Plus, I quickly spec'd out a vista vs. ubuntu laptop and the 'ubuntu version was more expensive with less specs.

What are my other options? Just get a Lenovo/Dell and add Ubuntu myself? I can do that, just wondering if anyone knows of any other options. I'd love a Macbook with boot camp or whatever it is, but want to keep cost >$1k.

you can get a macbook for a grand and install ubuntu there too under boot camp, but you'll need to find one of the walk throughs on the net to hack/trick it in there.

Just keep in mind if you are doing your own ubuntu install to be aware of the hardware and its support under linux. One easy way to do that is to copy that of one of the ubuntu dells.

I've been looking, but nothing that I like has really struck me yet. I kind of want a desktop-replacement type (something I can develop on, so 17" would be nice) and those are all 900+, at which point I should just get a mac...or a desktop.

i think the only reasonable route is to get something with linux pre-installed, knowing that you're still gonna have to mess with things here and there, or getting something where you've confirmed that others have gotten all the major stuff working with minimal effort. stuff like wireless + encryption, sleep/hibernate, video card and lcd backlight controls, etc working. that's the kind of stuff you generally have problems with that sometimes just doesnt work on some models no matter what you try.

it's also good to get a popular laptop, like Dells that can be purchased with linux pre-installed, or Thinkpads, etc, because they generally have a large community of users who have posted fixes and howto's online, or are involved in "lobbying" for or working on efforts to support them in future releases of drivers/kernels and whatnot. my T61 for example has a highly-trafficked wiki for various versions of Ubuntu that covered pretty much every major issue, with the exception of a few quirks that involved a little pain and suffering. but it comes with the territory.

if you're a developer though its worth the effort, linux is such an amazing development platform.

Quote, originally posted by J.R.R. Tolkien »

The Road goes ever on and on down from the door where it began. Now far ahead the Road has gone, and I must follow, if I can, pursuing it with eager feet, until it joins some larger way where many paths and errands meet. And whither then? I cannot say.

it's a very solid linux laptop. i also use a nearly identical T61 at work running Ubuntu Hardy (still using Ubuntu Feisty at home, been meaning to upgrade though), the only difference being my work laptop has the intel wireless card and integrated intel video instead of the nvidia quadro 140m card.

ive gotten wireless working great on both, both with WPA and on an EAP-TLS wireless network with digital certificates. havent gotten brightness-controls or the hotkeys working on my work laptop but i havent really looked into it much, works fine at home though after nvidia finally addressed it with a driver update (and the hotkey support (for brightness/sleep/etc) required a kernel recompile..but i dont think thats necessary with Hardy). have dual-monitor support working on both though...not as nice with intel as with the nvidia card/drivers but it's definetely usable (cant run 2 seperate X servers with the intel driver so you have to span a large "virtual" screen across both monitors, which is a little weird of you're not using the same vertical resolution on the second monitor....but other than that works fine).

as far as the laptop in general, the battery life kinda sucks without the upgraded battery with a 2.0ghz c2d (this is with the 65nm c2d's though, i think you can get them with 45nm now), and with the upgraded battery its a tad heavy...roughly 5 pounds, and the battery sticks out the back. not bad at all, but for a 14.1" thinkpad i expected it to be a bit lighter/more compact. but other than that i really couldnt ask for much more. ive turned down additional development boxes at work (albeit crappy old p4 boxes) because i like the keyboard and trackpad so much. real-estate is a tad low on the 14.1" screen, but couple with an additional monitor it works out well. i'd prefer that over going with a clunkier 15.4"+ model personally.

Modified by fluxion at 10:32 PM 6/25/2008

Quote, originally posted by J.R.R. Tolkien »

The Road goes ever on and on down from the door where it began. Now far ahead the Road has gone, and I must follow, if I can, pursuing it with eager feet, until it joins some larger way where many paths and errands meet. And whither then? I cannot say.

and isn't there a way of getting a notebook without any operating system installed on it?

http://www.linuxcertified.com/linux_laptops.html

I am not a big fan at all of intel graphics. I had such a nightmare with my notebook trying to get the gma950 to display my notebook screen at 1280x800 and my monitor @ 1680x1050 (at the same time) i'd go with nvidia graphics. but now that amd bought ati, i hear that they're improving.

man, i can't wait for winter break when i get time to install gentoo

because everyone is lazy like me

Quote, originally posted by J.R.R. Tolkien »

The Road goes ever on and on down from the door where it began. Now far ahead the Road has gone, and I must follow, if I can, pursuing it with eager feet, until it joins some larger way where many paths and errands meet. And whither then? I cannot say.

Deal or just lukewarm?
Thinkpad T61
Suse 10
1680x1050 15.1" screen (WSXGA+)
T8300 C2D
Intel X3100 (heard Nvidia 84/8600 chipsets are failing left and right...)
1 GB PC2-5300 (1 Dimm)
100GB 7200rpm hdd
DVD burner
Intel b/g card
9 cell battery

$940 + 70$ tax, I'll get 12% rebate of non-tax price, bringing it to $900 total. Meh.

Lenovo T61p form their outlet (redistributed model).
T8300, Nvidia 570M, 160 GB 7200rpm, 9cell, dvd burner, intel wifi, WUXGA, etc. Should be pretty sweet.

Little too pricey for my blood, but another option if someone wants a nice machine preconfigured w/ linux.

http://emperorlinux.com/access...75#75

$100 for a 256MB thumbdrive? I can get a 8gb thumbdrive for $40.

$100 256MB thumbdrive is $400/GB
$40 for 8gb microsdhc is $5/GB

you can find them here they give you freeDOS but I am sure you can put anything else on it

http://www.dell.com/content/pr...ck=mn