Arch Linux

tony5429

Member

Registered: 2006-03-28

Posts: 1,017

suggestions for a new arch-friendly laptop

i plan to purchase a new laptop next spring. I'd like to get one which is very small, preferably with a widescreen, and definitely with a multi-core 64-bit processor. i'd like NVIDIA graphics - but they don't have to be anything super-nice - I just want to be able to run compiz-fusion without the great deal of trouble which comes with ati chips. i'm guessing if I go with NVIDIA, the processor will be Intel? i don't want to spend more than 1500 and I want a laptop which has been used by arch linux users and which they would recommend - that way I can know that arch will run well on it and I won't have to spend my life hanging around the forums trying to get things working (not that its not fun . any suggestions?

elasticdog

Member

From: Washington, USA

Registered: 2005-05-02

Posts: 995

Website

Re: suggestions for a new arch-friendly laptop

There are TONS of threads about this, for instance Laptops which run Arch, among the many other discussions in the Laptop sub-forum and the wiki too.  I'd say do a search and ask any specific questions you have after narrowing down what you want...

brain0

Developer

From: Aachen - Germany

Registered: 2005-01-03

Posts: 1,382

Re: suggestions for a new arch-friendly laptop

I'd go with either the Lenovo Thinkpad or - if you want to spend less money - the Lenovo 3000 series. Intel chipset handles compiz/beryl well, Intel Wireless works well, the general chipset and ACPI support on these models is great.

bangkok_manouel

Member

From: indicates a starting point

Registered: 2005-02-07

Posts: 1,556

Re: suggestions for a new arch-friendly laptop

From the 3000 series, DO NOT buy a Y410. I am having problems after problems and I hope the shop I bought it from will accept to change it for something else (They're quite flexible here in Thailand). My wireless won't work because of the kill switch that doesn't respond. I've tried some of the tricks found on the web + from this forum, no of them worked unfortunately. Booting into windows may solve this problem according to some users... Great, installing windows only for that just simply rocks. Oh BTW, Lenovo does not support windows xp for this machine, only vista drivers are available... Any complain ? Call Singapore ! Trying to fix some ACPI issues, iasl output showed 200+ errors... Stay away from this machine ! Some of those things can be fixed but that is definitely something you do not want to happen when you get a shiny new laptop.