On Fri, Dec 26, 2008 at 2:36 PM, Mike Miller <mbmiller at taxa.epi.umn.edu> wrote: > It seems that there are many nice laptop computers in the below-$600 > range. I would like to buy one, remove the ugly Vista (if necessary) and > install Ubuntu. I expect that there will be some tricks to getting things > to work under Ubuntu, but some laptops are probably better than others. > > So my question is this: Which new laptops are best for Ubuntu? Have any > of you tried the Dell laptops with pre-installed Ubuntu? > > This machine looks nice... > > http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0295188 > > ...but I don't see any info here... > > https://wiki.ubuntu.com/LaptopTestingTeam/Gateway > > ...so I don't know it it will be tricky to install Ubuntu on it. > > Dell has Ubuntu 8.04 laptops, and after appropriate customizations, the > price is pretty close to that of the Gateway above. Here's the Dell: > > http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?oc=dncwpl1&c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&kc=segtopic~linux_3x > > Adding these options... > > Intel Core 2 Duo T5800 (2.0GHz/800Mhz FSB/2MB cache) $50 > (I think the T7250 has Intel's "Virtualization Technology" added -- is > that worth $100?) > 3GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 at 667MHz $50 > > ...brings the price up to $639 (after $15 in "instant savings"), but I'm > guessing I can add the 1 GB of RAM myself for less than $50 because > Crucial seems to sell 2GB for $22: > > http://www.crucial.com/store/listparts.aspx?model=Inspiron%201525 > > The system appears to be 64-bit, so I am assuming they will install the > 64-bit version of Ubuntu 8.04. > > So maybe Dell's Inspiron 1525N with preinstalled Ubuntu 8.04 is the way to > go right now. Getting something that just works would be a huge pleasure. > > Mike > > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > If a big priority is Ubuntu working out of the box, check out System76. They've been selling Ubuntu loaded machines for longer than Dell. They don't have anything in the sub $600 range but their hardware is really nice. They put the extra effort in to make sure things like sleep and hibernate work on their machines. Here's their lineup: http://system76.com/index.php?cPath=28 Oh, and it doesn't come with a Vista sticker or even a Windows key (both replaced by Ubuntu counterparts). -- Donovan Niesen