New Laptop for Linux

What kind of bad experiences have you had with Dell? I have serviced tons of them, and they don't fail any more than the other brands. Plus, you are probably going to get the best Linux compatibility by going them because they support it.

My lenovo is by far my favourite computer. I have a T61 which is pretty high end but you might want to take a look at some of their other models.

We also have Ubuntu running well on an Acer and a Dell at home.

I purchased a refurbished HP Pavilion dv9000 at a Market Pro computer fair for about $700 (about half-price)

I have Ubuntu as a dual-boot with Vista Home. The 19" screen makes it an excellent "desktop replacement"

It has 2GB RAM and I upgraded to a Linksys wifi N card.

While I was there, I also picked up an Epson CX5800F 4-in-1 printer for about $80 (also about 1/2 price)

I also have an unfavorable impression of Dell products, but that is probably because with so many in use, there are bound to be a larger number of problems, although the ratio may be the same as other products.

I was considering Acer too, I am very happy with my HP.

Thanks for the suggestions.

pr0gr4mm3r: I have avoided Dell for a while because we went through 3 replacements in 2 months from them due to a memory bus/mainboard problem (I actually think they sent us the same system back all 3 times) They may have improved since then though so I'll look around and maybe give it another go.

The Thinkpad (T61) Is a little out of my budget (about $50 - $1000 above!) But I have heard good things about the Lenovo laptops (Aesthetically I wish they weren't so boxy).

decibel.places: I like HP too and will probably go with some model of theirs. I have seen things about them though somewhere about some of the newer screens not working properly with Linux. A 19" screen would be a little too much to lug around in school though, I am thinking between 12 and 15.5 would be good. I will look at HP's as well.

Has anyone used Sager or Compal here?
[EDIT]
If you can't find one with a dedicated graphics integrated is OK, I just want the 3D acceleration to work.

If you can't find one with a dedicated graphics integrated is OK, I just want the 3D acceleration to work.

The video device is probably going to require the most research. Most Intel graphics aren't the best, but open source drivers are available for some of them, which makes them the most stable. nVidia graphics cards are good (I prefer them), but only binary drivers are available and can be buggy at times, although they have recently gotten pretty stable. ATI cards are terrible on Linux. I have gone through two ATI cards that I couldn't get working for the life of me.

Thanks for the confirmation on the ATI graphics not working.

Looking at the Lenovo website I have narrowed down the results to These Two.
I know the description says integrated graphics, but when you configure it you can get an nvidia N10M-GE1 Geforce 256M graphics for $75 less than the intel integrated!

Right now I am leaning towards the 14 inch model simply because of the moving around I will do with it at school. Also according to www.linuxonlaptops.com that model is confirmed to work with Ubuntu. I can also get an education discount for it as well, lowering the price a little more as well.

Looking around Dell's site I couldn't find anything that fit my budget with dedicated graphics. But I did find This one with Ubuntu already installed. It fits my budget, but has intel graphics

HP has mostly ATI graphics, which don't work well as confirmed above.
Right now it looks like Lenovo is the best option for me.

I went to the Lenovo site to place an order today and they have changed the site so if I wanted the same model with the nvidia graphics I would have to pay over $80 more. They must have goofed on their site before.

Anyways, due to that I am searching around some more.

I found this one, a Sager NP7680, The powernotebooks site's forums have a complete section on linux so if I need help from them I can get it. I know it is 34¢ more than my posted budget, but that is $22 less than it is normally. The total with shipping comes out to be $730.41 - with a wire transfer for payment (3% discount)

It has a 256mb nvidia GeForce 9300 inside as well as a core 2 duo at 2ghz, 2gigs RAM and 160gb hdd.

OR

I can go with a DIY gaming laptop from OCZ you can find it at newegg Here. It's a decent notebook with an AMD Athlon 64 X2, nvidia GeForce M GS with 256mb vram. I have to buy the hdd and memory separate, but that's OK. A bonus about this one is that I get to build it myself. The only downsides that I see to it is the 17" screen... Too big for taking with me and I have no idea what the linux compatibility is for it.
The overall cost would be like this.
barebones- $620 (newegg)
memory- $18 (tigerdirect)
hdd- $50 (tigerdirect)
total- $688

It looks to be a good deal.

I would check the linux compatibility before making a purchase, so if you are not sure on that second one...make sure. Otherwise, it looks decent.

I researched the linux compatibility on the second one and found that with some distros it works OK and some not so well, debian/Ubuntu was on the not so well list - for some graphics drivers.

Still searching I found This, an Xplorer X5-2900 or a Compal JHL90 which will work with Linux. I can get the price down from $749 to about $660 for a full system with a 512mb graphics card!

I also figured out that the Sager I mentioned above is also a Compal in disguise, and doing some further research I discovered that Compal an ODM (original design manufacture).

So I guess I am going for a Compal in some disguise, or the Dell with intel graphics...

I wish I could afford a system76 machine with Ubuntu preinstalled! Their cheapest model that fits my requirements costs $789, which isn't too bad, although aesthetically i like the Gazelle Ultra design (big Ubuntu logo)

Maybe I need to wait and gather in some more funds before I upgrade.

My current specs
mac powerbook g4
1.5ghz G4 processor
1.5 GB RAM
80gb hdd (about half full)
15.4" lcd
bluetooth
NO AirPort(died), but I do have a PCIMCIA wireless card
OSX 10.4 (Tiger)

Should I even upgrade yet?

Should I even upgrade yet?

Only you know if your current machine isn't good enough.

In my opinion, it's best to wait as long as possible, and then get a really decent machine so you can hold on to it for as long as possible. I held on to a single core AMD Athlon desktop until April of this year, and then got an AMD Quad Core 9850 Black Edition, 512MB Gefore Video card, 6gb memory...and I will hold on to this until it's as obsolete as my single core one was.

Your advice is good, I guess I'll wait until I graduate from High School and than get a kick butt laptop for college.

I use my powerbook a lot and it is starting to show (dings, dents, and scratches) I only paid about $500 for it used on ebay, If it does fail I can pick up a similar one for about the same.

One of the main reasons I was thinking about getting a new laptop is because some of the hardware is starting to fail, I will probably upgrade the hard drive soon, because occasionally it makes funny noises. The mac wireless already failed and bluetooth is starting to go (not that I use it much anyways).

So I guess I'll wait and if I can, try Linux on an older desktop to mess with. I also have the mac, which is basically linux/bsd with a different desktop.

When are you graduating, and do you know where you are going to college? Some of the universities provide laptops as part of the tuition costs. My brother started at Rose-Hulman last fall, and they all got pretty sweet machines.

I will graduate in 2011. Right now I am looking at going to Penn State University or a branch of it because that's close to where I live. I'll admit I haven't looked at too many other colleges yet.

I am thinking about majoring in animal science with an undergrad in computer information tech, if there is such a combination. I live on a dairy farm and truthfully can't stand the store milk (2%, 1%, etc). I also enjoy being around the animals and the farm as much as I can.