Laptop recommendation for specific requirements

[fetchinson]

Hi folks, I have a pretty tight set of requirements for a new laptop which I'd like to fulfill and was wondering if anyone knew of a model meeting (hopefully) all of them. In descending priority:

* runs fedora 17 without (major) issues
* 14" - 14.9" screen
* at most 2 kg or 4.4 lbs
* at least 256 GB drive (SSD or HDD)
* at most 2.3 cm or 0.9" in max height
* only integrated graphics chip
* no optical drive
* metal body

Price is not an issue

Cheers,
Daniel

[smr54]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834214882

Might fit the bill. Untested by me. I know the UX31E meets all requirements save screen size, as it's 13.5 (or maybe 13.3, I'm not sure)
The Toshiba in that link seems to meet all your requirements, but I have no idea if it works with Fedora. Still, most laptops these days, unless they have some brand spankin' new type of wireless card should work with most Linux distributions. Shucks, if I were shopping for a new laptop now, I'd probably consider that one. Seems to have Intel wireless too, so that should be good.

[Dan]

That one looks good ... but know that the i7 is probably a lot more CPU than most folks will ever need. My i5 in my R830 really is plenty for most laptop uses. My big HP has the i7, and serves very well (read: freakin' stunning!) in the roles I have put it to, (mostly graphics work) but I do pay a penalty in battery life. Waste heat is oddly less of a problem in the HP i7 than it is in the Toshiba with the i5, but that might be explainable in simple terms of size. The smaller the package, the harder it is to provide enough room to dissipate heat.

That being said, I have not had any overheating issues with the R830, it just tends to run a little hotter.


This one has the i5. Helluvalot cheaper, too! <....>
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834214879

[hadrons123]

The screen is 13.3. but it has a great screen resolution.

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2012/...All+content%29

[fetchinson]

Originally Posted by smr54

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834214882

Might fit the bill. Untested by me. I know the UX31E meets all requirements save screen size, as it's 13.5 (or maybe 13.3, I'm not sure)
The Toshiba in that link seems to meet all your requirements, but I have no idea if it works with Fedora. Still, most laptops these days, unless they have some brand spankin' new type of wireless card should work with most Linux distributions. Shucks, if I were shopping for a new laptop now, I'd probably consider that one. Seems to have Intel wireless too, so that should be good.

Thanks, looks good indeed only problem is the ultra wide screen which is actually not as high as some 13.3 models. Otherwise would be great

---------- Post added at 11:34 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:31 PM ----------

Originally Posted by hadrons123

The screen is 13.3. but it has a great screen resolution.

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2012/...All+content%29

I just wish the screen size was a bit bigger.
Why can't asus release a 14+ screen zenbook?

---------- Post added at 11:37 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:34 PM ----------

Originally Posted by Dan

This one has the i5. Helluvalot cheaper, too! <....>
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834214879

This model doesn't seem to be available in Europe unfortunately.

[Dan]

Dang the bad luck. Looks like we struck out in the age old black art of spending other people's money for them. I guess we should leave that to the professionals -- politicians. However, you've got a solid starting point now to do some research on your own.

This would be a good place to start.
http://eu.computers.toshiba-europe.c...duct-selector/

From there you should be able to test-build until you hit on the right combination.

Good luck, and have fun.

[stevea]

Samsung has a number of models that fit the bill. I haven't use one a co-worker uses one w/ Ubuntu.

[BBQdave]

Originally Posted by smr54

Toshiba... I have no idea if it works with Fedora.

+1 for Toshiba.

No problems running F16 on a Toshiba C655 with integrated Intel graphics. Fedora truly works out of the box

[Fenrin]

if you buy a clevo notebook, you can avoid the Windows tax. It's not a well-known brand for notebooks, but is one of the biggest notebook manufacturers actually. HP, Dell, Toshiba and most other notebook brands let manufacture their notebook at ODM's such as Compal or Clevo.

Here are guides, which also list some resellers of Clevo notebooks:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/sage...ller-info.html
http://forum.notebookreview.com/sage...e-posting.html

a recent similar thread: Laptop Recommendations?

a price comparison site (lists many notebook offers of German, British and Polish retailers):
http://geizhals.de/eu/

[smr54]

I don't think Clevo has the all metal though. Also, don't know if any of them in the size requested would make the weight.

On the other hand, I bought one from rjtech.com, after a recommendation on this forum, and was quite pleased. (I would recommend, if going for an SSD drive, to get that from Crucial or the like, though, much lower price for same thing.)

I believe whoever first recommended them (rjtech.com) on these forums also had kind things to say about their customer service--I would agree with that, I had a couple of questions, both pre and post purchase, that were quickly answered.

[fetchinson]

Thanks for all the ideas but it seems there just isn't a laptop which satisfies all requirements.
So I'll go with the samsung 700z3a which would be perfect except that it has an optical drive and dedicated graphics (neither of which I really need).

[Dan]

Hmmm.

You might want to re-think that Radeon option. Radeon doesn't generally play well with Linux.

[fetchinson]

Originally Posted by Dan

Hmmm.

You might want to re-think that Radeon option. Radeon doesn't generally play well with Linux.

What do you mean? The thing is that I don't need fancy graphics at all, so if linux can't take full advantage of the gpu that's fine with me. The only thing I need is for it to work on a basic level which I guess it will do under linux as well, won't it?

What specific concerns do you have?

---------- Post added at 05:26 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:18 PM ----------

By the way, does anyone have any news about the asus u44sg? Anyone tried fedora 17?
It's weird that there is very little information about this model, some sites suggest it's already discontinued even though it was released this year.

[zuser]

Just purchased Samsung NP-QX411 several weeks ago and it runs F17 very well. Runs cool and sound is good.
Highly recommended.

[Fenrin]

Originally Posted by fetchinson

[...]
By the way, does anyone have any news about the asus u44sg? Anyone tried fedora 17?
It's weird that there is very little information about this model, some sites suggest it's already discontinued even though it was released this year.

This notebook has a dedicated NVIDIA card. The best option for your needs would be a notebook without dedicated graphiccard. It will run much cooler, with much better battery life and decent with default OSS drivers, if it's an Intel IGP (or APU). AMD IGP or APU will be ok as well, but AMD is a bit slower with supporting their cards via Open Source driver. Their driver is decent as well, but probably not as good as the Intel OSS driver. I honestly don't have much experience with Intel graphic chips in the last few years under Linux. I have always used Radeon cards, without major issues (and before that a old GeForce Ti 4200).