gregdek ([info]gregdek) wrote,
@ 2009-05-20 14:52:00
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Dear Lazyweb...
...I'm looking for a laptop.

Specifically, I'm looking for THE BEST LAPTOP that satisfies the following requirements:

* Runs Fedora well.
* Small. Not necessarily netbook small, but small.
* Crazy long battery life.
* Suspend/resume works out of the box.
* Wireless works out of the box.

Do you use a laptop that satisfies these criteria? I'm thinking I might just go with the latest Thinkpad. Is that a bad idea?

(20 comments) - (Post a new comment)

Re: Best Laptop
[info]nushio.id.fedoraproject.org
2009-05-20 07:33 pm UTC (link)
I currently use a Dell Inspiron 640m (That's the Mexico model, I forget what they call that model in USA).

Other than a somewhat poor battery life (1-2.5 hours, greatly dimishes upon use), it runs Fedora blazing fast, suspend, resume, hybernate, wireless, bluetooth. Everything works out of the box.

(Reply to this)


(Anonymous)
2009-05-20 07:33 pm UTC (link)
Lenovo X300 / Lenovo X301

(Reply to this)

T400
[info]zdzichubg.jogger.pl
2009-05-20 07:39 pm UTC (link)
My ThinkPad T400 kinda fills all that points. 2,2÷2,5 kg (depending on battery), 1440x90 14.1", 6-7 hours battery life (according to powertop, never got battery empty yet). Intel wifi of course works. There are some bugs in F11 still, like seldom session crash after resume from RAM, but I hope everything will be fixed.

(Reply to this)


[info]jkeating
2009-05-20 07:41 pm UTC (link)
The x300 that Luke has is really what you want. If they have a newer version, run the component list by me and I'll help you determine if it's kosher for Fedora.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

(Anonymous)
2009-05-21 07:58 am UTC (link)
That was me suggesting X300 earlier. I own my X300, running Fedora 10, EVERYTHING works out of the box.

Keyboard is awesome, like everything else. Some of X300s are little bit noisy (like mine :( ) - fan is going like crazy, but I have some nice script to control its speed and it is quiet like a baby ;)

(Reply to this) (Parent)
x300 ftw
(Anonymous)
2009-05-23 04:38 am UTC (link)
Yeah, I'm a big fan of the x300.

It runs Fedora pretty well these days. Sound support finally caught up in F11, and the SSD is impressive in comparison to other Thinkpads (http://lewk.org/blog/thinkpad-benchmarks).

Getting an extra 3 cell battery instead of a DVD drive will give you the crazy long battery life.

I also encountered the loud fan problem that was mentioned, but this seemed to go away after a BIOS flash, and an upgrade to F11. However, doing the BIOS update itself was "fun", and involved injecting a DOS USB cdrom driver into the bios ISO image.

It's got the best keyboard I've ever typed on (On my T43 I used to accidentally flick keys off of it across the room during class :)

The X301 is out, which looks to be a little better, and also has an integrated AT&T mobile 3g card.

-luke

(Reply to this) (Parent)

[info]mihmo
2009-05-20 07:42 pm UTC (link)
i love my little thinkpad x61. it's small, but its got super high res (it's like 1450xsomething i think) and its got great battery life, wireless works otb, and suspend/resume worked out of the box (until i threw wacom drivers in the mix, but i have the tablet edition x61, you cangeta non tablet one)

(Reply to this)

Lenovo Thinkpads rule
(Anonymous)
2009-05-20 07:43 pm UTC (link)
I use a T60p and the only bad thing about it is the fact that it has an ATI video card which doesn't work really well with the radeon driver, but it does work. Many of the Lenovo Thinkpads have video cards that work out of the box (read not ati) and should meet your requirements save size.

Cheers,

Clint

(Reply to this)

M1330
[info]luke.faraone.cc
2009-05-20 07:51 pm UTC (link)
Personally, I have had no trouble running Linux on the Dell M1330:
http://www.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/xpsnb_m1330

It's around 13.3in, and relatively lightweight.

From what I've read you'll want to use the Intel wifi card rather than the standard Dell one; that's what I have.

The battery life is around 4hrs with the "large" battery, which is slightly heavier. S/R works OOTB on Ubuntu and I assume works on fedora as well.

Granted, it's a bit pricy, but you can find a good deal on it.

(Reply to this)


[info]hub_
2009-05-20 07:55 pm UTC (link)
avoid wifi not Intel. Latest Atheros can work (mine is older and doesn't in Fedora). Broadcom definitely not.

avoid video not Intel (ATI is still work in progress, nvidia does not support Linux)

avoid Poulsbo (Intel new chipset with the GMA500)

small means ThinkPad X-series.

(Reply to this)

Dell Latitude
(Anonymous)
2009-05-20 08:05 pm UTC (link)
The new Dell Latitude E Series are quite good and seem well supported (some people at work have them and are running F-10 on them). The E4x00 series are quite small (12.1 and 13.3 inch) with intel 4500MHD graphics, options of Intel wireless, plus all the usual of Express card, SD, eSata and options of web cam, 3G, bluetooth, etc.

- pbrobinson

(Reply to this) (Thread)
Re: Dell Latitude
[info]zaitcev
2009-05-21 01:03 am UTC (link)
The 12-inch E is an awesome line for all the right reasons indeed, but $2300 for a laptop seems a little much for anyone who's not a poseur.

(Reply to this) (Parent)
Dell Latitude
[info]smoogespace.blogspot.com
2009-05-20 09:20 pm UTC (link)
At my current job, I am using a Latitude D820. It is not small, but I have big hands so I don't mistype as micj as I sometomrs do. I ordered it with Intel video, audio and wireless and it has been great. It has done pretty well for 3 years but none of the current Latitude laptops seem to be 'as good'. Looking at the current Dell stuff, most of the graphics and such will need nvidia etc which says to me 'blech'.

(Reply to this)

Asus 1000
[info]brej.org
2009-05-20 09:32 pm UTC (link)
Note the 1000 and not the 1000H. 10" screen so it has a reasonable sized keyboard. It has 40Gb on SSD (split between an 8Gb and 32Gb disks). This is way more than enough for most things you want to do. I can easily take 24hours of movies/tv with me. I am getting over 5 hours of battery life on the 6600mAh 6cell that came with it but you can get some crazy batteries from dealextreme. Everything works out the box with F10/11, even the multi finger touchpad gestures. The SSD is really fast for booting but a little slow for things like yum updates (meh). The wifi reception seems very good, I was sitting at a conference with two people with thinkpads next to me and they couldn't connect to the weak wifi signal when I could.

I got one from work a couple months ago an I really like it. The best thing about it is that it is so cheap (and small) you don't mind taking it out knowing that people wont nick it. This alone makes it the most useful laptop I have ever used.

(Reply to this)

Dell XPS M1330 here
[info]pfrields.id.fedoraproject.org
2009-05-21 12:16 am UTC (link)
I love my Dell XPS M1330. All works out of the box, whether the nVidia-video replacement I have now (long story) or the all-Intel model I used to have. (Go for the Intel one if you can.) The 9-cell battery can give you *at least* 4 hours, but if you're miserly and know how to tune, you can get almost 7 hours out of it.

(Reply to this)

Fedora Lappy
(Anonymous)
2009-05-21 03:11 am UTC (link)
I'm enjoying running Fedora 10 on my Thinkpad X200s.
small and light
1440x900 screen
Intel 160GB SSD
4GB RAM

- wireless works
- sleep (suspend and hibernate) works
- bluetooth works
-1.5-2.5 hours off the 6cell. 2-4 hours off the 9cell.
(I prefer the 6 cell - as it doesn't stick out the back)


(Reply to this) (Thread)
Re: Fedora Lappy
(Anonymous)
2009-05-21 11:45 am UTC (link)
hey, yeah, If you ask me, go with Thinkpad X200.You won't regret it. ultra cool..5

- Currently my Fedora 10 runs like a charm
- wireless/bluetooth "just works"
- 5 hrs battery life(it's 6 cell, believe me)
- super light


--kashyap

PS: Sorry, was lazy to create a LiveJournal user.


(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)
Re: Fedora Lappy
(Anonymous)
2009-06-22 08:26 am UTC (link)
try this cheap netbook www.budgetgadgets.com/nuodo-netbook-p-5335.html

(Reply to this) (Parent)
Thank you
(Anonymous)
2009-07-31 03:09 pm UTC (link)
Thank you for information

Comment by sauna (http://www.saunabuy.com)

(Reply to this)

Thank you
(Anonymous)
2009-07-31 03:10 pm UTC (link)
Thank you for information

Comment by http://www.saunabuy.com

(Reply to this)

(20 comments) - (Post a new comment)

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