Which laptop & distro should I buy?

coolblue · 07-16-2005, 01:57 AM

Hi all

I have very little knowledge so I wanted to ask 2 simple questions:
1. What would be the best laptop to run Linux?
2. What would be the best distro for a laptop?

GUIDELINES

The whole idea behind these questions is COMPATIBILITY and EASE OF SETTING THINGS UP (like adsl ethernet broadband, display etc.)

Assume that the laptop would be used for common desktop activities like playing games, watching movies, creating spreadsheets, surfing etc.

The distro should be FREE for download currently. It may or may not be commercial. For example Suse 9.3 Pro is commercial but is FREE for download now.

Let me know the best solutions there are for newbies.
Hope u got my point.

Thanks

aysiu · 07-16-2005, 02:16 AM

Maybe this will help?

http://www.linux-laptop.net/

As for distro, I'd recommend Ubuntu.

springshades · 07-17-2005, 03:51 AM

Key thing for a new laptop is getting a VERY new distro. You want one that has a release from this year if possible. That's because they're making major improvements with ACPI in the newer kernels and that is HELL to deal with for a newbie if it isn't supported. Next, my opinion is that if you have a good internet connection, get a couple of Live CDs to try. I think that both Mepis and Ubuntu tend to aim at making good laptop distros, so those would be good Live CDs to check out. Mandrake would be a good one to try too. Let me know if you have any specific questions, but Live CDs would let you know how well supported your laptop is.

For a laptop, try finding something that has an Nvidia graphics chip (they have BY FAR the best drivers in Linux and they are easier to install than others). Also, if you're going to use wireless internet (I'm sure you probably are) Try to find a laptop with a supported wireless chipset. It'll be much easier on you if you don't have to install ndiswrapper or do a search for some obscure, barely working linux driver... You could look at the prism54 project and see if you can find a chipset that they support, because getting one of those chipsets to work basically just involves downloading your firmware and putting it into the proper folder on your computer.