Arch Linux

Wintervenom

Member

Registered: 2008-08-20

Posts: 1,011

Which Laptop Should I Get?

I will be buying a laptop from Best Buy today, with a price limit of six hundred dollars, not including tax.
I am having trouble choosing which of these from the $599 down is the best-performing - speed- and graphics-wise - whose hardware is supported under Linux.

molom

Member

From: Australia

Registered: 2008-01-21

Posts: 264

Website

Re: Which Laptop Should I Get?

Prices are really cheap in America, The Sony's are really overpriced in Australia. I wouldn't touch the Toshiba or HP, I never tried a Gateway, so I recommend Sony. But I'm judging it on durability and quality, not on whether it will run Linux.

---

molom's blog - molom.org
molom's twitter - twitter.com/molom

quad3d@work

Member

From: Austin, TX

Registered: 2006-12-29

Posts: 81

Website

Re: Which Laptop Should I Get?

I've had good experience with Compaq(HP) more so than Sony. I had a 13" Sony Pentium 4 back in days didn't last two years. CPU fan and HD died.

Currently I have a Compaq V2410US single core AMD lasted like 3 and 1/2 years. This thing just won't die. I agree with molom, I judge on durability and quality. I give Compaq/HP a thumb up over Sony, my .02.

nickoljt

Member

Registered: 2008-09-17

Posts: 9

Re: Which Laptop Should I Get?

I got a Compaq Presario F565 about a year ago at a great sale for $450 (reg $850) and it's been a decent machine. I wish it had an Intel Video card just so I don't have to deal with the nVidia drivers and I need to run it with grub boot option maxcpus=0 with the standard Arch kernel to avoid hard locks (single core cpu anyway) but otherwise it's been pretty nice and I'm happy with the purchase.

sultanoswing

Member

Registered: 2008-07-23

Posts: 314

Re: Which Laptop Should I Get?

I'm very, very pleased with my Dell 1330 - it runs Ubuntu Hardy 64-bit just fine, with all components working out of the box (I went with the Intel 4965AGN wifi card, not the broadcom).

I'm sure it'd be a cinch to install and run Arch on it - and perhaps I will soon(ish).

---

6.5.3.arch1-1(x86_64) w/Gnome 44.4
Arch on: ASUS Pro-PRIME x470, AMD 5800X3D, AMD 6800XT, 32GB, | Intel NUC 7i5RYK | ASUS ux303ua | Surface Laptop

ST.x

Member

From: Sydney, Australia

Registered: 2008-01-25

Posts: 363

Website

Re: Which Laptop Should I Get?

^ +1. Running m1330 quite well here, there's a nicely done archwiki page for it as well.

---

ARCH64 | XMonad | Configs | myAURpkgs | ArchWiki Contribs | Screenies

TheSaint

Member

From: my computer

Registered: 2007-08-19

Posts: 1,523

Re: Which Laptop Should I Get?

I'd like to have big screen , what about Toshiba Qosmio?
BTW I'm very happy with my Compaq Presario 1580, i bit old, but good I could manage to get all hardware working, including the softmodem.

F

---

do it good first, it will be faster than do it twice the saint

molom

Member

From: Australia

Registered: 2008-01-21

Posts: 264

Website

Re: Which Laptop Should I Get?

It really depends, I had a Compaq that lasted 5 years, which is amazing. But I've been told by some they aren't as good now. But everyone has a different experience, from what I've seen HP is really good, I probably would go with HP anyway. What I mentioned about the HP was pretty much an indicisive judgement, but I am 100% sure about not getting Trashiba (Sorry, I couldn't resist ).

If you had a bigger budget, I would go with a Lenovo Thinkpad.

---

molom's blog - molom.org
molom's twitter - twitter.com/molom

Ghost1227

Forum Fellow

From: Omaha, NE, USA

Registered: 2008-04-21

Posts: 1,422

Website

Re: Which Laptop Should I Get?

I had an HP Compaq for three years, it just wouldn't die. I have no doubt it would have kept running but the dog knocked a beverage on it and the motherboard fried.

---

.:[My Blog] || [My GitHub]:.

Gullible Jones

Member

Registered: 2004-12-29

Posts: 4,863

Re: Which Laptop Should I Get?

No Acers on the list? No? Good, because Acer sucks. That's about all I have to say.

skottish

Forum Fellow

From: Here

Registered: 2006-06-16

Posts: 7,942

Re: Which Laptop Should I Get?

I will be buying a laptop from Best Buy today, with a price limit of six hundred dollars, not including tax.
I am having trouble choosing which of these from the $599 down is the best-performing - speed- and graphics-wise - whose hardware is supported under Linux.

Best Buy and cheap are antonyms. Unless you're tied to going there, I'd recommend going somewhere else. Hell, even Walmart will get you a much better deal.

finferflu

Forum Fellow

From: Manchester, UK

Registered: 2007-06-21

Posts: 1,899

Website

Re: Which Laptop Should I Get?

Moved to Kernel & Hardware Issues.

---

Have you Syued today?
Free music for free people! | Earthlings

"Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away." -- A. de Saint-Exupery

Lazer

Banned

Registered: 2007-08-02

Posts: 111

Re: Which Laptop Should I Get?

Most Laptops won't work 100% with Linux anyway. If for example suspend to RAM is not working your Laptop might be less useful than hoped for. I have tried Sony, Compaq and Acer with Linux. Some distros did eventually do their job but there was always one or more issues which could not be resolved. I've heard some rumours that Toshiba offers pretty good Linux compatibility, but I have no experience with any of the newer models myself. I recommend you to find a friendly shop where sales people have no objections to boot their stuff from a Linux USB stick.