Laptop Shopping

[Kelsay, Brian - Kansas City, MO]

 Like any computer purchase, it depends what you want to use it for that
matters most.  Do you intend to play games, do graphic artwork, sound or
video editing, programming, general web surfing and email, play stupid
Flash videos, do a lot of things at once or maybe only a couple?  Do you
intend to run Windows and Linux or Linux only?  On Linux, which distro
and Window Manager do you intend to run?  Is this for you, your wife or
your kids or all of the above?  I ask because I know a bit about you and
know this would all affect the purchasing decision.

Some things have already been said about 3D accel, so I'll leave those
alone.  I personally like nVidia and would load the drivers from the
mfgr. If I thought they were better.  I've not had much good luck with
ATI cards until the Radeon series, so they don't rate too high with me
under any OS.  I do like the nVidia nForce chipset however.

I'd go with the Turion if you definitely want to run a 64-bit system.
Say you want to program some 64-bit stuff or you want to run a 64-bit
system.  But I have some news for you, you won't notice much as a
regular desktop user.  I have a 64-bit Athlon XP and it runs great, but
I've installed both Kubuntu 64-bit and 32-bit and noticed no differences
in speed or performance.  Two glaring things though, I can't run Flash
with out jumping thru hoops and I still haven't got it working and I
can't run Wine at all.  If you need those two things for your stupid
videos or to play games, stop right here.  You can still buy and run a
64-bit system, but you might as well run in 32-bit mode and load a
32-bit OS.  And don't even think about running Winders XP 64-bit, it
sucks and the drivers suck for the most part.  Kubuntu 64-bit was a
dream compared to XP 64, like I even needed to tell you that.  I have a
Sempron desktop model at a lower clock speed and it runs fine in Winders
and Linux.  Winders for copying movies for personal use and Linux as a
File and Web server.

I know you a bit and last I heard you had an all Linux household, but if
you want to dual boot for games or something like special recording
programs for you or your son, then make sure you get a laptop with a big
enough HDD to support it.  I'd suggest at least a 100GB HDD for this
situation.  For Linux only, you could probably get away with a 60 or
80GB with no problem.  I use way less than this on a desktop.  Kubuntu
64 and 32 each have 6GB on disk and I have a BIG /home directory.

For general computing get the low-end and add RAM.  You can never go
wrong with more RAM.  The low-end models never have enough for current
usage patterns.  No sense paying 400-700 and having a slow laptop. KDE
and Gnome have higher RAM requirements than fluxbox or XFCE.  Get at
least 512-1GB RAM and you will be happy no matter what WM or distro you
get.  Don't get super cheap RAM unless you want problems.  Get a name
brand RAM with a return policy if possible.  Crucial, Infineon, OCZ,
Corsair, maybe Patriot and Kingston.  If you order a Dell or Gateway,
you will pay an a**-load for added RAM.  You can do it yourself for half
the money with a small screwdriver and a separate online order.

For your mobile audio recording, make sure your audio chip is supported
under Linux well in ALSA, but you knew this and make sure there are no
problems under Jack, Audacity and Rosegarden.  I assume you will want to
use these progs.  I don't know about the USB sound device, but is
shouldn't matter what CPU you get for that to work.  If you run a 64-bit
OS, however, check that there is a 64-bit module either in repos or that
you can compile before running the 64-bit OS.

Used laptops can compete if you are just looking for a general use
machine.  Especially if the used laptop has been souped up with 512MB or
1GB of RAM already.  If it has been lightly used and fully checked out
and if the battery still has a good life to it.  If you have to replace
the battery or if it has a short unplugged run time, what is the point?
Replacement batteries are as you know about $100.  You might get the
nicads or whatever to fix it yourself for way less than that, but is
that up your alley?

Good luck with your purchasing decision.
Brian

>-----Original Message-----
>From: On Behalf Of Jim Herrmann

>So, I'm planning to buy a laptop.  I started out by looking at 
>the low end of new ones today at the big box stores, and I 
>thought I would run some questions by all you gurus out there. 
> The lowest end of the laptop market today is so kick ass, 
>maybe it doesn't matter anymore, but here goes. 
>
>I found several CPU's being used in the lower end.  Which 
>one's do you all like for Linux on laptops:
>
>AMD Turion 64
>Intel Core Duo T2050
>AMD Sempron 3400
>
>Obviously the Sempron just being a simple 32 bit processor was 
>quite a bit cheaper, but the 64 bit and dual cores have become 
>pretty price competitive.  There was also an AMD Turion Dual 
>Core, and the Intel Core 2Duo, but those were in a higher 
>price bracket.  I guess the question is, would you take a 32 
>bit dual core over a 64 bit single core, and is it even worth 
>200 bucks to go there over a single core 32 bit processor?
>
>Then the other question I would have is did any one go out to 
>the early sales on Friday and get some great deals that they'd 
>be willing to pass on for some cash above what they paid?  I'm 
>also not above considering a used laptop, but with the 
>price/performance of the new laptops today, can a used one 
>really compete?
>
>Let me just add that I want to do some mobile audio recording, 
>but I'll probably get a USB2 audio card for that.  Do you 
>think it will matter what CPU I get for that to work well?
>>Discuss.
>>Thanks,
>Jim