New laptop recommendations

solafidefarms · n00b Joined: 02 Feb 2006 Posts: 69

I have about 16-1800 dollars to spend on a new laptop, but I don't know which one is best. I've thought about a Macbook Pro, since it seems to be pretty Gentoo-compatible, but I've heard there are more cost-efficient laptops. I'd like reliable wireless and a good enough video card so I can run beryl, a fast enough proc and enough ram to compile quickly, and I'd prefer an AMD proc. Any suggestions?
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coplaniuk · Posted: Mon May 21, 2007 5:03 pm Post subject:

I have an HP dv5000t with a dedicated nVidia card...I love that. It's not available on the market anymore, but you can get the dv6000 series with a similar configuration. To date, I havn't had anything on the laptop that can't be configured -- except the modem, but I've never tried. Wireless uses an Intel ipw3945 ABG -- in the past, that was scary to get working. But it seems pretty stable now, so don't let that scare you.

If you have some cash to spend, take a look at some of the ASUS laptops, especially the Built-On series (usually show up as different vendor names). They're pretty customizable and work pretty well. If I had the cash, I would've gotten a top-end of those.

I would highly recommend avoiding anything using an ATI or an Intel video GPU. Will they work? Yes. And some have had great success with it. But they're a pain to set up and nothing like using an nVidia with linux. You can't beat nVidia support in linux.
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-- Coplan
~/ Outland - Art, Music, PHP and Hidden Corners of the Web
-{ Embrace Life. Evolve your computer. Emerge Gentoo. }-

abalint21 · n00b Joined: 20 Jun 2006 Posts: 15

I have a HP nx7400. http://h71016.www7.hp.com/dstore/MiddleFrame.asp?page=config&ProductLineId=539&FamilyId=2375&BaseID=20008&jumpid=re_R2515_store/smProdCat/BusinessNotebookPCs/sku_nx7400
I'm pretty satisfied. True that it doesn't have the most capable video card, but it has an Intel i910 integrated one with OpenGL support. I run Beryl too without any problems, and it works like a charm.

It has a good wireless network adaptor and bluetooth, and the Intel Core2Duo with much less power consumption then all other AMD processor and the market.

This is real nice laptop.

Roman_Gruber · Posted: Tue May 22, 2007 1:32 pm Post subject:

try to think about your vga cardm,...
Is everything supported?

This is the most part with problems. E.g. ATI.

Try to find a working configuration before you buy a notebook.

coplaniuk · Posted: Tue May 22, 2007 4:35 pm Post subject:

Here's a breakdown of my laptop complete with status:

HP Pavillion dv5000t:
Intel 1.8mhz Core Solo processor (works)
SerialATA 80gig hard drive (works)
DVD-ROM/CD-Burner (works)
nVidia Geforce 7700 Go (works perfectly, including s-video jack)
Synaptics Touchpad (works)
Intel 3945 wireless adapter (wireless works with ipw3945 drivers)
Bluetooth (havn't tested, but udev loads modules for it without error)
TI 5-in-1 media card reader (SD works with 0.8 tifm drivers from the 2.6.21 kernel and udev version 109)
USB (works)

I think that pretty much sums it up.
_________________
-- Coplan
~/ Outland - Art, Music, PHP and Hidden Corners of the Web
-{ Embrace Life. Evolve your computer. Emerge Gentoo. }-