[ale] Good Linux laptops

Thu Apr 11 23:55:04 EDT 2013

I didn't specifically test the suspend/resume. When he gets his second
unit, I'll be sure to test it. (He gave the first one away to a close
family friend.)

Doug

On Tue, Apr 9, 2013 at 9:51 AM, James Taylor <James.Taylor at eastcobbgroup.com
> wrote:

> I can't speak for that model, but I picked up an envy last summer and I've
> been running, openSUSE on it. Initially 12.2, now 12.3.
> Everything worked out of the box (sound, hdcam, wireless, buttons,
> touchpad, mic, etc...), including suspend/resume. The only glitch I've run
> into, is that the screen light turns off during boot, and I have to turn up
> the brightness before Iogin. I ran across a fix somewhere once, but I lost
> the link and haven't been irritated enough to go search for it again yet.
>
> -jt
>
>
> James Taylor
> The East Cobb Group, Inc.
> 678-697-9420
> james.taylor at eastcobbgroup.com
> http://www.eastcobbgroup.com
>
>
> >>> Ed Cashin <ecashin at noserose.net> 04/09/13 9:08 AM >>>
>
> Thanks for all the great info.
>
> Does suspend/resume work well?  Any surprises?
>
>
> On Mon, Apr 8, 2013 at 12:11 PM, Doug Hall <doughalldev at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> I told you all that I'd let you know what he ordered and how the install
>> went. He decided on the HP Envy DV6 laptop. It has a 3rd gen i7 chip, which
>> seems pretty quick. I haven't run any performance tests, but if someone
>> knows of a good performance test suite, and is interested, I'll give it a
>> run.
>>
>> Here's what he bought:
>> <
>> http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00AFHP55S/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
>> >
>>
>> Predictably, Windows 8 seems slow in comparison to Ubuntu 12.10. I think
>> an SSD drive would have made a big difference. Quite honestly though, he's
>> giving this one to a friend who's a computer novice, and will probably
>> order another one for himself.
>>
>> The Ubuntu install didn't go as smoothly as I thought it should. I'd
>> heard about the Windows "safe boot" mode, and predicted that there would be
>> some problems. The thing is, the problems didn't manifest themselves as
>> they might should have. If you try to install, or simply choose the option
>> to verify the install CD, it fails to read a particular sector of the CD.
>> It makes it look like the CD (DVD) failed to write correctly. I think I
>> made three or four DVDs, from two different DVD burners before I realized
>> that this just wasn't the case. The MD5sum for the ISO was correct, and the
>> DVD burning software verified the contents of the DVD after each burn. The
>> problem was, the BIOS was expecting a "Secure Boot" image. Yea! Microsoft!
>> Thank you for protecting us, digital overlords!
>>
>> There were two different settings in the BIOS which I had to change to
>> get everything working. Under the "System Configuration" of the BIOS, there
>> are settings called "Legacy Support" and "Secure Boot". The notes for the
>> Legacy Support setting says: "When Legacy Support is enabled, BIOS will
>> load Compatibility Support Module (CSM) to support Legacy OS such as
>> Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP, and DOS. When Legacy Support is
>> disabled, it will boot in UEFI Mode without CSM to support newer OS such as
>> Windows 8."
>>
>> I've forgotten, but I think I had to enable Legacy Support in order to
>> install Ubuntu, but then I could turn it off. It's now disabled, and with
>> Grub2 controlling the Master Boot record, it works just fine. By the way, I
>> had to manually install Grub2 over the Master Boot record. The Ubuntu
>> installer wasn't smart enough to figure out where to install Grub, even
>> though I specifically said to "Install alongside Windows 8" when I was
>> configuring the install. I created a "Linux Secure Remix" install CD, which
>> included a "Boot Repair" application to fix the Master Boot Record. <
>> https://help.ubuntu.com/community/LinuxSecureRemix>
>>
>> The "Secure Boot" setting is also disabled in the BIOS setting. However,
>> Grub2 provides a "Windows UEFI bkbootmgfw.efi" and also a "Windows 8 Boot
>> UEFI loader" option (which I assume are equivalent, because both of them
>> work), to boot Windows 8.
>>
>> As to my overall impressions of the laptop, I think I'd rate it an 8 out
>> of 10. It's alright, and perfectly acceptable for most people. But I
>> personally don't like the keyboard layout. The Enter key is massive. The
>> arrow keys are stacked in such a way that the up and down arrows are
>> squashed, to make the two of them the same size as a the left and right
>> arrows. (I use these keys, so it sucks for me.) He didn't want me to tear
>> away the plastic covering the webcam, but from the picture it generated
>> through the plastic, it looked acceptable. The monitor was nice, if maybe
>> just a little dimmer on the top left corner, than the rest of the screen,
>> but it's not very noticeable. I think he likes his choice very much.
>>
>> Thanks again for the help!
>> Doug Hall
>>
>>
>> On Mon, Mar 11, 2013 at 9:40 PM, Doug Hall <doughalldev at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> A coworker, whom I switched to Ubuntu a little over a year ago, is
>>> looking for a nice new linux laptop. I know the Lenovos are usually a
>>> pretty good choice. Does anyone else have a laptop they're thrilled with,
>>> which will run Mint or Ubuntu? He's not a techie, so compatibility is
>>> important. I think he uses it for basic things - pictures, email, web, etc.
>>>
>>> Thanks ahead of time!
>>>
>>
>>
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>
>
> --
>   Ed Cashin <ecashin at noserose.net>
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