Help me find a good laptop

[ubuntu_demon]

Hi,

I need to find a good laptop.

Maximum price of 1200 euros. I live in the netherlands so system76 is not an option.

So the purpose of this thread is to find appriopriate laptop models which might be suitable for me.

** = very important/crucial to me
* = important but to me

My whishlist :

** A-brand laptop

** small,compact,mobile,strong

I want to be able to carry and use it every day. I want it to be at most as big as an 13,3" macbook. I would prefer smaller (for example a 12" screen).

The weight doesn't matter very much to me. But I would say below 3 kg.

** widescreen display of good quality. At most 13,3 inch. I would prefer smaller than 13,3 inch as that is better regarding mobility.

I don't want dead pixels on it.

If all other wishes are fulfilled then I might back down a little bit on this wish.

** widescreen with resolution of at least 1280x768

** low power usage / good powermanagement
I want to be able to work at least 2,5 hours on it.

powermanagement facilities as provided by the laptop hardware needs to work flawless with Ubuntu.

** durable accu/battery with good battery life.

I want to use this laptop for at least 3 years so I want the battery/accu to last at least 18 months but preferably much longer. And I want it to be possible to work at least 2.5 hours a time.

AFAIK "9 Cell Lithium Ion" is the best type of battery/accu available for laptops. If so then I want one of those .

I want to be able to buy a new battery/accu after 18 months if necessary without having to spend more than 100 euros.

* motherboard with intel chipset

* intel processor : Core 2 Duo or Core Duo

at least 2 MB cache

I don't want the processor to consume a lot of power when the laptop is (almost) idle.

** 1 GB or RAM

** no ATI graphics

* harddisk 40 GB (or more)

* dvd-rom (good dvd-burner would be nice)

* optional WIFI

But if the laptop comes with WIFI then I want it to work perfectly without ndiswrapper.

* optional : bluetooth

If the laptop has bluetooth it has to work with Ubuntu.

** 1 year warranty

* I don't wish to waste money on windows

** the laptop has to work perfectly with Ubuntu. Ofcourse I don't mind installing Ubuntu myself.

This laptop is a nice example :
http://system76.com/product_info.php...roducts_id/161

But I don't want that one because I live in the netherlands.

I also started a dutch thread on the dutch Ubuntu forum here :
http://forum.ubuntu-nl.org/message/27659

I appreciate your feedback and thank you on advance!

update :

I have thought a little about this and I have gotten a bit of money together.

If I formulate my wishes in a different way I could say it like this :

Is it possible to buy a laptop which outperformes a 13.3" intel macbook with 1 GB of ram for (max) 1200 euros (regarding batterylife,size and performance) ?

The simplest 13.3" intel macbook with 1 GB of ram costs 1200 euros in the netherlands. Here's the international link :
http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPL...D&nclm=MacBook

Even if I would go for this macbook I would only boot into mac OS X if strictly necessary.

This macbook looks alright regarding its specifications.

I would prefer to not spend money on the operating system at all. But I have thought a bit about it and I think I would rather spend money on OS X then on windows.

I would rather have a laptop like this 13,3" laptop (or smaller) without spending money on the OS.

Regarding this intel macbook :

What are the cons if I would choose this one ?

Does certain software (such as w32codecs) have problems with it ? (which I don't expect)

Will the intel 950M video which uses shared memory give good enough performance ? (to run AIGLX and Enemey Territory for example)

Will the wireless work without troubles ?

Here's my latest post with a list of possible models which need investigation :
http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php...6&postcount=32

A blog post with a bit of background :
Some changes in my life
http://ubuntudemon.wordpress.com/200...es-in-my-life/

[chaosgeisterchen]

whoa.. all that for 1200€? That's kinda lot you want for a very small amount of money. Concerning 13,3" NBs, I do only know the Apple MacBook and the Sony VAIO VGN-SZM*-Series which would be suitable - also under linux.

Do you speak German? Throughout Germany there are many quite cheap and reliable shops for laptops of all kind.

Just in Case you are capable of understanding German, here is some good link to overview the overall offer: 13,3"-NB's.

Hope you find yourself some good NB. 14(,1)" is too big for you? Otherwise I would suggest you other Notebooks.

greetings

cg

[matthew]

Asus has many products that are reputed to work very well with linux (and I seem to recall that most of the System76 products are rebranded Asus computers with some customization). You might try their Netherlands site and see what you turn up.

http://www.asus.nl/

[ubuntu_demon]

whoa.. all that for 1200€? That's kinda lot you want for a very small amount of money.

Thank you for your quick reply!

** = very important/crucial to me
* = important but to me

So I can live with a couple of "*-wishes" not being met.

Concerning 13,3" NBs, I do only know the Apple MacBook and the Sony VAIO VGN-SZM*-Series which would be suitable - also under linux.

I meant 13,3" and below. So for example 12.1" is even better

Do you speak German? Throughout Germany there are many quite cheap and reliable shops for laptops of all kind.

Just in Case you are capable of understanding German, here is some good link to overview the overall offer: 13,3"-NB's.

I can read/listen/understand german but I don't speak it very well.

Thanks for the link. There might be some good models listed there.

I prefer to buy the laptop from a dutch shop.

Hope you find yourself some good NB. 14(,1)" is too big for you? Otherwise I would suggest you other Notebooks.

greetings

cg

I want a laptop that is at most as big as an 13.3" ibook.

[ubuntu_demon]

Asus has many products that are reputed to work very well with linux (and I seem to recall that most of the System76 products are rebranded Asus computers with some customization). You might try their Netherlands site and see what you turn up.

http://www.asus.nl/

Thanks for the suggestion

The site is : http://nl.asus.com

I don't know whether it's possible to buy an asus laptop withouth windows somewhere.

[chaosgeisterchen]

Ow.. I am keen on helping you but it's a fact that microtechnology (I _do_ regard 12,1" subnotebooks as mircotechnology) has higher costs as reward for the same power.

There are indeed some cheap models (another link), but the question is: Quality standards and Linux compability.

These are unanwered, so go and consult tuxmobil, linux-on-laptops, etc. if you found yourself something appropiate.

greetings, cg

[prizrak]

Try an Averatec perhaps. From what I know they work well with Linux. Here is a list of 12 inch notebooks. No accu/battery pack will last you for longer than a year. 18 months at most, they are designed to fail. http://www.averatec.com/notebooks/12inch.htm

Also Acer seems to be Linux friendly and I know it's fairly big in EU

[matthew]

Thanks for the suggestion

The site is : http://nl.asus.com

I don't know whether it's possible to buy an asus laptop withouth windows somewhere.

I have a whitebox AOpen laptop (link to detail in my sig). I know ASUS whitebox notebooks are available in the USA and I would presume they are also available in the EU. You might search for sites like this that offer whitebox solutions if you don't mind doing some assembly yourself (I enjoy that sort of thing...).

http://www.abs.com/diy/notebookdiy.asp

[scourge]

whoa.. all that for 1200€? That's kinda lot you want for a very small amount of money.

Actually 1200€ can buy you a pretty good laptop these days, so I think ubuntu_demon's requirements are reasonable, though the size is a challenge.

In the PC department Fujitsu-Siemens has the Amilo Si line: http://www.fujitsu-siemens.com/home/...o_si_1520.html
The prices are about 1200€ - 1270€ in Finland, probably lower in Netherlands. If only you could buy these without Windows.

Then there's of course the Macbook, but I don't know how well they work with Ubuntu.

[matthew]

A few more links to look at.

http://www.linux-on-laptops.com/
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/HardwareSupportMachinesLaptops