New Laptop questions

[Irv Englander-3]

Before you buy a new HP laptop, check it with the version of Linux that you plan to run. There have been BIOS problems with a number of HP laptops. I was unable to get Live CDs (several different distribs) to run on the laptops that our students get at school. Most crashed and froze on bootup. With some difficulty, we were able to do full installs of Fedora, but even there, there were issues and challenges along the way. I've also had problems with a recent HP desktop at home.

Currently, I'm telling my friends that I've had the least install problems with Acer machines; I'm on my way out right now to buy a new Acer netbook (11" screen with a full-sized keyboard.)


________________________________________
From: discuss-bounces@... [discuss-bounces@...] On Behalf Of ref [tbs@...]
Sent: Thursday, June 18, 2009 3:33 PM
To: L-blu
Subject: New Laptop questions

Hi folks,

So my trusty workhorse of 3 years is wheezing and stumbling and yearning
for pasture. As laptops go the HP dv8000t was the best I've ever had,
and I've had a few (Starting with a side handled Amstrad in hte late
80's! ). It survived a coast-to-coast-to-coast Amtrak summer, and about
a hundred thousand air-miles. My only complaint has been the short
battery life, but then it is a desktop replacement, not an airbook.

So on to the new. After  looking around I think I will go with an HP
again, this time an HDX18t, and got a really good price on a quad core
(my new brother in law happens to work at HP!). Before I buy it, I
wanted to check and see if anyone has heard good/bad things about the
below listed CPU/graphics card components, with regard to running Linux,
specifically Ubuntu and CentOS. I did goole for a bit, but couldnt even
find mention of a linux driver for the NVidia card on their own
website ...

CPU :  Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad Processor Q9000 (2.00Ghz)
Memory : 6GB DDR3
Graphics : 1GB Nvidia GeForce GT 130M
Hard drive : 640GB 7200RPM SATA Dual Hard Drive (320GB x 2
Display : 18.4" diagonal High Definition BrightView (1920x1080p)

It also states that the Wireless card is a " Intel Next-Gen Wireless-N
Mini-card with Bluetooth" but I cannot get any other info on it, such as
model/drivers etc ....

any thoughts feed back welcome, I did look at the 'pure linux'
solutions, but nothing came close in the same price range ($1700 with
extra battery and tax and shipping included)

Richard

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[theBlueSage]

Hi folks,

So my trusty workhorse of 3 years is wheezing and stumbling and yearning
for pasture. As laptops go the HP dv8000t was the best I've ever had,
and I've had a few (Starting with a side handled Amstrad in hte late
80's! ). It survived a coast-to-coast-to-coast Amtrak summer, and about
a hundred thousand air-miles. My only complaint has been the short
battery life, but then it is a desktop replacement, not an airbook.

So on to the new. After  looking around I think I will go with an HP
again, this time an HDX18t, and got a really good price on a quad core
(my new brother in law happens to work at HP!). Before I buy it, I
wanted to check and see if anyone has heard good/bad things about the
below listed CPU/graphics card components, with regard to running Linux,
specifically Ubuntu and CentOS. I did goole for a bit, but couldnt even
find mention of a linux driver for the NVidia card on their own
website ...

CPU :  Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad Processor Q9000 (2.00Ghz)
Memory : 6GB DDR3
Graphics : 1GB Nvidia GeForce GT 130M
Hard drive : 640GB 7200RPM SATA Dual Hard Drive (320GB x 2
Display : 18.4" diagonal High Definition BrightView (1920x1080p)

It also states that the Wireless card is a " Intel Next-Gen Wireless-N
Mini-card with Bluetooth" but I cannot get any other info on it, such as
model/drivers etc ....

any thoughts feed back welcome, I did look at the 'pure linux'
solutions, but nothing came close in the same price range ($1700 with
extra battery and tax and shipping included)

Richard

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[Robert Krawitz-2]

   From: "Englander, Irvin" <ienglander@...>
   Date: Thu, 18 Jun 2009 15:33:00 -0400

   Before you buy a new HP laptop, check it with the version of Linux
   that you plan to run. There have been BIOS problems with a number
   of HP laptops. I was unable to get Live CDs (several different
   distribs) to run on the laptops that our students get at
   school. Most crashed and froze on bootup. With some difficulty, we
   were able to do full installs of Fedora, but even there, there were
   issues and challenges along the way. I've also had problems with a
   recent HP desktop at home.

   Currently, I'm telling my friends that I've had the least install
   problems with Acer machines; I'm on my way out right now to buy a
   new Acer netbook (11" screen with a full-sized keyboard.)

I've had very good luck with Dells (Inspiron 8000, 8200, and
9400/E1705).  They're also usually quite easy to fix or upgrade.
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[theBlueSage]

On Thu, 2009-06-18 at 15:33 -0400, Englander, Irvin wrote:

> Before you buy a new HP laptop, check it with the version of Linux that you plan to run. There have been BIOS problems with a number of HP laptops. I was unable to get Live CDs (several different distribs) to run on the laptops that our students get at school. Most crashed and froze on bootup. With some difficulty, we were able to do full installs of Fedora, but even there, there were issues and challenges along the way. I've also had problems with a recent HP desktop at home.
>

Wow - that must be new coz the dv8000t has been running Ubuntu, Debian
and Fedora since the day I bought it without problems ...
Thanks for the heads up though, I will go read up on the BIOS...

> Currently, I'm telling my friends that I've had the least install problems with Acer machines; I'm on my way out right now to buy a new Acer netbook (11" screen with a full-sized keyboard.)
>
> ________________________________________
> From: discuss-bounces@... [discuss-bounces@...] On Behalf Of ref [tbs@...]
> Sent: Thursday, June 18, 2009 3:33 PM
> To: L-blu
> Subject: New Laptop questions
>
> Hi folks,
>
> So my trusty workhorse of 3 years is wheezing and stumbling and yearning
> for pasture. As laptops go the HP dv8000t was the best I've ever had,
> and I've had a few (Starting with a side handled Amstrad in hte late
> 80's! ). It survived a coast-to-coast-to-coast Amtrak summer, and about
> a hundred thousand air-miles. My only complaint has been the short
> battery life, but then it is a desktop replacement, not an airbook.
>
> So on to the new. After  looking around I think I will go with an HP
> again, this time an HDX18t, and got a really good price on a quad core
> (my new brother in law happens to work at HP!). Before I buy it, I
> wanted to check and see if anyone has heard good/bad things about the
> below listed CPU/graphics card components, with regard to running Linux,
> specifically Ubuntu and CentOS. I did goole for a bit, but couldnt even
> find mention of a linux driver for the NVidia card on their own
> website ...
>
> CPU :  Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad Processor Q9000 (2.00Ghz)
> Memory : 6GB DDR3
> Graphics : 1GB Nvidia GeForce GT 130M
> Hard drive : 640GB 7200RPM SATA Dual Hard Drive (320GB x 2
> Display : 18.4" diagonal High Definition BrightView (1920x1080p)
>
> It also states that the Wireless card is a " Intel Next-Gen Wireless-N
> Mini-card with Bluetooth" but I cannot get any other info on it, such as
> model/drivers etc ....
>
> any thoughts feed back welcome, I did look at the 'pure linux'
> solutions, but nothing came close in the same price range ($1700 with
> extra battery and tax and shipping included)
>
> Richard
>
> _______________________________________________
> Discuss mailing list
> Discuss@...
> http://lists.blu.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
>
> _______________________________________________
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[Ryan Pugatch-4]

Robert Krawitz wrote:
>
> I've had very good luck with Dells (Inspiron 8000, 8200, and
> 9400/E1705).  They're also usually quite easy to fix or upgrade.
> _______________________________________________


I've found ThinkPads to be great running Linux.

http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/ThinkWiki is a great resource for getting
ThinkPads set up with most popular distros.

--
Ryan Pugatch
Systems Administrator, TripAdvisor
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[theBlueSage]

On Thu, 2009-06-18 at 15:45 -0400, Robert Krawitz wrote:
<snip>

>
>    Currently, I'm telling my friends that I've had the least install
>    problems with Acer machines; I'm on my way out right now to buy a
>    new Acer netbook (11" screen with a full-sized keyboard.)
>
> I've had very good luck with Dells (Inspiron 8000, 8200, and
> 9400/E1705).  They're also usually quite easy to fix or upgrade.
> _______________________________________________

I used to love my 266CPi, work excellent with RH6 series and 7.1) but
the new 3 that I got all had problems within a year with the screens
blacking out. It kinda turned me off the Dells although I got quite
adept at opening up the case and pulling out the screen panel so I could
re-seat the data straps that kept coming loose.  


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[Jarod Wilson]

On Jun 18, 2009, at 3:33 PM, ref wrote:

> Hi folks,
>
> So my trusty workhorse of 3 years is wheezing and stumbling and  
> yearning
> for pasture. As laptops go the HP dv8000t was the best I've ever had,
> and I've had a few (Starting with a side handled Amstrad in hte late
> 80's! ). It survived a coast-to-coast-to-coast Amtrak summer, and  
> about
> a hundred thousand air-miles. My only complaint has been the short
> battery life, but then it is a desktop replacement, not an airbook.
>
> So on to the new. After  looking around I think I will go with an HP
> again, this time an HDX18t, and got a really good price on a quad core
> (my new brother in law happens to work at HP!). Before I buy it, I
> wanted to check and see if anyone has heard good/bad things about the
> below listed CPU/graphics card components, with regard to running  
> Linux,
> specifically Ubuntu and CentOS. I did goole for a bit, but couldnt  
> even
> find mention of a linux driver for the NVidia card on their own
> website ...

That falls under GeForce 100M Series (Notebooks), and in the advanced  
driver search, you can specifically choose "GeForce GT 130M". However,  
it seems the binary driver does not yet support it -- not even w/a  
beta driver. I imagine support can't be all that far out though. Not  
sure if you could limp along with nv, nouveau or vesa 'til then...

> CPU :  Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad Processor Q9000 (2.00Ghz)
> Memory : 6GB DDR3
> Graphics : 1GB Nvidia GeForce GT 130M
> Hard drive : 640GB 7200RPM SATA Dual Hard Drive (320GB x 2
> Display : 18.4" diagonal High Definition BrightView (1920x1080p)

Aside from the graphics card, everything else should work just fine.

> It also states that the Wireless card is a " Intel Next-Gen Wireless-N
> Mini-card with Bluetooth" but I cannot get any other info on it,  
> such as
> model/drivers etc ....

I believe that would be the Intel iwl5150 or similar. Its supported by  
the iwlagn driver (as are all the other iwl5xxx devices I'm aware of  
-- I have a perfectly functional iwl5350 myself).


--
Jarod Wilson
jarod@...




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[Jarod Wilson]

On Jun 18, 2009, at 3:51 PM, ref wrote:

> On Thu, 2009-06-18 at 15:33 -0400, Englander, Irvin wrote:
>
>> Before you buy a new HP laptop, check it with the version of Linux  
>> that you plan to run. There have been BIOS problems with a number  
>> of HP laptops. I was unable to get Live CDs (several different  
>> distribs) to run on the laptops that our students get at school.  
>> Most crashed and froze on bootup. With some difficulty, we were  
>> able to do full installs of Fedora, but even there, there were  
>> issues and challenges along the way. I've also had problems with a  
>> recent HP desktop at home.
>>
>
> Wow - that must be new coz the dv8000t has been running Ubuntu, Debian
> and Fedora since the day I bought it without problems ...
> Thanks for the heads up though, I will go read up on the BIOS...

Nope, its nothing new. HP has been pretty hit-and-miss with their BIOS  
quality for a while now. Some machines are great, others... notsomuch.  
Its not restricted to laptops either, the xw9300 and xw9400  
workstations were an absolute train wreck, requiring a ton of back and  
forth to get them to fix several issues, as well as a fair amount of  
quirking within the kernel. I don't know specific laptop models w/
issues off hand, but they're definitely out there.

--
Jarod Wilson
jarod@...




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[Jerry Feldman-2]

My opinion based on associations and installfests. I personally have had
good luck with HP, but they make so many models it's hard to really say
that much. As Jarod mentions, it should be ok.
Dells are ok as are Thinkpads although some people, like Rob have had
difficulty.  We've had some good luck with some Sony Vaios. Also look at
warranties. When I bought my HP laptop from eCost.com, it came with a
3-year factory warranty where Dells come with 90 days. I think that may
have changed. However, in favor of HP, they have a very large Linux
community (as does IBM), but that is almost entirely devoted to servers.
In the past, they did certify some business laptops as ready for Linux.

Stay away from Gateway. I have long experience going back to the 80s. In
2 different companies, the IT guys responsible for incoming inspection
told me that nearly every unit had some defect, and I opened one where
the secondary IDE channel was DOA.

--
Jerry Feldman <gaf@...>
Boston Linux and Unix
PGP key id: 537C5846
PGP Key fingerprint: 3D1B 8377 A3C0 A5F2 ECBB  CA3B 4607 4319 537C 5846



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[Derek Atkins]

Robert Krawitz <rlk@...> writes:

> I've had very good luck with Dells (Inspiron 8000, 8200, and
> 9400/E1705).  They're also usually quite easy to fix or upgrade.

They need to be easy to fix because they need to be fixed quite often.
The one (and ONLY one) time I've had a Dell in my posession it broke
approximately once a quarter and needed to go back to get fixed.

My Thinkpads, on the other hand, usually last about 2 years before
needing a repair.  I have a T23 that I acquired around 2002 that
just died a couple weeks ago but hasn't needed a repair for about 3.
My T60 from 2 years ago finally needed a repair a month ago and
now it's as good as new.

I can't recommend Thinkpads highly enough.

-derek
--
       Derek Atkins, SB '93 MIT EE, SM '95 MIT Media Laboratory
       Member, MIT Student Information Processing Board  (SIPB)
       URL: http://web.mit.edu/warlord/    PP-ASEL-IA     N1NWH
       warlord@...                        PGP key available
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[Robert Krawitz-2]

   From: Derek Atkins <warlord@...>
   Date: Fri, 19 Jun 2009 10:21:33 -0400

   Robert Krawitz <rlk@...> writes:

   > I've had very good luck with Dells (Inspiron 8000, 8200, and
   > 9400/E1705).  They're also usually quite easy to fix or upgrade.

   They need to be easy to fix because they need to be fixed quite often.
   The one (and ONLY one) time I've had a Dell in my posession it broke
   approximately once a quarter and needed to go back to get fixed.

I haven't had that experience, with certain specific exceptions.

My 9400 has been flawless.  I've had it for close to a year now.

My 8000 was also clean, and I had that for 3 or 4 years.  I think I
had to replace the keyboard once.  That was the only real repair that
I had to do on it.

My 8200 did have issues.  The first one I had had lots of problems,
but the machine had been quite beaten up before I even bought it.  The
second one generally didn't have a lot of problems, but I had problems
with the backlight going out on me several times due to problems with
graphics cards not seating properly (the Radeon cards had more
problems in that regard, but I didn't want nVidia cards).
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[theBlueSage]

On Thu, 2009-06-18 at 15:58 -0400, Jarod Wilson wrote:

> On Jun 18, 2009, at 3:33 PM, ref wrote:
>
> > Hi folks,
> >
> > So my trusty workhorse of 3 years is wheezing and stumbling and  
> > yearning
> > for pasture. As laptops go the HP dv8000t was the best I've ever had,
> > and I've had a few (Starting with a side handled Amstrad in hte late
> > 80's! ). It survived a coast-to-coast-to-coast Amtrak summer, and  
> > about
> > a hundred thousand air-miles. My only complaint has been the short
> > battery life, but then it is a desktop replacement, not an airbook.
> >
> > So on to the new. After  looking around I think I will go with an HP
> > again, this time an HDX18t, and got a really good price on a quad core
> > (my new brother in law happens to work at HP!). Before I buy it, I
> > wanted to check and see if anyone has heard good/bad things about the
> > below listed CPU/graphics card components, with regard to running  
> > Linux,
> > specifically Ubuntu and CentOS. I did goole for a bit, but couldnt  
> > even
> > find mention of a linux driver for the NVidia card on their own
> > website ...
>
> That falls under GeForce 100M Series (Notebooks), and in the advanced  
> driver search, you can specifically choose "GeForce GT 130M". However,  
> it seems the binary driver does not yet support it -- not even w/a  
> beta driver. I imagine support can't be all that far out though. Not  
> sure if you could limp along with nv, nouveau or vesa 'til then...

Now that is what I was looking for (though not the news I wanted to
hear!). Its is a shame as I am a huge CompizFusion/Cedega\Blizzard fan,
so if the drivers are not there then the card is useless to me. I also
like to watch movies while flying back and forth from coast to coast
(every six weeks or so) so no driver = wrong choice of video card. I
will go look deeper into the forums to see when there will be a driver
available, maybe I can afford to wait a little ... heh, yeah... the gods
are already laughing at me ...  ;)

>
> > CPU :  Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad Processor Q9000 (2.00Ghz)
> > Memory : 6GB DDR3
> > Graphics : 1GB Nvidia GeForce GT 130M
> > Hard drive : 640GB 7200RPM SATA Dual Hard Drive (320GB x 2
> > Display : 18.4" diagonal High Definition BrightView (1920x1080p)
>
> Aside from the graphics card, everything else should work just fine.
>
> > It also states that the Wireless card is a " Intel Next-Gen Wireless-N
> > Mini-card with Bluetooth" but I cannot get any other info on it,  
> > such as
> > model/drivers etc ....
>
> I believe that would be the Intel iwl5150 or similar. Its supported by  
> the iwlagn driver (as are all the other iwl5xxx devices I'm aware of  
> -- I have a perfectly functional iwl5350 myself).

That is good news ....

thanks Jarod


>
>
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[theBlueSage]

On Fri, 2009-06-19 at 10:21 -0400, Derek Atkins wrote:

> Robert Krawitz <rlk@...> writes:
>
> > I've had very good luck with Dells (Inspiron 8000, 8200, and
> > 9400/E1705).  They're also usually quite easy to fix or upgrade.
>
> They need to be easy to fix because they need to be fixed quite often.
> The one (and ONLY one) time I've had a Dell in my posession it broke
> approximately once a quarter and needed to go back to get fixed.
>
> My Thinkpads, on the other hand, usually last about 2 years before
> needing a repair.  I have a T23 that I acquired around 2002 that
> just died a couple weeks ago but hasn't needed a repair for about 3.
> My T60 from 2 years ago finally needed a repair a month ago and
> now it's as good as new.
>
> I can't recommend Thinkpads highly enough.

Interesting, I've never even though of Tinkpads... I used one when they
first came out and hated the red nipple mouse button thing in the center
of the keyboard, and apparently have dismissed then from then on. I will
give then a better look now, especially as the NVidia card I had chosen
has no driver, and the HP may have BIOS issues ....



>
> -derek
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[Richard Pieri]

Call me the heretic, but have you considered a MacBook Pro?  OS X is,  
in my experience, the best desktop Unix out there, and you can get an  
Apple refurbished 17" MBP for about $1800.

--Rich P.

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[theBlueSage]

On Fri, 2009-06-19 at 11:42 -0400, Richard Pieri wrote:

> Call me the heretic, but have you considered a MacBook Pro?  OS X is,  
> in my experience, the best desktop Unix out there, and you can get an  
> Apple refurbished 17" MBP for about $1800.
>

oh I thought about it for ages, but as my day job and my night job are
both heavy linux platforms (CentOS and Ubuntu servers) I need a laptop
workstation that can replicate the live systems. My wife has a MacBook,
and I try hard not to covet it. I does 'look' great, very slick, and
works well with my iPhone (come on songbird, I'm waiting!), but I cannot
justify getting the macBook and then running a whole series of virtual
machines ....
Having said all that, I have spent quite a while configuring and
tweaking compizFusion, and can get a very 'mac-like' experience under
Linux. Enough to make most Mac people who laughed when they saw the
'PC-like' laptop suddenly become quite and respectful when they watch
Compiz in action :)

Richard




> --Rich P.
>
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[Irv Englander-3]

I concur on Thinkpads. I have two Linux Thinkpads at school. Both are old; one is  a T41, the other an early T61, which I use daily. No failures ever on either. In fact, I like to impress my Windows-using students by showing them the uptime command. The only time either machine has been rebooted is when I have to install a new Linux distribution. At one point the T41 had an uptime of over two years.

I still recommend you take a look at Acer machines, as well though. I've had two and a number of students have also bought them. I've had good luck with mine. (Side note: I HAD to have a working Vista machine. I bought the Acer I'm typing on right now with the intention of blowing away the Vista to use the machine as a Linux box, but since it has the only reliable, non-crashing version of Vista that I've ever seen to date, I've been unable psychologically to kill the Vista. That's why I'm looking at a new Acer netbook.) I'd like to hear from others on their Acer experiences, but mine has been that Acer produces an inexpensive, solid machine, with a high feature and construction to cost ratio. Comments from others?

BTW, the Best Buy website price on the particular Acer netbook I want is $105 ABOVE Acer's listed price. Best Buyer beware?

Irv Englander, Professor, CIS Department
Bentley University
________________________________________
From: discuss-bounces@... [discuss-bounces@...] On Behalf Of ref [tbs@...]
Sent: Friday, June 19, 2009 11:18 AM
To: L-blu
Subject: Re: New Laptop questions

On Fri, 2009-06-19 at 10:21 -0400, Derek Atkins wrote:

> Robert Krawitz <rlk@...> writes:
>
> > I've had very good luck with Dells (Inspiron 8000, 8200, and
> > 9400/E1705).  They're also usually quite easy to fix or upgrade.
>
> They need to be easy to fix because they need to be fixed quite often.
> The one (and ONLY one) time I've had a Dell in my posession it broke
> approximately once a quarter and needed to go back to get fixed.
>
> My Thinkpads, on the other hand, usually last about 2 years before
> needing a repair.  I have a T23 that I acquired around 2002 that
> just died a couple weeks ago but hasn't needed a repair for about 3.
> My T60 from 2 years ago finally needed a repair a month ago and
> now it's as good as new.
>
> I can't recommend Thinkpads highly enough.

Interesting, I've never even though of Tinkpads... I used one when they
first came out and hated the red nipple mouse button thing in the center
of the keyboard, and apparently have dismissed then from then on. I will
give then a better look now, especially as the NVidia card I had chosen
has no driver, and the HP may have BIOS issues ....



>
> -derek
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[Jarod Wilson]

On Jun 19, 2009, at 12:04 PM, ref wrote:

> On Fri, 2009-06-19 at 11:42 -0400, Richard Pieri wrote:
>
>> Call me the heretic, but have you considered a MacBook Pro?  OS X is,
>> in my experience, the best desktop Unix out there, and you can get an
>> Apple refurbished 17" MBP for about $1800.
>>
>
> oh I thought about it for ages, but as my day job and my night job are
> both heavy linux platforms (CentOS and Ubuntu servers) I need a laptop
> workstation that can replicate the live systems. My wife has a  
> MacBook,
> and I try hard not to covet it. I does 'look' great, very slick, and
> works well with my iPhone (come on songbird, I'm waiting!), but I  
> cannot
> justify getting the macBook and then running a whole series of virtual
> machines ....

Well, you can run Linux on a MacBook Pro too (dual-boot, even). And  
then your "other OS" is Mac OS X instead of Windows...

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Jarod Wilson
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[Richard Pieri]

On Jun 19, 2009, at 12:21 PM, Jarod Wilson wrote:
> Well, you can run Linux on a MacBook Pro too (dual-boot, even). And
> then your "other OS" is Mac OS X instead of Windows...


Yep.  Ubuntu 9.04 runs well on the next to most recent generation (non-
unibody) MBPs.  Most things work out of the box.  A few such as  
wireless and trackpad require manual package installs.  reboot doesn't  
work but that kernel bug isn't unique to Macs.

--Rich P.

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[Jarod Wilson]

On Jun 19, 2009, at 12:38 PM, Richard Pieri wrote:

> On Jun 19, 2009, at 12:21 PM, Jarod Wilson wrote:
>> Well, you can run Linux on a MacBook Pro too (dual-boot, even). And
>> then your "other OS" is Mac OS X instead of Windows...
>
>
> Yep.  Ubuntu 9.04 runs well on the next to most recent generation  
> (non-
> unibody) MBPs.  Most things work out of the box.  A few such as
> wireless

For those following along at home, its a broadcom 802.11n card, which  
requires their binary driver.


> and trackpad

Also broadcom, but supported in the latest upstream kernels, iirc.


> require manual package installs.  reboot doesn't
> work but that kernel bug isn't unique to Macs.

Didn't know about that one. But presumably fixed in later upstream  
kernels.


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[Robert Krawitz-2]

   From: Richard Pieri <richard.pieri@...>
   Date: Fri, 19 Jun 2009 12:38:20 -0400

   On Jun 19, 2009, at 12:21 PM, Jarod Wilson wrote:
   > Well, you can run Linux on a MacBook Pro too (dual-boot, even). And
   > then your "other OS" is Mac OS X instead of Windows...

   Yep.  Ubuntu 9.04 runs well on the next to most recent generation (non-
   unibody) MBPs.  Most things work out of the box.  A few such as  
   wireless and trackpad require manual package installs.  reboot doesn't  
   work but that kernel bug isn't unique to Macs.

One thing I don't like about Mac laptops is that the screens are
fairly low resolution.  I'm used to UXGA on 15" screens and WUXGA on
17" screens; I simply can't get very much on the Mac screen.
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