Samsung Chronos 700Z7C-SO2 Laptop - work with Kubuntu?

[IanWood]

Hi all,

Feel a bit silly to ask, but I haven't bought a laptop in a while and want to make sure I can put Kubuntu onto it.

I like the look of Samsung Chronos 700Z7C-SO2 Laptop.

It is available here:
http://www.johnlewis.com/231740126/P...7#BVRRWidgetID

I think the only thing which could be a problem is the graphic card which is Nvidia GeForce GT 640M, but I found a driver on Nvidia's site.

Can anyone think of a reason why putting Kubuntu on would be a problem?

Thanks in advance,

Ian

[james147]

Nice laptop... I tend to prefer cheap laptop/netbooks as I never find them to be hugely reliable, they tend to break down quicker and are more expensive then a desktop of similar specs... Not saying it wont last, just wont last as along as a desktop of similar price. (hell you could get a desktop with the same specs + a cheap netbook for the same cost as that) And if i was going to spend that much on a computer I would want it to last a fair few years.


But that really depends on your needs, those are just my thourghts...

The one thing that sticks out for me is

Operating system: Windows 8 (64 Bit)

This means it almost certainly comes with uefi and secure boot which means you are going to need to disable secure boot (or use one of the other methods mentioned through these forums) in order to boot Kubuntu. Not a show stopper, just a obstacle you should be aware of and look up before you buy a windows 8 laptop.

PS - If you are unsure what laptop to get (specs wise) feel free to tell us what you plan to use it for and we can recommend to suit your needs... that is if you don't already know if you do feel free to ignore this

[pauly]

I have a Samsung rv520 and its been great but my hardware is mostly intel. I would look for a laptop with windows seven and intel hardware.

[IanWood]

Thanks James and pauly.

The laptop will be shared between me and my partner.

I want a machine which is fairly quick and also sturdy - the aluminium body looks like it would be tough.

Also want a fairly large drive – but 500mb would probably be big enoguh.

One think I like about this one is that there are proper “home” and “end” buttons which I find handy.

The laptop I am replacing is from 2004 and getting on a bit now but still works. However for copying large photos from the sdcard and opening up folders with many images in Dolphin and DigiKam for instance takes too long so now she uses my machine...

Another reason to get such a powerful one is that we plan to keep it a while – which she did with her current one. Also this has a three year guarantee

I will need to look into uefi but I remember I also had some hoops to jump through with my desktop Alienware X51, so don't mind too much.

Also, it does look nice

[james147]

The laptop I am replacing is from 2004 and getting on a bit now but still works. However for copying large photos from the sdcard and opening up folders with many images in Dolphin and DigiKam for instance takes too long so now she uses my machine...

You don't need such a powerful computer to do this, an I7 is over kill for general use and photo browsing, so is 8Gigs of ram, but less so. And they will be overkill for these tasks for years to come.

Personally I would invest less money into it, an i5 + 4gig s of ram would be enough for a few years to come, and then you just need to upgrade the ram, processing power for general use has basically maxed out, you dont need a faster processor unless you are doing cpu intense tasks (video editing, compiling, compressing/decompressing, en/decoding etc...).

Note that on your current system the bottle neck for copying files form an sdcard will be the sdcard its self. I would recommend getting class 10 cards to speed things up with this.

My net book is fast for almost everything I need to do on it such as browsing files, photo, editing documents etc.. I would prefer a faster processor (intel atom 1.5ghz currently) only because I compile on this thing (and most of what I compile it is good enough, but did take about 8hours to compile qt5 )

With less of an investment it would be less of an issue if it broke down and it would be less of an issue to get a replacement (especially after the warranty expires).

I would also advise looking into getting an ssd, that is the real bottle neck these days for general use such as what you suggested. The only problem is they are not as big as hdd currently, but getting a cheaper laptop would give you more money to get a bigger ssd.

So basically: it will do what you want, but you could invest your money in different hardware (ie a big ssd) to make it last longer for general light (ie not major gaming video editing, or other complex tasks) use.

[IanWood]

yes - I think you are right.

My desktop Alienware X51 is i5 with 8gig and it flies!

I went to John Lewis to have a look at it. It wasn't there but several other Samsung machines were and even the Samsung rep said it wasn't worth getting!

I will look into the ssd - I want to be able to sync my whole Dropbox which is 133GB so would like a drive bigger than that. Otherwise I need to use selective sync which she may not understand...

I am more concerned with the uefi secure boot issue though - need to check I can put Linux on before buying.

Thanks again,

Ian

[james147]

I will look into the ssd - I want to be able to sync my whole Dropbox which is 133GB so would like a drive bigger than that. Otherwise I need to use selective sync which she may not understand...

I am more concerned with the uefi secure boot issue though - need to check I can put Linux on before buying.

You can get them quite cheap at that size, this one is 240GB and only costs £90. But I would recommend getting a more expensive and faster one, this one is also 240GB, costs £142, but is twice as fast at reading and writing.

I would consider getting something like this and seeing it if improves your current laptop then if needed buy a new one after and move the ssd across, you might decide you don't need a new one.. or you might just want a new one either way it would be interesting to see what a difference it makes on your current system.

[IanWood]

thanks for the tips, didn't even realise you could buy these things!

[SteveRiley]

And as for the CPU, an i5 is still probably too much. They are hungry for power, and dissipate quite a lot of heat. Look for an i3 instead. That'll lower the overall price a bit more, freeing up more funds for that all-important SSD.

[james147]

And as for the CPU, an i5 is still probably too much. They are hungry for power, and dissipate quite a lot of heat. Look for an i3 instead. That'll lower the overall price a bit more, freeing up more funds for that all-important SSD.

Not to mention possibility of longer batter life.. love the 8hours I can get on my netbook with an Intel atom, and that is powerful enough to compile Qt5 in about 8 hours or so

[IanWood]

I hadn't thought about that. Think a netbook wouldn't be powerful enough but i3 may be. really thinking of SSD too.