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#1 2009-11-16 10:41:23

M177ER
Member
Registered: 2008-06-15
Posts: 148

Buying a new laptop

I need to buy a new laptop, my 6 year old Dell died, I am thinking of getting this one: HP G60-554CA and was wondering if anyone had any thoughts on the hardware.

Which ever laptop I buy will be a Windows 7 / Arch dual boot. I like this one because I can pick it up now rather than waiting 4 weeks for a Toshiba or longer for a Lenovo when ordering online.

PS - I live in western Canada

Last edited by M177ER (2009-11-16 11:55:14)

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#2 2009-11-16 11:15:41

benob
Member
Registered: 2008-11-11
Posts: 187

Re: Buying a new laptop

It looks quite good if you're not a player. The Intel 4500 works great in 2D with KMS et al. With HP, I had problems with the HDA setup (mixed up controls, skipping sound...) but those get quickly fixed in newer kernels/alsa. Also some trouble with acpi not reporting battery status after a resume/suspend cycle.

I recently got myself a lenovo on ebay. Shipped quickly (in the US) and works great.

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#3 2009-11-16 11:30:20

M177ER
Member
Registered: 2008-06-15
Posts: 148

Re: Buying a new laptop

Thanks for the comments.

No I'm not a gamer; I should have stated that in my original post.

You said 2D was good - I was hoping that compositing (3D?) would work well also. I am thinking of trying KDE on it.

Last edited by M177ER (2009-11-16 11:55:52)

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#4 2009-11-16 13:49:09

ShortError
Member
Registered: 2009-06-19
Posts: 28

Re: Buying a new laptop

I would not use KDE maybe go with XFCE it will be easier on the cpu and mem usage. and may help extend your battery life.
But then again that just gets into the DE war.

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#5 2009-11-16 14:08:40

R00KIE
Forum Fellow
From: Between a computer and a chair
Registered: 2008-09-14
Posts: 4,734

Re: Buying a new laptop

I'd say have a good look around, if you can find similar specs for less money then pick the less expensive one .... laptops are almost all the same thing, even more when we put linux on them because we may have to hunt for a workaround for small annoyances. Also if it breaks after the warranty has expired you will be glad that you did spend the less you could tongue


R00KIE
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#6 2009-11-16 15:32:36

dcc24
Member
Registered: 2009-10-31
Posts: 732

Re: Buying a new laptop

I would strongly recommend buying a ThinkPad. I'm using a T61p for several years now and I have absolutely zero complaints. It's a rock solid machine and it's specs are still really good compared to newer models. Here's what I've, you can compare it to the HP you are considering:

ThinkPad T61p
T7700 CPU @ 2.4GHz, 800MHz FSB
4GB DDR2 800Mhz RAM
nVidia QuadroFX 570M GPU, 256MB GDDR3
WUXGA (1920x1200) LCD
500GB 7200RPM HDD

Most of the laptops you can find today are not as good as this one. I'd suggest buying a brand new T61p from eBay, or if you like, you can buy a T400s/T500 directly from Lenovo. You won't be disappointed.


It is better to keep your mouth shut and be thought a fool than to open it and remove all doubt. (Mark Twain)

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#7 2009-11-16 16:37:55

jelly
Administrator
From: /dev/null
Registered: 2008-06-10
Posts: 714

Re: Buying a new laptop

be sure to check the HCL list of laptops with ArchLinux
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/HCL/Laptops

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#8 2009-11-16 19:50:15

M177ER
Member
Registered: 2008-06-15
Posts: 148

Re: Buying a new laptop

Thanks to everyone that has left a reply.

I'm going to keep looking and see if I can find something better.

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