[ale] [Slightly OT] Laptop Recommendations/Warnings

[Damon L. Chesser]

On Thu, 2011-05-12 at 19:27 -0400, David Tomaschik wrote:

Well, the best laptop I ever bought was a Dell Vostro w/15" screen.
Built like a tank, kind of ugly, but the key board just feels good.  My
Mother-in-law is using it now and every time I go and do stuff on it, I
remember how much I like it.

Titanium strip around the side to keep it from flexing when being
carried, sealed keyboard to protect from spills, about 5 hour battery
life IIRC, crappy sound if that matters.

That was three years ago and it is still running (9cell battery, which
is harder and harder to find as an option).

I replaced it with a 17" desktop replacement that measures battery life
in minutes (well, really about 3.5 to 4 hours if I am careful) with
GREAT speakers (Toshiba Satellite).

I still miss the vostro, all in all.

The way I shop for a laptop is like this:

Find a live distro (insert $NAME here):  Go to Office Depot, talk to the
manager or the computer Associate who has a slight clue so you will not
be kicked out (50/50 chance you will be asked to leave, go find another
branch), insert the live cd into all laptops on sale with in your price
range with the specs you like.

boot into bios if needed to turn on missing features.

For ~$500-$750 you will find a nice laptop for a "throw-a-way price".
If it breaks in three years, repeat and you will be ahead of buying the
expensive, breaking technology version by a fraction of .5 of the price.

Go, price thirdparty batteries for a battery upgrade (you will almost
always buy a 6 cell battery at those prices) and you are done.

Before you pays your price, google $MAKE and $MODEL + linux and see what
the hits are, the dates and the solutions.

Works for me. Unless you go with a honking huge screen and like watching
DVD movies, it should easily last you 4 to 5 hours.  

You would be out of luck on the i3/i5 most likely.

HTH
> All,
> 
> I'm beginning to think about my next laptop -- my 2007-era System76 is
> down to under 1 hour battery life, and the screen occasionally
> flickers.  Ideally, I'm hoping to get away at the ~$700 price point,
> but it's looking like that's impossible for what I'm looking for.  My
> desires are:
> 
> - Battery life for conferences (6+ hours would be ideal, 4+ is a must)
> - 4GB+ RAM
> - Full size keyboard
> - 13-15" screen
> - HDMI/VGA out
> - Core i3/i5
> - eSATA would be nice, but not a must
> 
> Recommendations or models/brands to avoid are appreciated.
> 

-- 
Damon
damon at damtek.com