[ale] Laptop and linux

[Dow_Hurst]

An excellent combination in laptop and Linux is the Compal EFL30 or any of the ODM or OEM build it yourself type kits from a local shop.  The reason is you can get the true Centrino mix of Intel components for CPU, wifi, and chipset.  Also, those type laptops can have a PCI-X Nvidia graphics card instead of ATI graphics for the right motherboards.  The ATI graphics are fine for typical LCD screen sizes and no game acceleration under Linux, but are a pain if you need a more unique configuration.  Evaluating the market of the usual companies like Dell or HP and so on reveal very few Nvidia based laptops and those that are out there tend to be the high end heavy units.

http://www.intrex.com 

offers a 4.99lb laptop built by Compal (an ODM) with an Nvidia 6400 Go video and Centrino components.  I bought a 3 year warranty and didn't pay for XP when I bought mine for $1600 even.  I'm sure you can find something like this near you.

Now, there is a major OEM laptop company selling laptop components so you can build something like this yourself if you want.  I can't remember the name at the moment.  I don't really see the need for buying from Dell or any major laptop company anymore when modular laptops are available.  Also, Emperor Linux is really a superb company with killer laptop configurations if you want a Linux environment.  I've dealt with them on a laptop I had purchased from Dell that Emperor reloaded the OS software and configured.  If you've already bought a laptop and Emperor sells that model, you can take the laptop to them and they will do their magic with the software and give you 1 year warranty on the software load.  It is a nice deal for around $450, IIRC.  I think their new laptop/notepad with the hand writing recognition is a cool product.

Good luck with your purchase and keep us informed on what you decide,
Dow
  


---Original Message-----
From: Tim Watts <timtw at earthlink.net>
To: ale at ale.org
Sent: Dec 13, 2005 5:26 AM
To: Atlanta Linux Enthusiasts <ale at ale.org>
Subject: [ale] Laptop and linux

Hi,

I'm considering a laptop and I want to dual boot it w/ Linux/XP (or at least 
have an XP image I can boot into a la VmWare). What models are particularly 
well/poorly suited for this? Any vendors who can build this for me? Any linux 
distro's better for this than others (I have SuSE 9.2 on my current tower 
which I bought from Monarch; I got pretty good svc from them although they 
only seemed to have 1 linux guy who was "part-time" at that)?
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