buying a laptop for college; any advice?

[joe.pelayo]

Originally Posted by slade17

thanks, that seems like a pretty good method. the only problem is, I won't have an extra hard drive. do you think I could install vista to an external hard drive and do it from there? or could i just allocate a partition for vista, install it, and then reinstall grub? (please tell me vista won't reformat the entire drive). I've never reinstalled grub before, but it can't be all that hard (although a friend had an issue with that, he didn't know vista would overwrite grub)


I was going for a core 2 duo anyway. but i've been out of computer hardware since around when dual core and 64 bit was introduced, and I never looked at laptops, so I'm just catching up now. forgive my ignorance, (i know 64 bit is supposed to be better), but what is the actual performance benefit? can a 64 bit processor run a 32 bit operating system? Wikipedia helped out with santa rosa a bit, it looks like its just a combination of three hardware components. is santa rosa worth looking for though, and can linux already take advantage of things like the CPU scaling function?

Well, I am not very acquainted with Windows Vista so I can not assure you if it can be installed in a external HD, but it sounds like a good idea. If you install it then you may be able to configure your BIOS so it boots from USB HD first, and in case you don't want to start Vista you could just unplug the drive.
Provided you are careful while partitioning during Vista install Linux should be alright, grub would be irremediably overwritten but it is quite easy to repair it (can not remember the exact steps because never did it in F7, just FC6, but it can be done, in the forum you can help a lot of info in that).

Surely a 64 bits processor can handle 32 bits OS (most machines with 64 bits processors are shipped with 32 bits OS), and the advantage of having them is that your machine would be ready for the next gen 64 bits OSs.

Linux supports CPU scaling quite well, in fact, in my experience my lappy's battery lasts almost 30 minutes more in Linux than in Windows. It depends on the chip (Celerons for example don't support it).

Hope this was useful.

Joe.

[ryptyde]

Don't recall seeing anyone mention "battery life" would be good to get a laptop with some power management or consider getting an extra battery. My son that attends university has mentioned the importance of conserving energy to extend battery life while attending class.

Not sure how Linux scores in this department although I've heard positive comments in its favor.

[joe.pelayo]

Originally Posted by ryptyde

Don't recall seeing anyone mention "battery life" would be good to get a laptop with some power management or consider getting an extra battery. My son that attends university has mentioned the importance of conserving energy to extend battery life while attending class.

Not sure how Linux scores in this department although I've heard positive comments in its favor.

Here is another positive comment:

My laptop (see signature) gives me more battery time in Linux than in Windows. Some day I checked it yielded about 3:00 in Windows (barely), 3:15 in FC6, and almost 3:30 in Ubuntu 6.10.

Joe.

[dshaw256]

My laptop (see signature) gives me more battery time in Linux than in Windows. Some day I checked it yielded about 3:00 in Windows (barely), 3:15 in FC6, and almost 3:30 in Ubuntu 6.10.

The power management stats and graphs, at least in FC6, provide much more predictive information than Windows as well.

[slade17]

okay, i think i've decided on the laptop i'm getting...

Lenovo thinkpad workstation T61p

core 2 duo 2.2 ghz 800 mhz fsb processor
windows vista home premium...
15.4 WUXGA TFT screen
NVIDIA Quadro FX 570M (256MB)
2 GB PC2-5300 DDR2 SDRAM 667MHz SODIMM Memory (2 DIMM)
UltraNav (TrackPoint and TouchPad) with Fingerprint Reader
160 GB 5400 RPM hard drive
DVD Recordable 8x Max Dual Layer, Ultrabay Slim
PC Card Slot & Express Card Slot
4 in 1 Media Card Reader
Integrated Bluetooth PAN
ThinkPad Wireless USB Adapter
6 cell Li-Ion Battery
1 year warranty

the only thing i don't really like about the laptop is the track point, but i guess i can live with it. I'm still debating 6 or 9 cell battery (i may just get a spare of the other size), and the only question i have left is regarding the wireless.

I've looked into it a bit and intel pro/wireless 3945 is supported under fedora 7 but 4965 is not supported under any linux distro yet. it appears to be hit or miss with ndiswrapper, and I would prefer to not have to recompile the kernel (thanks for posting the link though). intel says that the linux driver for 4965 should be out mid quarter 2: http://www.intel.com/support/wireles.../CS-025330.htm

essentially, do you think it's worth getting the 4965 wireless adapter over the 3945? I don't know much about the n standard, or how hard it would be to swap in a new wireless card if it would be useful later. I would assume that 4965 will be supported under linux by the time fedora 8 comes out. in the meantime has anyone been able to get the Thinkpad wireless USB adapter working under linux? if that would work then it could be worth it for me to just get the newer card and not use it until its supported better.

lastly, does anyone have any input before I go through with buying this laptop? when I get it i'll make a post about it.

[Dan]

Yeah. I haven't read the whole thread yet ... but ...

Rethink it.

Don't get someting high dollar, upscale and fancy.

Three reasons:

1) There is a high likelyhood it will get misused, abused, dropped, kicked, beer dumped on or in it ... and/or it will be compromised or accidently lost or stolen.
2) By the time you hit your 3-4 year, it will be yesterday's news.
3) Lenovo/IBM stinkpads are notoriously tenderfooted. They will not withstand abuse. Even though they have a fairly nice warranty package, lost data is lost data.

Food for thought.


Dan

[slade17]

Originally Posted by TangledWeb

Don't get someting high dollar, upscale and fancy.

well, its not that high dollar and fancy. they have a sale on thinkpads right now and I can get a pretty good discount on it. what i spec'd i can get for around half of what my friend spent on his mac book pro for college.

I thought about getting a cheaper laptop and bringing a desktop with me, but that seems sort of unnecessary. it would take up a lot of space in a small room, plus i'd constantly have to sync files between the two computers. true, if there's something wrong with one computer i can fall back to the other, but if i forgot to sync data i'm screwed (just as if i had forgotten to back up to an external hard drive, and my laptop fails). worst case scenario, if my laptop fails, I can take a USB drive to the library and work there. plus, they have linux computers in the library

Originally Posted by TangledWeb

1) There is a high likelyhood it will get misused, abused, dropped, kicked, beer dumped on or in it ... and/or it will be compromised or accidently lost or stolen.

yeah, I know i have to worry about it getting abused, unfortunately. I'm not the most gentle person. but I seriously doubt it will get stolen, i'm not going to a huge 20,000 student university... more like 900 students.

Originally Posted by TangledWeb

3) Lenovo/IBM stinkpads are notoriously tenderfooted. They will not withstand abuse. Even though they have a fairly nice warranty package, lost data is lost data.

really? i've heard that dell's "home" series is terrible and sony vaio's have dropped in quality over the past few years, but i've never heard anything bad about thinkpads. I'd like to hear more about that. I've had a few friends with thinkpads, and they haven't had any problems. what exactly fails? lost data would be the hard drive, which depends on the hard drive OEM, not lenovo. although, i don't know who that is.

Originally Posted by TangledWeb

2) By the time you hit your 3-4 year, it will be yesterday's news.

what do you mean? the computer will have failed by then, or it will be outdated and obsolete? in either case, i guess, i get a new computer when i need one.

[Dan]

Well, then. It sounds like you've got this thing pretty well thought out.

So please dismiss the above as the usual mandatory Old Fart's warning ... and go get what you want, and enjoy the devil out of it!


Dan

what do you mean? the computer will have failed by then, or it will be outdated and obsolete? in either case, i guess, i get a new computer when i need one.

Both, but mostly that it will look like (and be) a wrinkled old dinosaur sitting next to the latest and greatest. And there's nothing worse than what was once a high dollar rig looking like an old wrinkled dinosaur! <....>


D.

[slade17]

hmm, i searched around a bit and wasn't able to find anything bad about thinkpads.

i think i'm going with the thinkpad with intel pro/wireless 3945 and 6 cell battery. I don't entirely like the looks or track pad, but its the best deal I can find and appears to be a quality computer, and fully linux compatible. I'll keep everyone updated on how the laptop is

and regardless of what it costs, all of my computers end up being old dinosaurs... i think i prefer an old performance dinosaur than a budget one. my second computer is a budget dinosaur, a pentium 3 dell.

[joe.pelayo]

Originally Posted by slade17

hmm, i searched around a bit and wasn't able to find anything bad about thinkpads.

i think i'm going with the thinkpad with intel pro/wireless 3945 and 6 cell battery. I don't entirely like the looks or track pad, but its the best deal I can find and appears to be a quality computer, and fully linux compatible. I'll keep everyone updated on how the laptop is

and regardless of what it costs, all of my computers end up being old dinosaurs... i think i prefer an old performance dinosaur than a budget one. my second computer is a budget dinosaur, a pentium 3 dell.

You can always get a USB mouse for it, they are far more comfortable.

Joe.

[JN4OldSchool]

we bought a usb laser mouse with our laptop. It is wireless, has a small USB transmitter that you just lug in. If you run the cord from the transmitter to the mouse it recharges the mouse and works like a wired mouse. Truth be told though we dont ever use it.

[joe.pelayo]

Originally Posted by JN4OldSchool

we bought a usb laser mouse with our laptop. It is wireless, has a small USB transmitter that you just lug in. If you run the cord from the transmitter to the mouse it recharges the mouse and works like a wired mouse. Truth be told though we dont ever use it.

Hello JN4.

May I inquire your USB mouse's brand and model? That sounds like the perfect mouse.

I've got a Targus one, with retractile cord and fancy lights, however I was told once about the risks of having mice directly plugged to a laptop (mostly related to static electricity), but I did not want to buy wireless mice before because all of them required batteries.

Thanks.
Joe.

[Stian1979]

Originally Posted by joe.pelayo

Acer laptops are also nice. A cousin bought recently an Acer Aspire 3690 which was supposedly meant to run Linpus Linux. That allowed me to 'avoid' the MS tax (the machine was really cheap) and get a Linux compatible machine. Even though it's a budget PC (Celeron M, 512MB, 60GB, CDRW/DVD) it performs quite well in Linux: Beryl works out of the box thanks to Intel GMA 950, and to my surprise I did not have to install any driver for the Broadcom wifi card.

Joe.

So the broadcom worked? Did it have webcam? I have a Asus with a ALI chipset webcam (ali is a part of acer) that is used in the Bison cam on Asus and Orbicam on Acer. Newer got the dam thing working.

[joe.pelayo]

Originally Posted by Stian1979

So the broadcom worked? Did it have webcam? I have a Asus with a ALI chipset webcam (ali is a part of acer) that is used in the Bison cam on Asus and Orbicam on Acer. Newer got the dam thing working.

No, it does not have webcam, however my lappy does and it does not work due to lack of drivers. Nor the ENE card reader.

Joe.

[JN4OldSchool]

Hey Joe, surprisingly mine is a Targus also. We bought it at Walmart and it was around ($30-35) US. It is model number AMW15US.

http://www.targus.com/us/product_det...sp?sku=AMW15US

We are happy with it,, it is our first laser mouse, we have all opticals. It tracks even on a bed or your leg or whatever. Pretty cool but we dont use it, it is just easier to use the touchpad. I suppose for extended sessions it would make sense though.