[clug] Linux Laptop

[Steve Granger]

Hi Duncan/All,

I've bought a couple of M3s and an S2 Toshiba in the last month and they 
look to be well put together machines. Not huge processors 2.1 Mhz 
Centrino's and I've been using the OS that the laptop came with... (I 
HAVE NOT installed linux on them, atleast not yet ;) ) but it performs 
quiet well compared to desktop machines at the same task.
Their not heavy, likes good air flow from underneath, might heat up a 
bit while on your lap.
15.4" screen which is nice to view, 1600x1200 on the S2 though you'll 
need good/young eyes to view normal fonts at that res.
The ones with the nvidia video chipsets can be tweaked be output to odd 
resolutions, eg 1680X1050 and 1900x1200 (who can guess which evil brand 
they belong to?). The Intel chipsets didn't allow the setting of custom 
resolutions, very frustrating, only having support for 1600x1200 and 
1900x1400, not 1900x1200.
Built in ethernet and wireless*, decent battery life, touchpad and knob.
Ram costs alot for the S2, $421 for a 1GB to bring it up to 1.5GB. M3 
ram was $256 for 1GB.

* The wireless cards are a half PCMCIA card which is fitted underneath, 
alongside where the ram goes, no more taking apart half the machine to 
get to the ram as with the older M3s. The cheapest models do not come 
with wireless card and you can order it from toshiba, but after waiting 
2 months for it to come in from a supplier (HT) I decided to just grab a 
PCMCIA linksys instead. You could always pull apart one of the pci 
wireless cards which contains exactly the same setup. Going off this I'm 
assuming it's a common card and works with linux.

My laptop experience is somewhat limited though, I've only used a couple 
of older IBM thinkpads which were great and worked well with linux.

Good luck!

--
Steve

Duncan Bolt wrote:
> Hi
> 
> One of our academics wants to buy a laptop (he wants to put the order  
> in today or tomorrow)
> 
> He is after speed as he will be doing some number crunching on it.  
> Battery Life is not a critical factor, it will be mainly used on mains.
> 
> He will be travelling, so does not want it too large or for the  screen 
> to be too small, so 14" or 15" is about the right size.
> 
> He needs it to be able to connect to things so wireless, and ethernet  
> essential.
> 
> So any ideas on brands or distributions that will be easy for him to  
> use and maintain. He is an experienced Unix user, but not an  adminstrator.
> 
> He is currently looking at Toshibas.
> 
> Thanks
> Duncan
> 
> **************************************************************
> Duncan Bolt
> IT Officer
> Research School of Earth Sciences
> The Australian National University
> Canberra ACT 0200
> Australia
> Phone: + 61 2 6125 3249
> Mobile: + 0404014827
> Fax: + 61 2 6125 0738
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