On Tue, Jul 14, 2009 at 4:59 PM, m0gely<[email protected]> wrote: > Robert Kopp wrote: >> I'm about to get a new laptop, and it would be nice to get one at a retail >> store whose hardware was supported by Linux. The only problem I have ever >> encountered with earlier laptops was with the Wifi adapter, but now that >> most of the new ones don't have PCMCIA slots (to provide Wifi connectivity >> if the built-in Wifi adapter doesn't work), this is an important point. > > I find that laptops at stores like BestBuy are generally not what most > people expect. I see HP's, Acer's and Toshiba's all the time that brake > down just after the warranty's expire, especially HP/Compaq. >
I also suggest that you consider buying online directly from the "manufacturer". While you can often find reasonable computers at a retail store, the specs on them are often 3 - 6 months behind the specs you will get online for the same price. Less memory, lower hard disk space, generally just slightly behind the times. It is also useful to know that many of the laptops come from the same manufacturer, Quanta Computers in Taiwan, and are rebranded, so though it looks like you have a lot of choices, most of them come off just a few assembly lines. I am happy with my HP Pavilion DV6000, it is more than a year old now and is holding up well. It's Broadcom wifi works with ndiswrapper, and recently with the kernel b43 driver. That said, I would look for one with the Intel or Atheros wifi because of their explicit linux support as shown here. http://intellinuxwireless.org/ http://www.atheros.com/news/linux.html Bill _______________________________________________ PLUG mailing list [email protected] http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug
