[ale] Dell laptop - recommendations?

[BruceG]

On Tuesday 23 September 2003 09:14, Geoffrey wrote:
> griffisb at bellsouth.net wrote:
> > Hey all,
> >
> > I'm considering picking up a Dell laptop from Dell Financial Services
> > off e-bay. My sister writes grant proposals and is in need of a
> > desktop or laptop. So I was thinking of spotting one for her.
> >
> > What would you use as a basic spec machine for writing grant
> > proposals? I was thinking of installing Knoppix to the hard disk, and
> > running the most current OpenOffice, and just set up Konqueror and
> > KMail for Internet stuff.
> >
> > Are there drivers for the modem? Is KPPP fairly straight-forward? Any
> > models I should absolutely avoid? I might also see what IBM has to
> > offer, but the budget is limited.
>
> Check out the Dell's emperorlinux uses, they'll list what they've got
> working and what's not.  If the one you're looking at matches one of
> their's you'll be in pretty good shape.

Guys - thanks for all the information. I decided to take a leap of faith and 
placed a bid on a Dell Latitude laptop on E-Bay. Decided to bid on one 
through Dell Financial Services - although that might not make any difference 
at all. Also noticed that IBM is auctioning off laptops as well, didn't know 
they did it directly (they do!) - but still a little pricey for my at the 
moment.

I figure for something to give my sister - something in the P3, 500-650Mhz, 
256Mg RAM range would suffice. It will be mainly for writing proposals, so a 
newer P4 would be a bit much. Also like that they are sold with no OS, so I'm 
not paying for something I wouldn't use.

Wish me luck - first in finding something appropriate for my sister, and 
second - in 'splainin' it to my significant other ;-)