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I have purchased twice from https://www.powernotebooks.com/

The Apple Macbook Pro 17 costs (USD 2578/- with anti-glare screen and display port adapter for VGA)

Here is a laptop which has similar or better specifications than a Apple Macbook and an excellent support service. You can checkout reviews of Powernotebooks for an idea about the quality of service they provide. NOTE: I am not associated with them in anyway. I have heard very good reports though.

Not a Dell, but better (for approximately USD 1749 or about than GBP 1077.50). Check this out:
http://www.powernotebooks.com/configure.php?special=924

If you configure it with the following specs it comes to about USD 1595/-. If you are too lazy to read the article, I have given the specs below:

17.3” Full HD 16:9 Wide screen (1920x1080) LED-Backlit Display with Super Clear Glare Type screen vs 17" 1920x1200 Anti-glare on the Macbook Pro 17
nVIDIA GeForce GTX 460M 192bit w/1.5GB GDDR5 vs Intel HD Graphics 3000 on the Macbook Pro 17
Intel® Core i7-2630QM (2.0~2.9GHz, 45W) w/6M L3 Cache - 4 Cores - 8 Threads,
8GB (2x4GB SODIMMS) DDR3/1333 vs 4GB on the Macbook Pro 17
750GB SATA II 3GB/s 7,200 RPM (16MB Cache Buffer) vs 750GB SATA 5400 RPM on Macbook Pro 17
Integrated 802.11 b/g/n wireless LAN + Bluetooth V3.0 + HS Combo Card
Windows 7 Premium (with CD)
3-Year Labor 1-Year Parts (Year 2 & 3 Labor by PNB)-Lifetime 24/7 DOMESTIC Toll Free Support. vs No apple care plan on Macbook Pro (you can purchase a 3 year Apple care plan for 349.. the advantage is that you get international support unlike in the case of Powernotebooks.com)

In case you missed it - there is domestic toll free support in the US for the lifetime of the product with Powernotebooks.

So all in all a wonderful deal if you are in the US. Again, I am not associated with this company in any way, shape or form. Just pointing out that there are far better deals than buying a Macbook Pro.

How can Sager not be on here, or even, at the very least, in the Budget section?

I've had the NP2030-C (14.1") for two years, and it has been absolutely wonderful using it as both a gaming laptop (in WinXP) and to triple-boot XP, Debian, and FreeBSD.

Haven't had any trouble running games on Medium to Medium-High settings and getting 30+ fps. Also, all of the hardware works under Debian with free drivers (took about a year or so before the webcam driver was developed enough to work).

I ordered mine through a company called PowerNotebooks.com, mostly for the option of "no OS preinstalled." The price was about half that of an Alienware of comparable specs at the time.

Also, Sager's and PowerNotebooks.com's support are probably the best I've ever experienced as far as technology goes.

As a happy customer (bought a Compal HGL30 a while back, 2.16GHz Core 2/2GB RAM, GeForce 7600GT), I like these guys: http://powernotebooks.com/

I don't have any financial interest in it, they're just very competent, knowledgeable and friendly ;)

> Except if you're looking for FOSS OS laptop, where do you take it?

I'd say PowerNotebooks. They sell most laptops without Windows if you want, and they are pretty cluefull people.

I ordered a PowerPro A:38 from them, a rebranded ASUS Z84JP. It runs Kubuntu Feisty like a dream. It is truly the ultimate Linux power laptop that I had been looking for. :)

Laboratory Computers (Austin, Las Vegas, and Evansville, IN, but they ship anywhere) is where I bought my desktop, and they give the option of Linux, Windows, or no OS. http://laboratorycomputers.com/

PowerNotebooks offers the same machines as Alienware, just without the fancy paint, and a lot cheaper, also with either Linux, Windows, or no OS. http://www.powernotebooks.com/

ASUS and Compal have their own laptop lines that are well-reviewed, have excellent build-quality, and are on the same feature-level as the MacBook Pros. The new ASUS G1/G2, A8, and F series as well as the Compal IFL90/IFT00 notebooks have Santa Rosa with nVidia DirectX 10 graphics--and can be configured for at least $500 less than the equivalent MBP. Take for example http://www.powernotebooks.com/: Their Compal-based "PowerPro J 10:15 ULTRA" has higher resolution than the mid-range MacBook Pro, 512 MB Video RAM, and a 3-year service warranty, but comes out $500 cheaper.

The usual response to this point is that Macs are so beautiful that it transcends all criticism from these irritating numbers.

The last time I checked, Asus doesn't sell directly. One of the vendors I mentioned (http://www.powernotebooks.com/) is one of their resellers, my current notebook is an Asus that I got from them. They don't have as good a selection of Asus laptops as Asus-Specific vendors like ProPortable (http://www.proportable.com/), but they offer more machines from other manufacturers like Sager and Compal. If those companies don't sound familiar to you, you probably want to read this: http://www.powernotebooks.com/articles/index.php?a ction=fullnews&id=17

The last time I checked, Asus doesn't sell directly. One of the vendors I mentioned (http://www.powernotebooks.com/) is one of their resellers, my current notebook is an Asus that I got from them. They don't have as good a selection of Asus laptops as Asus-Specific vendors like ProPortable (http://www.proportable.com/), but they offer more machines from other manufacturers like Sager and Compal. If those companies don't sound familiar to you, you probably want to read this: http://www.powernotebooks.com/articles/index.php?a ction=fullnews&id=17

It is hard to build a laptop at Newegg, but that doesn't mean that you're out of options and must resort to buying from HP or Dell.

It's possible to buy a whitebox laptop and drop in all the technician-serviceable parts yourself. It's annoying, so I personally try to avoid it.

There are also a number of independent vendors who are happy to sell high quality laptops to Linux users. Some, like http://www.system76.com/ actually sell laptops with Linux installed. Others, like http://www.powernotebooks.com/ sell OS-less laptops and are happy to service machines with Linux installed.

Most people immediately respond "but Dell laptops are cheaper". Three points:
- First, the price difference isn't that large. Start at System76 or PowerNotebooks and pick the system that you want. Then recreate the exact same hardware configuration on the HP/Dell/Lenovo site and compare the prices. Going the other way is harder because the independent vendors have a smaller selection, but it's extremely unlikely that PowerNotebooks doesn't stock a machine that fits your needs.
- Second, if you buy from System76, you *know* your hardware works with Ubuntu (since it comes pre-installed). No janky wireless drivers, no too-new sound card that won't be supported until the next kernel revision. If you buy from PowerNotebooks, it's not quite as good - but they have a Linux support forum where you can discuss your issues with other users (and the owner of the company who watches the forums closely).
- You get what you pay for. Dell brand wireless is $10 cheaper than Intel wireless for a reason. Other components, like power supplies / battery packs / LCD screens are harder to compare because they aren't independently branded. The independent vendors compete on the quality of those components whereas the large vendors will cut every corner they can get away with. I mean - HP won't even post a battery life estimate for its laptops.

I strongly recommend PowerNotebooks.

They don't pre-install Linux, but they are somewhat clueful about it, and they will sell most laptops without Windows.

I recently got the PowerPro A 2:38, a re-branded ASUS. It is a butt-kicking Linux powerhouse. Pretty much everything works out of the box on Kubuntu Feisty (not the camera, and I haven't tried the modem).

As always, check ResellerRatings:
PowerNotebooks
Dell
HP
Gateway

Any questions? ;)

I strongly recommend PowerNotebooks.

They don't pre-install Linux, but they are somewhat clueful about it, and they will sell most laptops without Windows.

I recently got the PowerPro A 2:38, a re-branded ASUS. It is a butt-kicking Linux powerhouse. Pretty much everything works out of the box on Kubuntu Feisty (not the camera, and I haven't tried the modem).

As always, check ResellerRatings:
PowerNotebooks
Dell
HP
Gateway

Any questions? ;)

I recently got a laptop with an eSATA port. Then got an Icy Dock enclosure and a Samsung 500GB SATA-II drive from Newegg.

I can hotplug the thing in both Windows and Linux. Speed is twice as fast as the internal drive (according to hdparm -t). I'm thrilled with it!

Might as well put in a plug for those of you looking for butt-kicking Linux laptop setups.

I just ordered this rebranded ASUS Z84JP and immediately installed Kubuntu Feisty Herd 5 on it.

I am very happy with the result. With very little tweaking, it recognized everything I care about:

* Firewire -- I've captured DV video with it
* eSATA -- ordered a SATA-2 drive and an Icy Dock enclosure from Newegg. It's twice as fast as the internal drive and huge, perfect for video editing
* 3D -- glxgears gives over 5000 fps, only drawback is the proprietary kernel module
* Bluetooth
* Sound
* Standard stuff -- DVD, USB, etc

Haven't yet tried the camera or external video output.

I think Herd 5 is already very close to production quality, but I had a scare when updating with Adept. Fortunately it got worked out. When it is truly final I will be heavily promoting Feisty to friends. :)

Dell's N series is an interesting strategic decision on their part. It's carefully hidden on their website so no "normal" customer could ever find it, but it's available from an easily linked to URL so that it can be used to prove that "Dell really does sell Microsoft-free PCs" in Slashdot and Digg discussions.

I'd stay away from it myself - every n-Series system that Dell sells is one less system that a smaller vendor who provides better support for Linux doesn't get. Until Dell actually supports Linux, at all, on a machine that it's possible to find by clicking around from the Dell homepage, I'm going to have to recommend supporting smaller vendors that actually support Linux.

Smaller vendors like: http://store.madtux.org/index.php?cPath=57 (Really cheap Linux PCs), http://www.system76.com/ (Nice Ubuntu systems), http://www.powernotebooks.com/ (Nice OS-free laptops).

No-OS, Computers without Operating System (for those who want to install their own Operating System):

  http://www.abestpc.com/laptop.htm Laptops

  http://www.adamant.com/ Desktops Laptops

  http://www.avadirect.com/ Desktops Laptops
  http://www.com4.nl/ Desktops
  http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/ Desktops Laptops

  http://www.goldenelectronics.co.uk/ Desktops
  http://www.hypersonic-pc.com/ Desktops Laptops

  http://www.ion-technologies.com/ Laptops
  http://store.madtux.org/ Desktops/

  http://www.laptopchoice.com.au/ Laptops
  http://www.mtechlaptops.com/ Laptops

  http://www.mwave.com/ Laptops
  http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/ Desktops Laptops

  http://www.pcsforeveryone.com/ Laptops
  http://www.powernotebooks.com/ Laptops

  http://www.rjtech.com/ Laptops
  http://www.topmicrousa.com/laptops-notebooks.html Laptops

  http://www.unitedmicro.com/ Desktops Laptops
  http://xnbs.com/ Laptops

  http://www.xtremenotebooks.com/ Laptops
  http://www.zepto.com/ Laptops
 
  http://lxer.com/module/forums/t/23168/

Unless I'm mistaken Macs are NOT price competitive, unless being 800 or so dollars over is competitive. Look at the top of the line Mac Book Pro, compared to this http://www.powernotebooks.com/product.php?itemId=1 430 computer. If equipped with the same specs then the Mac is about $800 more expensive. Unless of course OSX's price tag is 800.

http://www.powernotebooks.com/
http://www.system76.com/

I just buy from companies that actually sell what I want.

Consider looking at non-mainstream, customizable notebooks, known as whitebooks. These notebooks are often made by the same manufacturers as those of Fujitsu, Hewlett-Packard, Dell, and other brand names. There are only a handful of ODMs (original design manufacturers), the companies that actually make the notebooks, in the world, the two largest being Quanta and Compal; ASUS lags behind them but is making its way up to the top three.

With whitebooks, you will never get a laptop cheaper than through, say, Dell, but you will get much higher quality components for the buck, greater customization options, excellent warranty options and of course, you can buy the parts! Whitebooks are normally purchased through notebook resellers. My favorite is PowerNotebooks.com, but there are plenty of others such as ProPortable.com.

Current models to check out would be the Compal HEL80 and HGL30 and ASUS S96J and W3J. Check out the reviews and the forums at NotebookReview.com (better known as NBR). That site was a tremendous resource for me and helped me decide on the Compal HEL80 for myself.

I own and highly recommend the Compal HEL80 This notebook is awesome! You can get it with a matte (not glossy) WSXGA+ (1680x1050) screen. Power behind it is nVIDIA GeForce Go 7600, and you can get Intel Core 2 Duo now. It's a whitebook which means you buy it from a notebook reseller, not from Circus City or Worst Buy. My favorite and most highly recommended reseller would be PowerNotebooks; if you order from them be sure to order by phone for a nice discount. ProPortable is also a good place to buy from.

Buy the exact same laptop here for a lot less? http://www.powernotebooks.com/product.php?itemId=1 232

sony vaio u101 (discontinued, import)
everything works out of the box(even rare
things like suspend and temp sensor) hardware
feels like it was meant to run linux,
including things like 3d accel, screen
brightness (better control than windows)
temp sensor, etc. this is my main laptop.

apple ibook g4 1.25ghz
also runs ubuntu, power management works,
but its not as nice. 3d does work. mostly
run it in os x for when i need a mac at
work, i like the u101 better.

fujitsu p2120
runs fine, couldnt suspend then, probably
can now. everything else works, but that
transmeta chip is slow...

thinkpad A21p ran ubuntu fine, everything worked.

compaq m700 everything worked out of the box in
debian, so ubuntu should be no prob.

the only things to watch out for are acpi (make sure
it can suspend if you care about that) and the wifi card,
unless you want to use a pc-card slot. ubuntu is
good about hardware support.

usually laptops are easier than desktops to run nix on
or at least look up. look up linux laptop sellers and
linux friendly ones ( http://powernotebooks.com/
http://www.emperorlinux.com/ etc) along with all the
sites dedicated to linux laptops. also good to check
bsd sites and see if anyone on #ubuntu is using / looking
at a laptop your interested in.

if you just need windows for a couple school apps,
you might want to use qemu or vmware(player and
server are free) qemus performance isnt bad with
virtualization, but you cant like watch movies
in it and stuff like with vmware. but anyway,
its pretty easy to manage a 3 gig win2k partition
and maybe a backup or two, or just run it in snap
shot mode with another virtual disk for data or
just using the included samba (both qemu and
vmware have this) on a host only network so
windows doesnt get exposed at all.

Powernotebooks actually sells decent laptops without 'Doze. I haven't ordered from them yet, but if I were looking for a non-Mac laptop, I certainly would. Their recent rating on resellerratings.com is a perfect 10. Good selections, and you can probably find something with GMA950 graphics and Intel wireless so you may not need closed source drivers for anything.

However, I'm getting a Mac. I've concluded that OS X is simply a "better UNIX than Linux" on laptops. Suspend/resume and Wifi just work, and work well. No tinkering and hoping it will work.

I'm still very much a Linux guy and won't change my desktop. And I hope that the next laptop I buy after this Mac will be Linux based, and run everythig just as well as the Mac. But for now I'm convinced that MacBook[Pro] is the way to go for *NIX geeks.

so the choice is limited to: intel centrino duo, turion and macbook pro

Defeating it is usually as easy as adding more text.

Thanks here are a few more links.

(Sabio made by Quanta, like Dell-latitudes)
http://www.avadirect.com/
http://www.asimobile.com/
http://www.powernotebooks.com/

http://www.addonshop.com/ http://www.emperorlinux.com/ http://www.ibexpc.com/ http://www.koobox.com/ http://www.linare.com/ http://www.linspire.com/ http://www.linuxcertified.com/ http://www.linuxsyscorp.com/ http://www.microtelpc.com/ http://www.outpost.com/ http://shoprcubed.com/ http://www.sub300.com/ http://www.systemax.com/divisions.htm http://www.walmart.com/ http://tuxmobil.org/reseller.html http://www.us.debian.org/distrib/pre-installed http://www.linux.org/vendor/system/index.html http://tuxmobil.org/ (general information) No OS (Sabio made by Quanta, like Dell-latitudes) http://www.avadirect.com/ http://www.asimobile.com/ http://www.powernotebooks.com/

and i found you a place to buy laptops, lazybones: http://www.powernotebooks.com/articles/index.php?a ction=fullnews&id=18 or apple of course.

Ide suggest going through http://www.powernotebooks.com/ Better prices across the board on Sager's, rather then from Sager direct. Also have fast 24/7 support. They got my 3 bills for a 9860. God i love it.

With the "laptop pad" I actually do sit on the couch in my living room and use the PC. It has wireless networking but, alas, I require the (long-wire) AC adapter because the battery life is limited to ~1 hour. Most poker games, I mean, "coding sessions" take longer than that.

I don't think it was mentioned in the review but among the "ports" are all the popular digital camera interfaces. So you can take the CF or SD or whatever out of your camera and mount it from XP and get your pictures directly instead of via USB/serial link.

And yes, a good bag helps to carry it. I think a heavy-duty shoulder pad is the secret.

http://www.addonshop.com/
http://www.emperorlinux.com/
http://www.ibexpc.com/
http://www.linare.com/
http://www.linspire.com/
http://www.linuxcertified.com/
http://www.microtelpc.com/
http://www.outpost.com/
http://shoprcubed.com/
http://www.sub300.com/
http://www.systemax.com/divisions.htm
http://www.walmart.com/
http://www.xandros.com/

http://tuxmobil.org/reseller.html
http://www.us.debian.org/distrib/pre-installed
http://www.linux.org/vendor/system/index.html

http://tuxmobil.org/ (general information)

No OS

(Sabio made by Quanta, like Dell-latitudes)
http://www.avadirect.com/
http://www.asimobile.com/
http://www.powernotebooks.com/

RAID in laptops isn't new really. http://www.powernotebooks.com/category.php?catId=2 5#id699

There are lots of good Linux laptops on the market you just have to do a bit of searching
to find them instead of taking the easy way out by buying an overpriced Dell or HP
WinXP machine.

Have you looked at:

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

If you want a sub $1k you'll have to be a bit more creative, I went with a used iBook that I
installed YelloDog on. I've recently installed Ubuntu for PPC on it with no problems.

The Acer TravelMate 2300 notebook has been reviewed on /. and NewsForge several
times as a very nice $700 machine.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82 E16834115184

ASUS notebooks are widely available in the USA.

The reason you don't see them much is because many are rebranded by the resellers. Those not rebranded (the ASUS Ensemble line) suffer from lack of major marketing.

are just a FEW of the many USA based online resellers who offer ASUS laptops.

... and buy from a laptop vendor that will sell you a laptop without windows. A good example is powernotebooks.com. It may not have the hardware feature set you were looking for, but you have to decide whether the included hardware or software is more important.

PowerNotebooks.com

You can burn MS *AND* VoodooPC with those guys. They sell the same Sager laptops for a substantially lower price

http://www.powernotebooks.com/ ships computers without an operating system installed. Check em out.

Virtually none of the "Name" brands manufacture their own laptops, with the only exceptions being Asus, Twinhead and Apple, and even Twinhead and Apple do not make all of their own. All of the rest buy their laptops from what is called an Original Design Manufacturer (ODM). These ODMs sell their computers to several different OEMs who then install the Hard Drive (usually an Hitachi or Toshiba), Processor and System Memory. They then put their label on it and market it. For example: An ODM named Clevo makes the Sager NP5690 and the original Alienware Area 51-M, the Voodoo MClass M550, the Hypersonic Aviator GX6, and they are all the same computer. Clevo also makes the Sager NP8790, the Falcon Northwest Fragbook DL, and the Voodoo Envy M:780, and they are also the same computer. Of course the Sager models have a much sweeter price tag! An ODM named Compal makes some of the DELL, Hewlett Packard and Compaq line of laptops, as well as the PowerPro M 5:6, PowerPro M 5:14, and the PowerPro M 6:33.

I know the perfect solution for this. There's a few companies that make them but these 2 have some nice products that will really fill the role nicely.

Option 1

Option 2

(just try getting a laptop without Windows)

Just a side note, one place I know of where you can get a notebook computer without an OS installed is Power Notebooks. They've consistently been one of the highest rated businesses on ResellerRatings.com. That's a handy tool for sorting out who to order from online, BTW. No affiliation with either entity.

Try http://www.powernotebooks.com/

Most of Alienware's notebooks are re-branded Sagers (which are made by Clevo). A couple of years ago I got a Sager from PowerNotebooks and a few weeks later Alienware came out with a near identical notebook (their original Area 51-M) for about $1k more. Check out this for more details.

As always--It pays to shop around!

Most of Alienware's notebooks are re-branded Sagers (which are made by Clevo). A couple of years ago I got a Sager from PowerNotebooks and a few weeks later Alienware came out with a near identical notebook (their original Area 51-M) for about $1k more. Check out this for more details.

As always--It pays to shop around!

Some info about this commercial X server. I wanted a Linux laptop, but neither wanted to spend a ton of money and have to fight with the damn thing to install Linux, nor spend the assload for a Mac. So I got a reasonably powerful from powernotebooks.com. So I don't care too much about the licensing issue. Does this make me evil?

PowerNotebooks

For less than $1500.00 (!!) you can get a fully loaded PowerPro 5:6 which has a Radeon Mobility 9700 with 128 megs of ram and a 1.5 ghz Centrino (or get a 1.7 ghz for $1650.) They also have crazy desktop replacement models at great prices also (10 pounds though!)

These guys also have an incredible Reseller Rating from ResellerRatings.com.

I did a bunch of research into gaming laptops a week ago and these guys came out on top. I also sent them an email inquiring about the soundcard on the PowerPro laptop and got a fast and very technically sound reply.

paulb

PowerNotebooks

For less than $1500.00 (!!) you can get a fully loaded PowerPro 5:6 which has a Radeon Mobility 9700 with 128 megs of ram and a 1.5 ghz Centrino (or get a 1.7 ghz for $1650.) They also have crazy desktop replacement models at great prices also (10 pounds though!)

These guys also have an incredible Reseller Rating from ResellerRatings.com.

I did a bunch of research into gaming laptops a week ago and these guys came out on top. I also sent them an email inquiring about the soundcard on the PowerPro laptop and got a fast and very technically sound reply.

paulb

I looked up their Linux info page and also found that the laptops they sell are the same exact laptops Sager laptops from Clevo that alienware sells. If you're looking into Alienware notebooks the Sager 17" is $2400 (with XP) and an Alienware 16" is $3800.

I looked up their Linux info page and also found that the laptops they sell are the same exact laptops Sager laptops from Clevo that alienware sells. If you're looking into Alienware notebooks the Sager 17" is $2400 (with XP) and an Alienware 16" is $3800.

I looked up their Linux info page and also found that the laptops they sell are the same exact laptops Sager laptops from Clevo that alienware sells. If you're looking into Alienware notebooks the Sager 17" is $2400 (with XP) and an Alienware 16" is $3800.

Check the prices out at Powernotebooks.com

Check out the Sager 8890 Specs and then rethink alienware and dell.

I have the Sager NP5680 P4 2.8GHz with the ATI Radeon 9600 with 128MB DDR... and it cost around $1800.. (thanks to work for picking up the check)

Check out the 17" laptops for around $1500. Nice!