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laptop recommendations?
Oct. 27th, 2010 07:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ratcreatureMy 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.
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.