Stephen C. Daukas wrote:
I forgot to bring this up at the cookout last night...
I have decided to purchase a new laptop (a first for me - always used older equipment) and was wondering if anyone had recommendations for a model that plays well with Linux. I'm not interested in a laptop with the latest whiz-bang features, just the basics of wireless networking, ability to play/burn CDs/DVDs, enough horsepower & disk to run forecasting models, GIS, database, etc., and a battery that will last for several hours. (My guess is any laptop these days would be sufficient.) I want to avoid having to add drivers or other support for some whiz-bang hardware when something "vanilla" would work just as well for me, and I would prefer a distro that supports the various standard laptop features (e.g., power management) and typical peripherals like DVDs/movies, Burning CDs, etc., "out of the box". Again, this is probably a non-issue, but there could be a laptop using hardware known to be problematic (remember "winmodems"?)...
I've been looking at picking up a cheap, less then current model thinkpad from TigerDirect. The prices are pretty good, and the Linux support for ThinkPad hardware is outstanding. Anything that's not a "mobile" P4 will have pretty good battery life... just find the most hardware that fits in your price range. Scott