

You might like to download the bootable test-suite from
http://linuxfirmwarekit.org/ and confirm how well the firmware does.

-- 
Peter Clifton

Electrical Engineering Division,
Engineering Department,
University of Cambridge,
9, JJ Thomson Avenue,
Cambridge
CB3 0FA

Tel: +44 (0)7729 980173 - (No signal in the lab!)



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