New Laptop?

Jenova · Posted: Wed Jun 28, 2006 3:47 am Post subject: New Laptop?

Hey haven't posted here in a while, anyways I'm no longer a usless student bum leeching from the state. I have managed to get myself a reasonalbley(dispite my poor spelling) well paying job post university.

I travel alot and I need a light powerfull laptop to take with me, I'v never bought a laptop before so I don't really know what the score is. I was looking at :

The Sony Vaio VGNSZ230P

link
curtis119: fixed really long url

Intel core duo, around 13' screen, 1 gig RAM and decent graphics card(ie. not onboard memory sharing intel pieces of crap) are necessities. Are there any other options?

Thanks in advance!
Jenova
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krolden · Posted: Wed Jun 28, 2006 9:47 am Post subject:

Vaio's are rather tricky when it comes to installing Linux. So you might want to stay away from those.

Personally I have my eye set on a hp pavillion dv8000t.

Phenax · l33t Joined: 10 Mar 2006 Posts: 972

I installed Linux with no trouble on a Vaio, don't know the model. I heard they have tricky ACPI and often Linux won't support it. Though, it worked fine for me!!

zenlunatic · Guru Joined: 09 Apr 2003 Posts: 312

I hate sony with a passion. The original playstation broke for me and several friends/family members. My $600 sony stereo caught on fire, and my $200 sony SW radio broke. I've had nothing but bad experiences with Sony.

Naib · Posted: Wed Jun 28, 2006 11:45 am Post subject:

ahh the truth behind yr proprietory-format hatred and yr extreme GNU-zealotism finally comes out, yr childhood was scarred
Time to see a shrink and get it out, crying is good.
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djpharoah · Posted: Wed Jun 28, 2006 12:13 pm Post subject:

If your going to be spending enough to get a VAIO why not spend the same or a bit more to get an IBM Thinkpad??

These machines have amazing support in linux with almost all their hardware working.

Doikor · Posted: Wed Jun 28, 2006 12:19 pm Post subject:

xushi · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 09 Aug 2005 Posts: 108

I own a Sony Vaio VGN-S460 and Installing gentoo couldn't have been easier on it... Almost everything works flawlessly out of the box. 3D accelleration works well. I can play any/all games including Doom3 on lower graphics. (Except halflife 2.. it runs, but i have a weird font problem. But seing as i'm busy with studies, i didn't bother).

The laptop itself is lightweight, i carried to and fro my house and uni for my MSc degree, and it was the perfect laptop for me.

Compiling is nice and fast. OOo2 in 6 hours, gcc and -e world/system in 2 days. And the newer models come with centrino duo

Furthermore, there's a gentoo wiki dedicated for it, which i contributed to as well.
http://gentoo-wiki.com/HARDWARE_Sony_VGN-S4

If you want quality, go Sony.

tchak · Posted: Wed Jun 28, 2006 1:49 pm Post subject:

http://www.apple.com/macbookpro/

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Valkura · Posted: Wed Jun 28, 2006 2:25 pm Post subject:

Jenova · Posted: Wed Jun 28, 2006 2:55 pm Post subject:

Thanks Guys.

The Pavillion would be overkill for my needs. I'm interested in the Thinkpads, the T60p in particular. They are slightly more expensive than their Sony alternatives more they are better spec'd and around the same weight, does anyone have any experiance with them? What's the battery life like with the 9 cell battery? I can't seem to find the resolution of the 14'' screen anywhere on the site.

Cheers,
Jenova
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Kryten- A pub - ahh yes. A meeting place where people attempt to achieve advanced states of mental incompetence, by the repeated consumption of fermented vegetable drinks.

ppurka · Advocate Joined: 26 Dec 2004 Posts: 3045

drizek · Posted: Wed Jun 28, 2006 7:41 pm Post subject:

dont worry about integrated graphics, its actually better for linux cause the intel drivers work out of hte box and they dont use up any system ram unless youre actually gaming on it.

jamiethehutt · n00b Joined: 04 Oct 2004 Posts: 66 Location: Scotland!

justwantstohelp · Posted: Thu Jun 29, 2006 1:29 pm Post subject:

Shucklak · Posted: Thu Jun 29, 2006 1:42 pm Post subject:

Unless you're interested in OS X there is really no need for a Mac. The hardware specs on any Macbook or Macbook Pro can be matched and beat for a lower price by almost any other manufacturer.
I'd suggest a Lenovo laptop. They are very fair priced and the quality is amazing. Anyone who owns an IBM laptop will tell you the same thing.
As for Sony, also good quality but a bit overpriced. And Dell, well, cheap. Very cheap, and terrible support.
Good Luck.
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jamiethehutt · n00b Joined: 04 Oct 2004 Posts: 66 Location: Scotland!

justwantstohelp · Posted: Wed Jul 05, 2006 3:09 pm Post subject:

Hadriel · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 28 Jul 2005 Posts: 75

i've got a sony as well (fe21h). installing gentoo was very easy. speedstep works, cardreader works, bluetooth works (finally...), wlan works. pcmcia isn't tested yet and the camera doesn't work.
the quality is very good, no shaky parts which seem to break off any second.
i must say, it was worth the money (1300).

Valkura · Posted: Wed Jul 05, 2006 9:25 pm Post subject: