Buying a new laptop - What to look for?

[Fragoulisnaval]

Hello!

I am in search of buying myself a new laptop and I would like to ask you guys regarding the major items two questions :

1.) Which maker should I use for the CPU? Intel i3 or AMD Athlon?
2.) Which graphic card maker should i use? ATI or NVIDIA?

From some small research i made i found out that NVIDIA is generally more compatible that ATI but that's about it.

Any suggestions pls? If you could advise any models fro the above, it would be very helpful. The cost of the new laptop should not exceed the 600EURO in total.

The remaining like RAM memory, HDD storage capacity come secondd to the above choice....

[oshunluvr]

Re: Buying a new laptop - What to look for?

IMO:

CPU brand won't matter. Either ATI or nVidia will be good, just stay away from Intel video. The most important thing in video these days is screen resolution - try to get better than 1366x768 and remember - you can't upgrade the screen or video card so get the best you can afford.

Research the WiFi card carefully! Make sure someone has had success with Ubuntu and whichever model wireless card is on your desired laptop.

I agree on HDD storage. You'll likely get 160-320gb which is plenty. RAM needs to be at least 2gb and 4gb would be better.

I don't specific have any recommendations because I'm in the USA. Good luck!

[toad]

Re: Buying a new laptop - What to look for?

ditto

I just got myself a 15" Thinkpad T61 for €300 with

Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU T7500 @ 2.20GHz
Intel Corporation Mobile GM965/GL960 Integrated Graphics Controller (works okay so far...)
2GB RAM
Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 4965 AG or AGN WLAN (works great)
1650x1050 resolution
100GB hard disk (couldn't care less, 40GB would have done as well)

I was looking for a Thinkpad 'cos they are built like tanks, you will never run out of spares and their hardware linux compatibility is second to none. On reflection I would like to have had a built in webcam, but they only got those for the 14" model Naturally this was second hand - when it was new perhaps three years ago it would have set you back 2K.

Oh, and I was missing a good video port so I got myself a docking station - perhaps something you might want to bear in mind. Also, try and get USB3!

Ah, that was it Good luck and let us know how it goes.

[woodsmoke]

Re: Buying a new laptop - What to look for?

I'd go for three things

a) go for a pretty mainstream brand, toshiba, sony, etc.
b) go for a standard type onboard video card that is not the latest and greatest high end, an nvidia
c) make sure you "work on it" like replacing the hard drive, or adding memory or changing the wireless card from the bottom with just a couple of screws to remove to do the job.

When I bought my Toshiba I also bought a larger, formatted hard drive and replaced the Vista drive before I turned on the machine. It was four screws, lift and pull diagonally, that was it.

I've been offered MORE for the computer with the Vista drive in it than I paid for it.

That way you don't have to dual boot.

woodsmoke

[Fragoulisnaval]

Re: Buying a new laptop - What to look for?

IMO:

CPU brand won't matter. Either ATI or nVidia will be good, just stay away from Intel video. The most important thing in video these days is screen resolution - try to get better than 1366x768 and remember - you can't upgrade the screen or video card so get the best you can afford.

Research the WiFi card carefully! Make sure someone has had success with Ubuntu and whichever model wireless card is on your desired laptop.

I agree on HDD storage. You'll likely get 160-320gb which is plenty. RAM needs to be at least 2gb and 4gb would be better.

I don't specific have any recommendations because I'm in the USA. Good luck!

Thanks mate!! I will keep you updated for sure!

[Fragoulisnaval]

Re: Buying a new laptop - What to look for?

I'd go for three things

a) go for a pretty mainstream brand, toshiba, sony, etc.
b) go for a standard type onboard video card that is not the latest and greatest high end, an nvidia
c) make sure you "work on it" like replacing the hard drive, or adding memory or changing the wireless card from the bottom with just a couple of screws to remove to do the job.

When I bought my Toshiba I also bought a larger, formatted hard drive and replaced the Vista drive before I turned on the machine. It was four screws, lift and pull diagonally, that was it.

I've been offered MORE for the computer with the Vista drive in it than I paid for it.

That way you don't have to dual boot.

woodsmoke

I will ask from the shop the laptop to be software free So dual booting is out of the question.

I used to dual boot on my desktop the first year i was running Ubuntu but Billy was useless to me so when i installed Kubuntu I formatted the whole disk for Linux.

[doctordruidphd]

Re: Buying a new laptop - What to look for?

If you are buying the computer from a walk-in store, take a kubuntu live cd with you, and test it in the machine. That is not an exhaustive test, but it might reveal any really strange hardware problems, such as the reported "intentional" incompatibilities of some system boards with linux.

Also be careful of proprietary video acceleration methods (such as NVIDIA "Optimus") which are windows-only, and just flat will not work with anything else -- the video equivalent of winmodems. Anything that seems too good to be true, probably is.

See:
https://help.ubuntu.com/9.10/switchi...-hardware.html

[Fragoulisnaval]

Re: Buying a new laptop - What to look for?

From a walk-in store the purchase will take place, therefore your tip is truly helpful thanks!! In case they will not let me use my start disk then i will simply not buy from them.....

[woodsmoke]

Re: Buying a new laptop - What to look for?

Great idea drdp

woodsmoke