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LinuxCertified LC2430 Laptop Review
Anonymouse writes "OSNews posted a comprehensive review of the made-for-Linux LinuxCertified LC2430 laptop. They found that all its components are fully compatible with Linux, except with ACPI in recent kernels (which actually affects many laptops recently). The laptop is a desktop replacement with strong performance and some good extra features: Firewire port, 3-1 card reader, combo drive, SXGA+ TFT screen and an ATi Radeon 3D card. Four Linux distributions were tested with it."
Great, but does it run Windows XP?
*ducks*
Actually, the prices looked extremely reasonable enough that I'm considering a purchase. The LC2410 is only $1499. The 2430, the one in the review, is only $1699.
I'm rather impressed they can have prices this reasonable, "Windows tax" or not. A similar Dell Inspiron 5160 (a "desktop replacement" as well) configured with WinXP runs around the same price ($1640, though they are offering a free wireless card now).
How fast does it compile Gentoo?
the P4 is the WORST possible cpu for a notebook. It needs massive memory bandwidth to perform somewhat acceptible, which most notebooks dont have. It draws a LOT of power, killing the battery rather quickly (90 min run time is pathetic), and all that dissapated power has to go somewhere (aka heat). The Pentium M or Athlon 64 series would of been a far better choice for a notebook.
Lawyers, MBA's, RIAA? A jedi fears not these things!
Linux certified laptop with an ATi videocard? Great!
It looked like then "special" price was higher than the "normal" price, then I looked again:
The price appeared as $1099 (struckout) and $1699 as the "special" price. I guess "0" and "8" look similar if they have are struck through.
The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
I recognize that laptop case from when we used to sell them at my last job. They were notorious for the hinges breaking very easily under repeated openings of the display. Be wary of weak components!
My Sager 5600matched this machine 2 years ago for ~$200? more. It's been running each release of RH (well, 7.2, 8, 8.1B, 9, FC1, FC2) since I've owned it, nary a problem.
The specs on this machine are underwhelming. The Radeon 9000 is so, um, 2001. Save for a few weeks more and pick up one of these to get your TV tuner, etc., too.
...if I wanted to read garbage like that, I'd go to \.
This is a joke, right? Linux-certified laptop, no ACPI support?
ACPI support is absolutely essential on a laptop.
ahr, wrong...it's true that if the voltage does fall below a certain level copper would start deposit on the electrode, and the li-ion can never be recharged again, but all laptop uses Lithium-ion battery now a day, the "smart" battery tech built-in automatically takes that into consideration. So 0% doesn't not necessary mean the battery is completely empty, just mean it's near the recharging voltage limit. If i remember correctly apple actually recommends ipod users to drain the battery till the device "die" once every few months.
As for many other types of rechargeable batteries, it's actually better to discharge them completely before recharging, because of the so called "memory" effect.
This Sig is removed due to factual inaccuracy
But does it run Linux?
Oh wait...
LinuxCertified is their name? Certified by whom - their marketing department? Wouldn't older, more popular models on eBay be cheaper and more compatible, since they've been around longer and have been tested by a larger population?
Aren't thse LinuxCertified laptops kind of expensive compared to competing laptops? I got my virtually silent Mac laptop for less than a grand months ago. If you're not going to be running Windows, then get something better. If you're going to be running Windows, then get something better. Sounds like a Lose-lose for LinuxCertified.
In other words, it tries to be just as big, hot, and power hungry as a desktop... While being cramped, using propritary parts, and being just as expensive as a notebook.
Wonderful! The worst of both worlds.
Seriously, folks. What is the point of desktop replacements? Who in the world buys them? What possible purpose can they serve?
Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
all of the athlon models run at a much lower speed when on battery power. and they're equally as power hungry as a pentium IV.
Pentium M and Efficeon are the only sane choices for x86 notebook cpus.
I don't know what is wrong with a plain old Thinkpad running debian. If you're willing to put about two hours (less if you don't want MS-DOS at all), and maybe a couple of hours more tweaking stuff.
My IBM R40 is more than adequately functional with Debian running. I guess except for some support related issues one might be interested in, I really don't see the point. Now, if only IBM would sell these things without an OS..
Review says: sleep doesn't work, bad placing of the PCMCIA card slot wrt the optical drive, and a funny sound card. When the battery gets to 10%, it just shuts off, instead of sleeping--which I guess is related to the first issue. I have to say, that as noble an attempt as this is, if I purchased a new computer with any of these issues I would send it back. Is it right to cut them this much slack? Oh, and it's 7 pounds and get 1.5 hrs of usage. Let's compare to an iBook:
So the reviewed laptop costs $300 more, + wireless card, and sleep doesn't work? Plus the HD is smaller, weighs a pound more, and gets 1/3 of the battery life? You can put Linux on the iBook, even, if you don't like the UNIX part of OS X.
While there's a place for Linux on a laptop, I don't see this as an iBook killer. Get it below $999 and I'd be interested--if you're going to pay a premium I think this laptop has some competition.
--
$tar -xvf
It feels to me that this review is a little biased. For example, the authoer says that this notebook shuts down "sometimes without warning" if the batteries get too low, and he says that this is a good thing! I can't imagine this "feature" succeeding on a more mainstream laptop...
I had one of these. At first I couldn't be happier - it was awesome that all the components worked with linux, and when ordering it you can ask them to partition the hard drive however you like (so you don't need partition magic to put something else on it - you can tell them to leave an unused partition for you to put something else on later), but then I discovered one really dissapointing problem with it: On the physical quality side of things, it is extremely fragile. For one thing, some screws came loose inside that part of the case that you aren't allowed to open without voiding the warranty - I could hear the screws rolling around in there, but to fix it I'd have to mail the thing back in since I'd void the warranty, and that would be a huge delay and I *needed* this thing daily. So I decided to wait until it was out of warranty anyway, and then open it up to fix it myself. If anything broke while it was under warranty, then I'd ship it in.
Well, the fateful day came, the warrany passed, and I opened it up. Inside I discovered, much to my dismay, that not just one or two, but an entire 9 different screw holes were missing their screws. I only ever found 6 of them in the case. Some were for the heat sink. The heat sink was held on by only the gooey thermal gell and pressure from the back of the case. None of the screw holes for the heat sink were still fastened. No wonder I occasionally got shutdowns with "hot cpu" messages in the logs (I had thought it was because I might have been covering the vent with my leg when I had it on my lap).
Also, Xfree86 had started behaving badly (dying at random times) and I found out why when I opened the case - the ATI video card (which was also supposed to be protected by that unscrewed heat sink - it covered video card and CPU) had a few spots where the soldering had apparently melted and I could see brown burn marks near it.
So here I was stuck with a computer that was broke, a day out of warranty, because it hadn't been screwed together very well, and since it's a laptop, trying to go to a third-party for a replacement video card is totally impossible - they're all unique.
Sigh. They're software setup was good, but my experience with their physical durability was piss-poor - and that's an important factor for a laptop.
Don't label something "offtopic" unless you know the topic well enough to tell what's on topic.
This is the dumbest thing I have seen in a while. The fact is that except for minor things, Linux laptop support has not been entirely difficult on just about every run of the mill laptop out there.
The big major issue with Linux laptop support in the x86 world has been power management ever since ACPI came onto the scene. The sad part is though that sleep is not supported in this laptop being reviewed. That's totally dumb.
Except for ACPI issues I have not had a single problem running Debian on a couple Thinkpads and a Compaq Presario.
After adjusting the DSDT in the Compaq, and using the relaxed interpreter for the ThinkPads, sleep works perfectly except if one is using the ATI FireGL driver. This is still better than this shitty overpriced laptop.
I mean really, if you need someone to wipe your ass for you, you shouldn't be using Linux in the first place. This is not an elitist statement, far from it, it's just that, at least for the foreseeable future, widespread vendor support for Linux is not viable and the companies making the components do not have Linux in mind. Getting Linux to work on any laptop will require you to "play the vendor/integrator" to at least some extent.
I don't know about you lot, but I can't really extend the "linux certified" qualification to the radeon series, on account of those bloody drivers..
I can't help feeling that nvidia would have been a better choice here, on account of ease of use (I know, I know, both ATi and Nvidia drivers are binary-only, but the nvidia one is so much more reliable, and the Ati driver's a bitch to get working)
AirPort Extreme cards aren't supported, asshole.
um, it has an ATI Radeon graphics processor. Doesn't ATI driver support on linux suck?
I thought that Nvidia linux support was quite good.
Based on what i've seen, Anyone?
But it still will not give me what I need. And I think many others out there have the same needs (yeah mod me redundant for saying it again :)):
- WORKING ACPI support (it's a laptop, right?);
- Most importantly: a decent reference manager.
Lots of potential Linux users are scientists and they may even make up some really critical mass. But as long as we science types all have to use Lyx and LaTeX to handle bibkiographies (and yes, I know about sixpack and pybliographer - I tried everything to get them running on three different *NIX platforms but no go - maybe I'm stupid but I gave up for lack of time), instead of just grabbing EndNote for Linux and use it to insert references into OpenOffice we're not going to use Linux (or any other OSS OS) on a daily basis. Science these days is about content creation as much as anything else and in my experience OSS isn't very good about that yet. And Lord knows I tried. And don't tell me I have to use a Mac then. I USE a mac every day (PB G4 w/ 1GB RAM) and its performance is piss-poor when browsing and opening pdf's and the like, which is what I do all day. Windows is way faster at those tasks on comparable machines. Having Linux certified laptops is a decent first step, but it will not do for those who really need their laptops for actual work - see the above. Until that time comes I'm going to get me a really fat Voodoo laptop with XP to write my papers and make my figures (yes, I'm disappointed with the Mac's performance. I hate to switch but speed is everything these days).
----- One learns to itch where one can scratch.
Am i the only one who looked at the beveled base, the color of the plastic, the three buttons in back with the mech grill...and thought..."Oh, it's a Sony VAIO"?
So...um...what's the point, when you can just go out and buy a Sony VAIO, probably for cheaper, since it's not being sold as a niche product? I'd also be amazed if whoever actually made that laptop gave Linux Certified a better price per unit than Sony...so they're making less of a margin than Sony or they've passed that price increase right along to you.
Please help metamoderate.
The specs are probably way to over the top for this notebook. I'd like to see them bring it down to a more power conserving and price friendly level. Sub- $1000
www.lashen.com
Remember that before ATI began releasing any drivers at all for Linux they released the specifications of their chipsets and even gave cards to developers who wrote open source drivers.
Look in your kernel config under Direct Rendering Infrastructure.
Well, I got it working (3D acceleration, I mean). Eventually. I have a Thinkpad A21p with a rage mobility m3. The DRI drivers work, but you need to download daily snapshots (there doesn't appear to be a 'stable'), cross your fingers and hope that it works. If it doesn't (it locks up hard - there's a kernel module involved) then you try yesterdays build. Even now, if there's an OpenGL screensaver that kicks in, Xv breaks, but that's pretty good as far as I'm concerned.
A much better outcome than on my desktop machine. ATI's radeon drivers - they suck.
God, I hate you ATI, you've wasted literally weeks of my time with your crap software. Linux certified, yeah right. This Radeon 9800SE card came with a linux logo on the box. Ha!
Their linux drivers suck.
NVidia would have been a much better choice.
I've been searching for a windows free laptop with an nvidia gfx card, but they seem to be a mythical beast indeed. I'm not willing to pay for a GPU that I don't get to fully utilize.
True genius is grasping a situation like a peice of fruit, and peircing it just right so that it drains dry.
A customer bought one of these for me. I would not recommend it. It is actually a Uniwill 755ia. I received it with SuSE 9.1 preinstalled and dual booting with Windows 2000. The Linux installation was botched and I had many problems with the machine until I performed a reinstallation myself. I am not much into games but Tux Racer was part of the original software installation and it would not run because hardware accelleration was not enabled. Also there would be times when the machine would run like it was a 2.8Mhz cpu and it became unusable. When I reinstalled I disable ACPI support and it has be fine since then. If you really want one of these it's cheaper to buy it from Los Alamos Computers ( http://www.laclinux.com ). They also appear to be a little more technically oriented and have an optimized kernel for download.
Are these guys retarded? How the crap do you claim a LAPTOP to be linux-compatable if its ACPI and video card arent supporterd? What about the wireless card? I have almost the exact same laptop (Fujitsu Lifebook), only mine also has a wireless card. Even though the video card is older and has "good support" (reasonably reliable drivers), it still cannot do 3D whatsoever. Installing the ATI drivers gave it 3D, but it was buggy, and generally useless. Using Winex for games on it is like a wild adventure, filled with crazy shapes, hilarious framerates, and stalling your computer when your about to win. The kernel radeon module worked okay in 2D, but it had screen-refreshing issues; like youd expect from a 4mb onboard video card in windows XP. I really hope ATI puts more work into fixing their Linux drivers; or open-sources them.
I don't think you want to go there...
Isn't Aquafina the Coke (tm) company that poisoned a major english water supply? No wait... that's Daisani, ain't it? grrr...time to google...
"Analysts said there was a similar reaction in February when CSE said it had found unacceptable levels of pesticide in several bottled water brands, including Coke's Kinley and Pepsi's Aquafina."
in New Delhi...From (newspage)
or...HA- here's what i was thinking of... Dasani...
From the rest of the google results, it looks like we're pretty screwed with most water stuff... Try a comparison with something more benign...like Pizza maybe...?
Aw crap... Poison Pizza on google...
Sig currently under construction. Mind the gap....
Or grandparent down; your call.
Newer IBM notebooks/laptops doesn't ahve Windows keys, which is absolutly a good thing for any Linux user!! or Windows user for that matter=)
That's not enterely true.
AMD mobile cpus (athlon-xp and athlon64) have better speed/power scaling than pentiums. You can adjust the power management of the battery through policies both in Windows and Linux (it's much more flexible in linux).
You can have your battery powered laptop perform just as if it was connected to AC if you want, but it would drain the battery rather quickly, or you can set policies for maximum battery that tipically involve locking it to the lowest frequency available
The advantage relies in that amds have a wider spectrum of frequencies they can be set to, while pentiums, if i am not mistaken only have two. a Low power and a high performance mode.
The best cure for insomnia is realizing that it is already time to get up. EsteEncanto.com - Blog on technology, urban
...is extremely positive. .rpm support built in (which is an easy task for someone whos already running linux)
In fact, I am using it to write this post.
Not only is the software setup very good, it also dual boots (Fedora Core 2 and WinXP).
Generally I am very happy with this, the only downside is the fact that it does not have
This Laptop helped me switch to Linux with relatively little effort. As a college student I wanted a laptop but I did not have the time to put a lot of effort into it to get everything working.
(Believe it or not, students occassionally do work hard)
For a Linux beginner or someone switching, it is an excellent choice.
Bah, get an IBM Thinkpad. They're superior, cost about the same amount (or as little as half as much), come with a standard 3-year full parts warranty, have customer-replaceable parts (they ship you the easily-replaceable part, you replace it, and ship the broken one to them), don't use shitty and unstable hardware, have high-quality keyboards (I'm sure you've seen some shitty, untypeable laptop keyboards before) and all work with linux perfectly (in all cases I've seen, and ot the best of my knowledge).
I prefer the X series - they've got good battery life (4+ hours for P-M based models), weigh hardly anything (my P3-M X30 weighs 3.4lb - I'm typing on it now), and are well built and sexy. IBM Thinkpads have the geek appeal, minus the goddamn trendy/yuppy factor that powerbooks have that results in every idiot art geek coming up to you to start a conversation. That, and IBM kit have always had techie appeal in general - they're well built and don't fail.
Oh, and IBM at least supports Linux commercially, as opposed to this company which seems to want support from the Linux community. Ie, milk the community with shitty products.
In my opinion, the best thing you could do to get a quality laptop manufacturer to produce "made for Linux" laptops would be to buy an IBM laptop, and then write their corporate office and tell them that you really, really appreciate their high-quality laptop hardware, and that you only wish you weren't required to pay for Windows. If you're in charge of a network install base (and in association, the responsibility of making choices on kit - I know, this is slashdot, that's a bit of a stretch) or any other situation where money is involved, let them know - they'd likely care a good deal that their customers aren't entirely satisfied with their products.
~/ssh slashdot.org ssh: connect to host slashdot.org port 22: too many beers
Anyhow, as I use that key I always think "apple"-Explorer or "apple"-desktop as I press it, since I first used such a key on a Mac, which I thought of as the "propeller" key, back then.
This issue is a bit more complicated than you think.
First of all, ACPI is well supported in the pcoming Fedora Core 3, by the new KDE and the latest kernels. (2.6.9-1.677, for example.) I think it will work as well or better than it does in Windows.
Next, it isn't that hard to get Linux running on a laptop. I don't know why it has to "Linux Certified". A bunch of us are running Linux on HP ZD7000s. See www.zd7000forums.com for more info on that.
In short, everything works great: wireless, display (at 1650 x 1080 no less), touchpad, etc. The only thing we don't have working is the card reader and we just have to have a closer look at a BSD driver that does handle the card reader.
About P4 laptops: why wouldn't you want one ? I don't understand what people do with non "desktop replacement" laptops. They don't have a decent screen. The hard drives are small. They don't have a numpad. Their processors are slow.
I use my ZD7000 for everything. (17"@ 1650 x 1080), 3.2 P4, 1GB RAM, 800 MHz FSB, 80GB HD, touchpad, wireless, USB2, etc.)
I develop code on it, in Windows and Linux. I compile kernels. I write documents with OO.writer. I do spreadsheets. Everything.
It goes with me wherever I am working. I love it.
I just can't figure out what people do with a non desktop laptop. Do you transfer all your data to a "real" computer every day ? What use is that ?
Sure the ZD weighs 9.5 pounds. So what if it was 2 or 3 pounds lighter ? I don't run with it. What difference does 2 or 3 pounds make to a 180 pound guy ?
The battery lasts almost 2 hours. I've got 2 of them. I almost never use them.
30% Funny
40% Informative
30% Overrated
Okay. Someone want to explain how "why should we buy a sony vaio rebranded instead of just a regular sony" is a)funny b)not a valid question?
I ask, as someone with excellent karma and the holder of 4 mod points right now, if I'm missing something as a moderator and slashdot user, because I just don't get this.
I suppose I need to metamoderate more...
Please help metamoderate.
It is hard to tell from the picture and the article doesn't say.
If this laptop really was "made for Linux" then it would have three mouse buttons. Does anyone know for sure?
fwiw, I had one of these about a year ago from Los Altos Computers (same machine, same manufacturer, different vendor). I had to return it as it developed the nasty habit of locking up after I used it for a 15-20 minutes or so--regardless of the OS. I never found the underlying reason, but both I and the techs at LAC suspected heat problems.
From what they said, a small, but definite percentage of machines had problems when maxed w/ a fast cpu and lots of RAM (mine had 2gb).
I was extremely happy with how LAC linux gave me a full refund. Gentlemen and scholars indeed!
For best results, if you get a such a machine, run it long and hard initially to see if you have any heat issues. Return it immediately if you do.
For those of you saying "Linux certified with ATi hardware? yuck!", keep in mind this is a Radeon 9000, which is supported by the open source DRI drivers.
Personally I'd take nVidia over ATi any day, but I can understand their decision: they probably think it's for the best that their customers don't get a tainted kernel out of the box (hence potentially better tech support).
I have a LC2430 which I bought about 2-3 months ago.
I am not sure about some comments in this review. My software suspend is working fine!! Am I missing something?
The biggest feature for me was that everything came pre-integrated.
To be honest, I don't quite understand some of the comments posted here about just buying a Thinkpad or something. How the heck am I supposed to get everything working (I am not a Linux sysadmin), and IBM won't take my Linux related support call.
So, all in all, I enthusiastically recomment LinuxCertified laptops
We use different LinuxCertified laptop model in our department - LC2210 (because of its portability).
I think initial purchase price was about 10-15% lower than corresponding model from Dell. Which I guess makes it pretty much at par with them in terms of core hardware cost.
However, couple of critical support issues (one of them setup of wireless support), more than paid off for these laptops.
At this point, I think laptop hardware is getting commodotized. It is the value of integration and supporting Linux, that sets this offering apart.
As the previous poster noted - folks recommending roling up your own Linux laptop (i.e. installing on a IBM etc.), miss the key point of most people requiring some sort of handholding while deploying Linux based systems. Probably a typical Slashdot user doesn't, most most folks do....
LC2464: http://linuxcertified.com/linux-laptop-lc2464.html
I bought an LC laptop about 2 months ago (not the particular model reviewed, but the really tiny 4-lb dealy.) I'm quite pleased. Haven't really tested the ACPI, as I usually let it run, and haven't had time to twiddle with the power management yet. Also, no problems with the power cable seating -- in fact, this one is a lot more secure than other notebooks I've had (esp. the Dells). The keyboard feels a little sappy, and is small, but that's no different than any other ultra-lite laptop I've seen. I've got a Pentium M in there, and it's kicks my desktops ass (given my desktop is a 1Ghz P3 with not enough RAM), but still...all around a good machine. I also looked at Los Alamos, and I don't remeber why I chose LC (prices were comparable) so it must have been one of my "I want to order this now and the other guys aren't open" moments. In any case, I'm not one for ringing endorsements, so I'll just say that I'm happy with my machine, and would say these guys are worth a look if you want a pre-configured laptop. Also might want to check out the HP nx5000, shipped with SuSE 9.1 installed.
At least I get the warning on my LinuxCertified laptop for low battery. So, it could be a different model thing..
dropping linux on to a laptop is all the fun. who needs a pre-made linux laptop? if ur going to buy an already configured and customized linux note book i'd say buy an apple note book first.
Another cheap machine (admittedly different specs) can currently be had at walmart for just under $700:
- First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then ???, then profit.
Correction: the specs I included were for the even cheaper ($598) walmart model. The specs I SHOULD have included for the $698 model are as follows (deltas are combo drive, double the ram, and slightly faster processor):
- First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then ???, then profit.
I hate people who spread stupid stuff. Like you.
Does that mean you hate him, or does it mean you hate his parents?
Ummm... I could be wrong but I don't think so.
The W is the wide part, the S is for super, then the XGA
XGA = 1024 x 768
SXGA = 1400 x 1050 right below UXGA at 1600 x 1200
WSXGA = 1600 x 900 but I guess they added some vertical pixels for computer displays with toolbars since it's meant for DVD playback.
For the grandparent: the W tells you it's 16:9 aspect ratio instead of the standard 4:3
Looks like the keyboard has a Windows key on the bottom left. Why would they do that on a made for Linux certified laptop?
We're so frustrated. We're looking to buy our first laptops soon. I have three requirements (none of which are negotiable) and we haven't been able to find a laptop yet that meets them:
1) No 'Windows' Key
2) AMD
3) NVidia
And if I had mod points, I would give them to you sir. This is all about BRANDING - not whether the latop and software actually work any good together or not.
I almost wonder if Linus needs to have a word with those guys about their brandname and possibly misleading use of his trademark.
Forget thrust, drag, lift and weight. Airplanes fly because of money.
Actually, mobile Pentiums (at least the M) have whatever you can push through the MSR. x86-Secret did just that in one of their P-M mobo reviews (although they didn't push a HIGHER than normal multiplier through, unlike what the DFI 855GME-MGF can do). Yep, these are unlocked, and Intel can't do a thing about it without removing SpeedStep.
There you go again with the "Voice of reason"! Man, we get tired of you people around here! :-)
Please stop stalking me, bro.
I saw an HP with a pad that had a little ridge separating a scrolling zone. I don't think tapping was enabled on that part of the pad, but if it were, it would be the ideal tracking device for a laptop.
I hate HP though. Don't get me wrong. As a computer technician, the more poorly constructed, hard to work on computers you get from a manufacturer, the more you hate the manufacturer. What the f--- is up with the proprietary power supply? It just pisses me the f--- off.
Please stop stalking me, bro.
Nice...but too much money. My HP 800CT is getting slow and dog-eared, and I am thinking about replacing it. I want something linux-compatible, light, cheap, and with good battery life. Yea sure, everyone wants that...what I am willing to sacrifice is CPU performance (I don't see myself doing lots of compilation on this. No, I won't run gentoo), 3D graphics capbility (I am not really that much into action games), and screen size (I have good eyes...to a point). What I cannot abide is unreliability. Since laptops are throw-away items, I want a good, long comprehensive warrantee . Primarily on the LCD.
So it should be under 3lbs, have 3+ hrs of continuous-use battery life, a 3 year warrantee, and be under $1000. Any suggestions?
Note: subject line is deliberately provocative. I don't actually want a Commodore 64. I want most non-poweruser, non-gamer computers to go to the Commodore 64 form factor, though.
Basically, I want all major manufacturers to build something like the Zero Footprint PC. This is where the "desktop replacement" market should be going -- not towards this silly idea that everyone should have a laptop. Look at what Apple and others are doing: every time you upgrade your computer, you have to throw away a perfectly good LCD monitor?!? What's up with that? Seriously -- how many desktop users (excluding gamers and serious power users -- in other words, about 80-90 percent of them -- Slashdot users are not a representative sample) ever add or change PCI cards during the lifetime of their PC? Everything is USB or FireWire these days.
Dell and HP should ditch the mini-towers and build their low-end desktops with everything built right into the keyboard. It would make things a lot simpler, while creating less environmental waste, and everyone would save money on each upgrade. Furthermore, since there'd be more space to work with, they wouldn't have to use expensive laptop-grade parts.
Tired of FB/Google censorship? Visit UNCENSORED!
starting at 1030$, this laptop do everything i need
www.sub300.com
It shouldn't be that hard to make something with the specs of a two year old notebook, but sell it for *CHEAP* and with a WARRANTY. If I need to crunch serious numbers or play games, I go to my firebreathing desktop machine - I want something portably, light, and cheap that runs Linux well.
Ultimately, I went the used route. Last year I got an ultraportable Sony PGC505T (2.5 pounds, PII @300, etc), and Debian was happy.
Still I wanted something just a little larger for somewhat more complicated development work, along with a larger screen and keyboard. Again, the used route was the way, scoring a Compaq Armada e500 (PIII @ 850, 512 megs ram, 1400x1080 screen, $430) purchased with a 30-day warranty. Again, debian is happy with it.
But I shouldn't have to. If Compaq were to sell this notebook NEW with the exact same specs for $750, I'd probably get it. Something smaller and lighter and a little less powerful would be a buy too.
Having serviced my client machines for years, including a wide variety of notebooks, the only advice I can offer is to stick with a name-brand vendor for a notebook. If the vender offers a "professional line" and a "consumer line" of machines, get the professional line if for no other reason that it was designed to be sturdier and serviced by an IT department instead of being sent back of every little thing. If you aren't buying a used machine from someone you know personally, try to get it from a company that offers even a basic warranty to make sure all the parts work when you get it. If it was built well by a good company, good production and engineering will see you through.
At least, usually. ;-)
As a bonus, when you get a used, cheap notebook, you don't have to worry about every tiny scratch or ding, or if it get stolen (gasp), you aren't out $2000.
I read and thought great! Then I read further (no ACPI?) and thought mmhh. Then I read even further and read Ati. I don't think I will get one of those soon. :-(
less than a day is too much to give up to get to know the penguin especially in this day of distro's with super easy auto-install and pretty good auto detect which could mean an install within an hour? the fun is far more meanigful fun after the fun of fighting the device driver war.
I don't care what this "certification" means. Its components do not all work fully in linux.
Just by design, the ATI radeon GPU is not compatible with linus except in 2d and command line mode. No 3d support is included.
Also, the article itself mentions taht ACPI doesn't work 100%.
This is a pathetic attempt to try to make it look like laptops are ready for linux, when in fact, even their "certified" laptop isn't worth having with non working hardware under linux.
Not to mention they picked out a Desktop Replacement which is really not even a laptop but a mobile desktop.
When they can come up with a real certified LAPTOP, then it will be news worthy.
Your ignorance is infinitely greater than you realize.
I have to chime in with some of the comments above, the best laptops one can get today are IBM. That is, if you care more about quality and durability than pure "performance". Linux compatibility is more or less the same across the board, leaving 3d graphics aside.
Go for the "T" or "X" series, and you won't be disappointed. It's sad that other brands like Toshiba and HP-Compaq have lowered their standards and now build cheaper crap. Maybe the Tecras are still up there, but in my opinion nothing is as solidly built as a, say, T40 (except for older HP calculators, like my trusty HP-15C).
So once they figure out how to make displays that aren't power hogs, maybe the notebooks will take over the desktops? Honestly, we've gotten to the point with CPU's and hard drives that the average person doesn't need a new computer, they can make due more than happily with something that was top of the line two or three years ago (Desktop-wise).
Across the atlantic here (I am in Germany) we don't have any manufacturer supplying linux-based notebooks. I enquired with HP but they said that not many customers are interested. Anyways to ship it from there?
Yes, yes it does run Windows XP.
s.clementmonkey@sympatico.ca, remove the 'monkey'.
Posting this message from a LC2430 laptop. I have been pleased with the machine. It blazes through my compiles, and tux races great...
Guys, What is the problem in having ATI card in my laptop!!? I have this exact laptop (LinuxCertified LC2430). It has ATI 9000 and works great. i.e. 3D acceleration and full resolution.
:)
Am I missing something?? Please let me know