P4 laptops and linux

[H20wned]

Hey, I want to buy a new laptop for college, Its going to be my birthday/graduation gift and I was looking at the new P4 laptops...
The thing is I want to run linux, I have for 3 years and theres no way im going back to windows...I'm mainly looking at the IBM A-31
and the Dell Inspiron 8200...but im up for anyones ideas...I doubt anyone has one of these laptops yet cause they just came out
and its even less likly that someone put linux on it...But anyways you never know...Thanks for the help!

 

[freebsddude]

In all honesty, I would take the approach of getting the most bang for my buck. I would probably consider getting a 15" closeout laptop which comes preinstalled with 95 or 98, with a pretty decent powered CPU, say AT LEAST a 750MHz+ PIII.

I am constantly amazed at how fast *nix runs on minimal configurations. I have been dealing with 300 MHz+ PII machines running FreeBSD and they scream when it comes to mail/web services. Of course, you will prolly want to run X and want something more respectable.

I would get the best 15" closeout laptop, ensuring hardware compatibility for any Linux/*BSD I chose to install. Just my $0.02!

Good Luck!

 

[n0cmonkey]

iBook

Chances are Linux will run fine on the p4 notebook. Biggest problem always seems to be the display.

 

[frankqfrank]

I don't know anything about linux, but the "Enhanced" UXGA LCD on the new Dell Inspiron 8200 is absolutely breathtaking. Its an amazing, amazing display. I have herad thinkpads are more durable, and it is true that Inspirons are mostly just plastic.

sorry for being useless

wait, BUMP, not so useless

 

[mcveigh]

I'm typing this from a dell inspiron 5000e(discontinued) w/ 15inch UXGA display. It's perfect! I wish I could by a desktop LCD this nice.
In my experience the video card and sound card are the 2 biggest problems with linux on laptops. these new new laptops have the latest graphics cards, so do your homework first and be prepared to tweak.

that IBM A31 looks very sweet though
good review here

 

[andrey]

I've installed Linux RedHat 7.2 on my IBM Thinkpad T23, and to my amazement, everything worked right out the box. I didn't have to install any drivers or anything.

Couple weeks later I've upgraded drivers for the video card, Intel NIC and lucent winmodem (by the way, the Linux driver for lucent winmodem is on IBM's drivers website) and as of today, my RedHat 7.2 runs flawlessly.

Here is a very good website for you to take a look on what different people have to say about installing Linux on various laptops:
http://www.linux-laptop.net/.

 

[Derango]

Dell laptops have always been linux friendly as far as I've heard. They were even selling them with Red Hat 7.1 installed around a year ago.

 

[thornc]

<< Dell laptops have always been linux friendly as far as I've heard. They were even selling them with Red Hat 7.1 installed around a year ago. >>


That was before MS got to them....... now Dell almost only presents linux on ther servers.....


As for a laptop for linux, I would go with a proven toshiba! Their Linux (and other Open Source OSes) is very good.
Toshiba Linux Utilities
Toshiba Installation Service!!

Good luck!!

 

[n0cmonkey]

Dell, IBM, and Sony are supposed to have decent OpenBSD compatible hardware (for the most part). So chances are Linux will work on them just fine.

 

[manly]

The T23 is a solid choice because IBM actually ships that model preinstalled with Linux.

Unfortunately, they ship it with Caldera.

The T series is a good notebook, period. It's a bit costly, but that's due to the brand name and the size/weight.

 

[JoeRicard]

^

 

[H20wned]

n0cmonkey : I do love the ibook but I cant see spending the $1500.00 for a laptop that is only 600Mhz, I mean my 2 year old
desktop is a 750 and I just dont like the idea of spending that kind of money for a slower computer?! How does it performe in linux??
I would love to buy a mac cause I like OSX but there laptops are so damn slow!!

manly : I'm not really looking at the T-series because I dont really care about size and thats all your paying for. I think the A series
is much better for someone who isnt moving there computer everyday.

 

[neuralfx]

<< n0cmonkey : I do love the ibook but I cant see spending the $1500.00 for a laptop that is only 600Mhz, I mean my 2 year old >>



ah the megahertz myth .. You can't directly compare a 750mhz x86 to a 600mhz risc processor .. they literally have different architectures. So based solely off the coreclock speed, you can't compare performance between the two. Well just my thoughts ..
-neural

 

[jamesbond007]

Another vote for Dell. My friend has RH 7.2 on his Latitude and it works great.

Good luck!

 

[H20wned]

I know the megahertz myth and all but still, I mean for like $300 more I could have a 1Ghz P3, or for like $500 more I could have a 1.6Ghz
P4 and I just dont know how the Ibook compaires these laptops in linux, I have never run a linux on a ppc befor. If anyone has How does
it compair?? I would really like to know.

 

[n0cmonkey]

<< n0cmonkey : I do love the ibook but I cant see spending the $1500.00 for a laptop that is only 600Mhz, I mean my 2 year old
desktop is a 750 and I just dont like the idea of spending that kind of money for a slower computer?! How does it performe in linux??
I would love to buy a mac cause I like OSX but there laptops are so damn slow!! >>



Im not a big linux fan so Im not getting rid of OS X on my ibook to test linux speeds

My iBook is one of the 500mhz 66mhz bus models. Its slow, but laptops ARE SLOW. You want speed you get a desktop, you want portability you get a laptop. Its a tradeoff.

And yes, comparing numbers (that mean almost squat) from two different architectures is pretty dumb.