help me find a laptop

November 22, 2004 9:36 AM

So, I've come to the decision that I need a laptop, and I need to get it sometime within the next month. It's not quite as simple as all that, though, because I'm trying to find a good deal... [more inside]

I'm only ever going to run Linux on it, so it seems a little pointless to get a new one that has a ton of preinstalled software I'll end up erasing anyway (not to mention I'll be paying for a copy of WinXP I don't need). I don't need a screamingly fast processor or a huge hard drive; some kind of budget machine is all right as long as it's made of good-quality parts. I'm mainly looking for brand recommendations here - I'd really prefer to buy a new laptop than getting one off of eBay. (Also, I'm a grad student, so somewhere that offered educational discounts would be nice...)

posted by wanderingmind to computers & internet (19 comments total)

Apple is an excellent brand, and they offer educational discounts. There are myriad posts on MeFi lauding the Apple brand, so I will not repeat them here. I will only say that Apple is a superior product.
posted by cahlers at 9:44 AM on November 22, 2004

Walmart.com offers cheap systems with no OS, I believe that includes laptops. You might also visit Fatwallet.com and other bargain hunting sites.
posted by LarryC at 9:56 AM on November 22, 2004

The only place I've seen laptops without operating systems are sites like Discount Laptops and Power Notebooks. Both sell laptops from the same Taiwanese OEMs that make laptops for the big names. Both have good service, as signified from their sky-high resellerratings scores. Prices are decent.

Emperor Linux sells brand-name laptops with Linux pre-loaded, but they really aren't cheap.

I'd imagine there will be some great laptop deals this coming Friday. Yes, they'll be loaded with software you'll be erasing anyway, but they'll be so cheap it won't matter. You'll also have to fight the crowds. Check out the forums on FatWallet and SlickDeals for speculation on upcoming buys. On an aside, about a month ago via SlickDeals I got a $750 off $1500 coupon for a Dell notebook, presumably at the end of their financial quarter. People say to stay away from Dell, but it really was a steal. $850 for a pretty primo lappy. They may have similar deals in the future.
posted by zsazsa at 9:56 AM on November 22, 2004

Check out Linux on Laptops for actual comfirmation of linux testing on laptops. Also, when I was planning on putting linux on my laptop (Sony Vaio- worked fine afetr tweaking my video card drivers, although I took it off for XP again because I don't have the time to invest in learning linux properly), a lot of the distros have information on their websites dedicated to laptops what laptops they know work with their version.
There's been a fair amount of laptop threads in AskMeFi, so you might also want to search for those in choosing what laptop you want in regards to actualy specs.
However, one thing I will reccomend is buying your laptop with a warranty. I know I've said it before, but a $250 warranty has literally saved me a couple thousand dollars over the last 3.5 years since I started college. I know not everyone has the same problem with laptop breaking down as me, but the real problem is many laptop hardware malfunctions are cost prohibitive to get fixed- especially if you can't afford a warranty in the first place.
posted by jmd82 at 10:09 AM on November 22, 2004

IBM Thinkpads (aka stinkpads) play nice with linux. So does Dell, for the most part. I've heard that Toshiba doesn't as much, but it's possible to make it.
posted by SpecialK at 10:37 AM on November 22, 2004

Decide what you want to do with it before you buy it.

There's a lot of features in laptops few people look at (at first), but should:

- Clunkyness. Is it a bunch of separate parts that you'll be wanting all the time that need to be plugged in to use them? That's a pain. Of course, if you won't be using those parts, that's great.

- Build quality. Is it made out of flimsy plastic that will explode into millions of pieces the first time its dropped?

- Warranty / Repair. If the warranty only covers a few parts or is really short, it's pretty obvious that sucks. But the hidden thing is the cost of repairing it after the fact. You should check if replacement parts will cost an arm and a leg or not. Are they going to make you install XP before you get it fixed?

- Battery. You might want to look at the cost of replacement batteries (and maybe pick one up) before buying. Somtimes these things are priced reasonably, sometimes they're $300+.

- Weight. If you plan to use this as a true portable computer, you don't want it to weight 10 lbs. Get the minimum you can live with.

As far as linux on laptops goes, nowadays it's REALLY tough to find a laptop that doesn't work well with linux. The only thing that you can be assured is a total loss is the modem. Apart from that, I have had nothing but good experiences loading linux on many vendors laptops (Toshiba, HP, Compaq). One note: Decide before you buy it if you hate binary drivers or not. If you do, get an ATI. If you don't, get an Nvidia.
posted by shepd at 10:48 AM on November 22, 2004

I know you said you didn't want to get used off E-bay but have you considered getting used off E-Bay? IBM T22's are Linux-friendly, very high quality, of sufficient power to do what you want (PIII x00MHz), and ridiculously cheap and plentiful on E-Bay. And going used means not paying the Microsoft "tax" (or at least not directly), if that interests you.
posted by TimeFactor at 11:03 AM on November 22, 2004

Small Dog Electronics has never done me wrong. Their iBooks start around $600, and some people say that iBooks Love Linux.
posted by naomi at 11:12 AM on November 22, 2004

Thinkpads forum.
Personally, I wouldn't worry about buying a used Thinkpad as long as the warranty was/is still in force.
posted by trharlan at 11:15 AM on November 22, 2004

The iBooks are a good fit for your needs-- they are sturdy, made well (nowadays,) close enough to Linux and fast enough but not overkill. EDU price is $899 w/ free shipping and built in Airport et al for a 12" screen 1.2ghz G4.
posted by neustile at 11:18 AM on November 22, 2004

whoops, it's actually $949, not $899 (899 is no airport + CDROM only, 949 is cd-rw + airport.)
posted by neustile at 11:24 AM on November 22, 2004

If you want Intel hardware, or need binary compatibility with x86, go with the IBM. If you don't care about the instruction set, you'll do fine with an Apple machine and have a choice of running the vendor's Unix (to which much of your favorite Linux software is likely to be ported) or a Linux distro.
posted by majick at 11:57 AM on November 22, 2004

Thanks for the tips, everyone - as much as I'd like to go Apple, the reason I can't use an iBook is that I (and my research) really depend heavily on the /proc filesystem, which OS X doesn't have. The Thinkpad T22s on eBay look pretty good, though.
posted by wanderingmind at 12:29 PM on November 22, 2004

You can use an iBook and Yellow Dog Linux.
posted by nicwolff at 12:50 PM on November 22, 2004

Before you put your money down, make sure whatever model you've fallen in love with has drivers available for the *nix you want to use. The ThinkPad's are good choices for this reason -- they've been around long enough, and were made in sufficient enough quantities that people eventually wrote drivers for them.

Oh, and not to sway your vote or anything, but you can get a Toshiba Libretto 110CT cheeeeap these days (they're ultra-portable). Check out this guy, who's got a tri-boot system on a Libretto (Windows 2000! OS/2! Mandrake 9.1!)
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 2:24 PM on November 22, 2004

You may want to check out HP's line of commercial notebooks, as well. I just bought a NC6000 and couldn't be happier. All of their commercial stuff comes with a great warranty, great hardware build quality, tons of speed, and it's all standard Intel platform stuff, so the Linux support is right there.

You can find some great deals on E-Bay as well as use HP's Refurbished hardware outlet. These guys have good deals to boot, and cheap extended warranties. Plus, you can also see if they have anything 'excess new'- this is excess stock of new product that they sell cheap. I bought my NC6000 as excess new, and it came with a 3 Year 2 business day pick up and return repair plan. It's comforting to know that I now have a notebook that's guaranteed to work for the next 3 years.

Overall, here's my advice:
1. Buy a business or commercial-oriented notebook. The quality is usually better, the support better, and you get a more rugged piece of equipment.

2. If you want a good warranty, go with a first-tier vendor. If you want a great deal, go with a second-tier vendor. The first-tier guys (Dell, HP, IBM, Sony, Toshiba) all back their products up very well. The second-tier (Sager is one, but I know of no others) guys will always be cheaper, but support? I don't even want to think about it. My friend with a Sager had a sound card issue- took weeks to fix. Of course, we all know that anecdotal evidence is always the best way accurate, right?

Since you're planning on running Linux, speed isn't too much of a concern. So, just ask yourself how long you want this notebook to last you and get a warranty to go with it.

Good luck!
posted by id at 4:11 PM on November 22, 2004

I just got a nice a nice, off-lease IBM T23 from Tiger Direct. I haven't reformated the disk so I can't dual boot, so I have tested it just yet ...
posted by kscottz at 7:26 PM on November 22, 2004

I just found out that IBM has a friends & family deal where you can get laptops on the cheap. Does anybody know if Apple has something similar? And if so, can I be your friend? :D
posted by keswick at 8:27 PM on November 22, 2004

Just to add on again, the Sony Vaio's work...eventually. You just have to tweak the video drivers as Raedon doesn't support laptop drivers right now very well, so it is all third party work. I fenangled around for a few days to make it work, though, and she worked like a beauty hardware wise.
posted by jmd82 at 9:46 PM on November 22, 2004