[ale] - [semi-OT] - Laptops in the metro

[Jonathan Rickman]

On Wed, 12 Feb 2003, Bob Toxen wrote:

> Jason,
> > Hi folks,
>
> > I recently started doing contract work, and I determined that it
> > is time for me to purchase a laptop.  I wanted to see where you folks
> > would recommend looking in the metro area.  I currently live in Gwinnett
> > County and work at Cobb Galleria, so those two areas would be preferred
> > for shopping if possible.
>
> Last month I did extensive research for a good Linux-only laptop to
> replace my now-flaky 7+ year old Toshiba.  All statements are my opinion.

Been going through the same thing for a few months now.

> I went with an IBM ThinkPad R31.  Right now, IBM's web site has a great deal
> on them: $850+tax&ship for a 1.2GHz Celeron, 20G mem, CD reader in bay, NIC,
> WinBloz modem, and stick pointer.  (If you do lots of pointing, the stick
> pointer is horrible and there is not a jack for an external mouse unless
> you buy a docking station.)  I added another 256M mem and a floppy bay for
> about $70 each, to total at about $1080, including tax&ship; 10 day delivery.
> Battery life is about 3 hours; replacements are roughly $110.

After investigating the lesser known contenders extensively, I just
couldn't work up the nerve to do it. At this point I'm back to IBM,
Toshiba, and Sony. I've pretty much settled on the IBM R Series as well,
but I plan to spend the extra bucks on the R40 to get a touchpad and a
little more real estate on the display.

> It's an *incredibly* fast machine, CPU, graphics, and CD.  With the
> 384MB of mem, it hardly uses the disk.  A full Slackware 8.1 install
> was painless and took 10-20 minutes.  (I've not yet had time to worry
> about Suspend, sound, or modem but they should be no problem.)

I'd be very interested to hear about your results with sound/modem if you
get around to it before I do. It might save me some trouble. I've heard
that the sound is pretty simple, but I've heard some bad things about the
modems. Apparently it's hit or miss.


--
Jonathan Rickman
X Corps Security
http://www.xcorps.net

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