laptop recommendations?

[ratcreature]

My elderly Acer laptop (from early 2005) seems to be on its way to non-functionality (aside from the DVD not working for a while now, the display is has been getting vertical pixel stripes where the LCD doesn't work anymore, first it was one line, now a few weeks later already three), so while I'm hoping to string it along for a bit longer, I'm still starting to look around what I could do for a replacement.

I've been using linux since 1997 or so but I only bother to fiddle with it whenever I have to install it somewhere and something in the hardware doesn't work right, and because of my less than ideal finances my computers run as long as possible, so the hardware upgrades don't happen often enough to make me really proficient.

With my Acer laptop the wireless network was a pain, using some proprietary driver with some sort of trick that I have forgotten by now, but that took me days to make it work when I got it initially, and it doesn't let me use WPA encryption either only the old WEP which of course is not secure. Also the power management/battery monitoring never worked right.

If I get a new laptop I would like Linux to work right on it, ideally without me having to fiddle for ages and right out of the box, and not just some core functionality (that it recognizes the graphics card and touchpad), but also wireless card, battery management, sound and so on. The distros I have some experience with are Ubuntu (with KDE on top, not Gnome) and SuSE.

My needs are modest, that is I mostly want it for web browsing, email, watching video/DVD, and the usual every day programs, though it would be good if it was more suited than my current one for handling GIMP with large, many layered image files (but since my current one only has 512MB RAM pretty much any current laptop would be, I expect). It doesn't need to be extremely robust (though of course it shouldn't have completely shoddy workmanship, but I don't throw it around or drop it regularly or anything), nor extremely light, though I'd prefer if it wouldn't heat up too much and wasn't too loud with some constant fan activity either. My current Acer laptop you can actually have on your lap if you wanted to if there is a simple layer between you and the computer, without risking low level burns or skin irritations.

So I'm wondering whether anyone has recommendations for cheap laptops on which Linux would run without any hassle.

Comments

[zvi]

You may want to check out someone who sells laptops with Linux pre-installed. That should guarantee that your hardware all works.

[ratcreature]

I thought about that, but just recently I read an article in a computer magazine (september this year) testing laptops with linux pre-installed, and that said they don't actually always have a truly working linux on them. Sometimes no X, sometimes not all hardware works, and so on. And sometimes they are more expensive even without the Windows license. All that was not positive. At least it doesn't seem to be a guarantee for a fully working Linux system at a cheaper price.

The article is here (but it's in German):
http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/Schlechte-Noten-fuer-Notebooks-mit-vorinstalliertem-Linux-1077531.html

[darkemeralds]

A converted my new Dell Studio to Ubuntu without any real problems, but there are hardware issues: the fingerprint reader, the full capability of the graphics card, and a few other things do not work to spec.

So I'm with zvi: start with a Linux laptop for best results. Dell used to sell a few--not sure if Microsoft squished them in that or what.

[ratcreature]

I recently read a test for Linux laptops where they tested several, and they still had hardware problems, some that even they couldn't solve with experts, and the computer magazine advised against them, and recommended to install Linux yourself on a notebook where other Linux users reported that it works. :(

[kerravonsen]

Whenever I replace my laptop, I run around looking for Linux-compatible ones, and I keep coming back to the ThinkPad. Alas, it isn't cheap. But it is robust.

[ratcreature]

Not cheap is unfortunately a deal-breaker. I could definitely not afford the Thinkpads I've seen that cost something like 1500€. I've seen relatively cheap ones too, below €500 which is more or less the price range I can afford but I think those are an entirely different series (I think SL-something?) and I heard that series works less well with linux because of some thinkpad drivers not applying to that kind or something like that...

[baggyeyes]

Well, I've heard of different Linux Chix using Acer, (not all - ZaReason laptops and netbooks are getting good marks) so you might want to look into their offerings. I usually see them priced fairly reasonable.

If you want very little effort getting the thing to work, I echo what zvi said.

Otherwise, if you're not particular about your distro's ideals, you can look at PCLinux, Linux Mint...and I know there is another one that I'm currently forgetting. These distros ship with drivers that Fedora and Debian won't because of the lack of open source. You'd probably have to install this hooked up to the Internet VIA Ethernet to get your drivers for the wireless capability.

[ratcreature]

I don't want to get my computer shipped from the US, I'd like to buy it here in Germany for service and warranty and such, also because of taxes and what not that happen when you ship internationally.

But I'm not hung up on using proprietary drivers if they exist. I'm no open source purist, but I've had it happen that there were no solutions, even with downloading and fiddling and such, and I want to avoid that.