Re: I'm considering a new laptop, looking for experiences.
We have Lenovo Laptops at work. Some are T420 (Intel i5) and some are T220 (Celeron). We've installed Virtualbox on some with 64-bit RHEL 5 as a guest OS. -- Jerry Feldman g...@blu.org Boston Linux and Unix PGP key id:3BC1EB90 PGP Key fingerprint: 49E2 C52A FC5A A31F 8D66 C0AF 7CEA 30FC 3BC1 EB90 signature.asc Description: OpenPGP digital signature ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: I'm considering a new laptop, looking for experiences.
On 04/12/2012 03:06 PM, Randy Cole wrote: I've been rather disappointed with my few year old HP DV4-1222NR AMD consumer-grade laptop. Slower than it should be, runs hot, power adapter failed, battery failed early, mouse button broke, fan is now failing, and the IDT sound chip has lots of driver support trouble vis. built-in mic (HD microphone array). The preceding Acer AMD worked better, until I dropped it on it's power connector. I've got an old (about 7 years) HP business laptop. Battery is dead, but everything runs fine. I use it only at installfests to burn DVDs. -- Jerry Feldman g...@blu.org Boston Linux and Unix PGP key id:3BC1EB90 PGP Key fingerprint: 49E2 C52A FC5A A31F 8D66 C0AF 7CEA 30FC 3BC1 EB90 signature.asc Description: OpenPGP digital signature ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: I'm considering a new laptop, looking for experiences.
Less useful account, perhaps. In order to put off upgrading my Suse 10.1 desktop system (Firefox V2), last year I decided to buy a cheap laptop, and found a $150 off deal on a Lenovo G560 system for $400. I forget the specs, let me know if you want them. It came with Windows 7 Home, the old laptop I was using had XP, so current Windows flavor and it wasn't Vista. I coinstalled Ubuntu, resizing the Windows partition worked fine with no hassles other than the anxiety that it wouldn't work fine. It sometimes goes into work, but spends most of its time on KVM switch running Windows because I can't figure out how to get around the VPN software saying it only runs on a single user system. The only significant complaint is the touch pad is way too sensitive, so I'll often bring a wireless mouse. Also, I tried removing the silly facial recognition software on Windows, so instead of that coming up, I get an error popup saying it can't find the program. Minor nit. Oh, the touchpad keys click loudly. And the 1366x768 display isn't as friendly as my 1600x1200 desktop monitor. We really used 640x480 displays once upon a time? At least those were (mostly) better than Teletypes, and those were better than keypunches. -Ric ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: I'm considering a new laptop, looking for experiences.
Bill Freeman writes: Can anyone offer personal experience stories on the Dell Inspirons? I've got a Dell Inspirion 1525 that I paid $400 for at the Dell refurbished outlet (online). The machine is 3-4 years old at this point. I use it for a couple of hours most days. It's a $400 laptop. It is cheap, but it does what I need it to do. I've run Ubuntu on the system but I mostly run Fedora. In terms of hardware, the touchpad can be a little bit sensitive but I have gotten used to it. The actual material that the laptop is constructed from is cheap plastic and it has in fact developed a small crack near where the power cord plugs into the laptop. It is for this reason that I would say that this wouldn't be a great laptop to actually lug around on a regular basis -- this laptop wouldn't withstand the physical wear and tear. The screen itself is glossy ; I wish it was matte but I rarely use this thing in situations with lots of glare. In related news, I note that Woot is selling some Lenovo Thinkpad today. Hope this helps, --kevin -- alumni.unh.edu!kdc / http://kdc-blog.blogspot.com/ GnuPG: D87F DAD6 0291 289C EB1E 781C 9BF8 A7D8 B280 F24E And the Army Ants, they leave nothin' but the bones... -- Tom Waits ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: I'm considering a new laptop, looking for experiences.
Asus has great laptop hardware, support, and protection plans available. They tend to be very Linux friendly and some models are available with Linux installed, last I knew, or maybe just with no OS. The current ASUS website does not lend itself to figuring this out, or figuring out which model is for you. Though, I'm not sure about the touch of their new keyboards (like new macbooks), but I have not used it much. To each his own, so worth playing with. Also, you will probably want to check for the model on http://www.linux-on-laptops.com/ before you buy anything. ___ Alan Johnson a...@datdec.com On Thu, Apr 12, 2012 at 2:10 PM, Bill Freeman ke1g...@gmail.com wrote: My Acer is scaring me. Sometimes at startup it goes into an infinite reboot loop. The way out seems to be to force power off, flex the case and whack it a few times, after which it boots. So, I'm considering replacing it. Last round I insisted on an AMD CPU, but I'm currently drawn to an i7 or i5. I know that lots of folks swear by the ThinkPads, and I will consider them. I'm not really willing to consider Compaq/HP, Gateway, or Apple, and I've found Linux on Toshiba to be troublesome in the past. Can anyone offer personal experience stories on the Dell Inspirons? Any additional suggestions? Any bad experiences with the i7 CPU? Thanks, Bill ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/ ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: I'm considering a new laptop, looking for experiences.
Hello Bill, My last laptop was (still in use) a Lenovo T61. It was mistakenly ordered with Vista. We only used XP and Linux. When XP was installed, it just never worked - blue screened every day.So I inherited the misfit and installed Linux. Works great. It is a nice work horse. Nice keybd. If the screen had been higher res, I would have used it longer. So when I bought a new one, I looked at Thinkpads. Their quotes are horrible!!! Unreadable. Random number options with descriptions consisting of random strings. Any not all options were even on it. I complained to the rep who replied he has been complaining about it for years. It was pricey. Nice features though. I would have liked it. I looked at Dell and bought a Precision M6500 I7. Dell gives us pretty good corp discounts. It is currently running LMDE(xfce). It has been great. We have several, others running Windoze.One coworker has had nothing but trouble. Dell shipped bad memory in many machines and it took months for Dell to identify and fix. That was months of blue screens for him. You would think Dell would keep track of what brand parts were in what machines. It was some Israeli brand no one ever heard of. Many complained on the forums. I had the good memory. Two weeks ago his drive died. Just clicked when turned on. Now his 'windows restored' OS is leaking memory and crashes daily. Takes about 6 hrs to leak 3.3 GB before crashing. I have to quietly laugh at the last part. One nice thing about Dell and precisions are that there is (or was) US based Linux support - one guy. He is good. I havent needed him much, but have talked to him. My laptop came with Redhat, not the India supported Ubuntu. Though I have not used the lic. since we switched to CentOS (virtual machine). At home, I bought a Zareason strata laptop and desktop, both I7s. Zareason is one of the linux-only sellers. Both machines have been very good. Again, they have US based support and they know Linux. They support many distros including requests I believe. The desktop came with the wrong p/s.a much bigger and better one.They both run LMDE. I'll likely buy from zareason for home or work next time. Others on this list seem to think highly of zareason to. David ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: I'm considering a new laptop, looking for experiences.
On Fri, Apr 13, 2012 at 12:48 PM, David Ohlemacher ohlemac...@gmail.comwrote: I looked at Dell and bought a Precision M6500 I7. Dell gives us pretty good corp discounts. It is currently running LMDE(xfce). It has been great. We have several, others running Windoze.One coworker has had nothing but trouble. Dell shipped bad memory in many machines and it took months for Dell to identify and fix. That was months of blue screens for him. You would think Dell would keep track of what brand parts were in what machines. It was some Israeli brand no one ever heard of. Many complained on the forums. I had the good memory. Two weeks ago his drive died. Just clicked when turned on. Now his 'windows restored' OS is leaking memory and crashes daily. Takes about 6 hrs to leak 3.3 GB before crashing. I have to quietly laugh at the last part. We've had some people with no issues with the M6500 and some with nothing but trouble (a lot of overheating issues) so I steer clear of them and their updated cousin the M6600. The M4x00 series (M4500 and M4600) have been much more well behaved. I have years of positive experience with Dell Latitudes (the D series for a long time, and recent years the E series, primarily the E6510 and E6520). We run Windows XP, Windows 7 and Linux on them. Most of my end users use Ubuntu or Fedora. I've never had a particularly good experience with an Inspiron. They build quality and components quality does not seem to be terribly great. -Shawn ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: I'm considering a new laptop, looking for experiences.
Well, here's my two cents. I have a Lenovo X201 tablet. It was expensive and the screen is small and you probably don't need a tablet. But, because the screen gets jerked around so much, it seems to be made better than other Thinkpad models. The assembly is much sturdier and the screen can be touched without damaging it. The one I have is old and requires a stylus. I make my students submit their papers in PDF format and correct them using Xournal. ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: I'm considering a new laptop, looking for experiences.
On 13-Apr-2012, David Ohlemacher ohlemac...@gmail.com sent: My last laptop was (still in use) a Lenovo T61. It was mistakenly ordered with Vista. We only used XP and Linux. When XP was installed, it just never worked - blue screened every day. So I inherited the misfit and installed Linux. Works great. It is a nice work horse. Nice keybd. If the screen had been higher res, I would have used it longer. I've had Linux on a Thinkpad T42 (iirc) and it worked great. http://www.thinkwiki.org/ is a great resource Also, Woot has a ThinkPad L512 today for $500, can't speak to it's quality, but just thought I'd mention it. http://woot.com/ -- Chip Marshall c...@2bithacker.net http://weblog.2bithacker.net/ KB1QYWPGP key ID 43C4819E v4sw5PUhw4/5ln5pr5FOPck4ma4u6FLOw5Xm5l5Ui2e4t4/5ARWb7HKOen6a2Xs5IMr2g6CM pgpaUjvxDnf0M.pgp Description: PGP signature ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: I'm considering a new laptop, looking for experiences.
On 4/13/12, Ric Werme ewe...@comcast.net wrote: And the 1366x768 display isn't as friendly as my 1600x1200 desktop monitor. We really used 640x480 displays once upon a time? At least those were (mostly) better than Teletypes, and those were better than keypunches. There was time of 320x200. And I remember Flexowritters. ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: I'm considering a new laptop, looking for experiences.
Many thanks to all. I have several avenues to explore, now that my taxes are done. I'll report back with my decision. Bill ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: I'm considering a new laptop, looking for experiences.
On Fri, 13 Apr 2012 16:11:11 -0400 Bill Freeman ke1g...@gmail.com wrote On 4/13/12, Ric Werme ewe...@comcast.net wrote: And the 1366x768 display isn't as friendly as my 1600x1200 desktop monitor. We really used 640x480 displays once upon a time? At least those were (mostly) better than Teletypes, and those were better than keypunches. There was time of 320x200. And I remember Flexowritters. C'mon. We're in New Hampshire/MA. I can't believe nobody's mentioned my personal favorite: https://www.google.com/search?q=decwriter After the computer labs closed for the night on my campus, there was one VT-102 per dorm. Except for one dorm -- it had a VT102, AND a DECWriter. If all the VT-102's were taken, you could be sure that the DECWriter would be open. But: don't play Rogue on it. -Ken ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: I'm considering a new laptop, looking for experiences.
Crud... On Fri, Apr 13, 2012 at 11:54 AM, Jerry Feldman g...@blu.org wrote: You sent this to me not the list. On 04/13/2012 09:21 AM, Tom Buskey wrote: I used to get Toshiba. I liked the physical volume knob they *used* to have. My last 2 purchases were IBM/Lenovo. A cheap G450 which was very nice $500. I replaced it with a used T61 Thinkpad. A higher res screen is the $$$ part. Both sleep hibernate with Ubuntu 11.10. The T61 has lots of nice touches (fn-pgup an LED lights up the keyboard). I had to replace a part (there were 6 mo left on the warrenty) and there was no hassle. At work we have Dell. I've only run XP and Win 7 on them. My current one has the same three button/2 button trackpad + pointer that the Thinkpad has. -- Jerry Feldman g...@blu.org Boston Linux and Unix PGP key id:3BC1EB90 PGP Key fingerprint: 49E2 C52A FC5A A31F 8D66 C0AF 7CEA 30FC 3BC1 EB90 ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: I'm considering a new laptop, looking for experiences.
On 4/13/12, Ken D'Ambrosio k...@jots.org wrote: On Fri, 13 Apr 2012 16:11:11 -0400 Bill Freeman ke1g...@gmail.com wrote On 4/13/12, Ric Werme ewe...@comcast.net wrote: And the 1366x768 display isn't as friendly as my 1600x1200 desktop monitor. We really used 640x480 displays once upon a time? At least those were (mostly) better than Teletypes, and those were better than keypunches. There was time of 320x200. And I remember Flexowritters. C'mon. We're in New Hampshire/MA. I can't believe nobody's mentioned my personal favorite: https://www.google.com/search?q=decwriter After the computer labs closed for the night on my campus, there was one VT-102 per dorm. Except for one dorm -- it had a VT102, AND a DECWriter. If all the VT-102's were taken, you could be sure that the DECWriter would be open. You must be one of the new guys. Late in my time on campus they got a GT40. VT52s, let alone VT102s, were in the future. Bill ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
