[ale] [Slightly OT] Laptop Recommendations/Warnings

[Ron Frazier]

PS to my prior post about laptops.  I have one minor problem with the 
Asus laptop and Ubuntu.  It thinks the touchpad is a mouse.  It works 
fine, but the touchpad configuration option tab is missing from the 
preferences screen.  Therefore, I cannot do things like turning off 
tapping, etc.  Otherwise, Ubuntu works OK on it.

Ron

On 6/25/2011 12:00 PM, Ron Frazier wrote:
> David,
>
> I've owned 3 laptops which might be considered modern.  I'll share my
> thoughts on each.
>
> IBM Thinkpad (not Lenovo), 1998 vintage, 160 MB ram max, Pentium 1, 300 MHz
>      This is now too old and slow to be useful, although it will run
> Lubuntu very sluggishly.  At the time, though, I really liked it.
> Construction seemed really solid.  It had a nice keyboard and decent
> sounding speakers.  (Almost no laptop has exceptional sounding or loud
> speakers.)  I have no experience with Lenovo.  I did have to take the
> system apart once and resolder the power connector.  I got it back
> together, but it was not a fun experience.  The hinges on this laptop
> never broke.
>
> Toshiba Satellite, 2002 vintage, 512 MB ram upgraded to 1 GB, Pentium 4,
> 2.4 GHz
>      I really liked this machine for along time.  Laptop lid hinges seem
> to be a weak point in all of them, and they broke on this unit years ago
> and disabled the display.  I have been using it up until last month with
> an externally attached monitor.  It's been running Windows XP with all
> the latest patches and dual booting Ubuntu 10.04 with no problem at
> all.  They keyboard was good but not as good as the old IBM.  This unit
> also had pretty decent sounding speakers.
>
> Dell Inspiron 1525, 2009 vintage, 2 GB ram upgraded to 4 GB, Pentium
> Dual CPU, 1.7 GHz, 64 bit
>      This has been my favorite computer for some time and my "go to"
> machine for anything I had to do which was mobile.  It has a pretty good
> keyboard, similar to the Toshiba, but still not as good as the old IBM.
> It has OK sounding speakers, but not as good as the IBM or Toshiba.  A
> few months ago, one of the laptop lid hinges broke.  Sound familiar.  I
> tried to keep using it by taping the lid with gorilla tape.  Then, a
> couple of weeks ago, the 2nd hinge broke.  At the moment, the display
> still works, but I've relegated the system to desktop duty only where
> it's never moved lest I break that display too.  This is EXTREMELY
> annoying, as the machine was working fine in all other respects.  It's
> been happily dual booting Windows Vista and Ubuntu 10.04.  It has a 64
> bit CPU, so I think I'm running 64 bit Ubuntu.  Sometimes, it's hard to
> keep track.
>
> Asus K52F, 3 GB ram, Pentium Dual CPU, 2.13 GHz, 64 bit
>      This is the one I got to replace the Dell, since I do need mobile
> operation.  I was definitely on a budget, and didn't want to get another
> machine at all.  I got this demo unit from Best Buy, unused and unsold
> to a customer, for only $ 300.  The sale price that weekend was $ 380 if
> it had been in the box.  I've only had it for two weeks, so I cannot
> speak to longevity.  I REALLY hope the display hinges don' break, but
> only time will tell.  So far, I'm impressed.  I took the extra $ 80 I
> saved and bought the 2 year in store replacement warranty.  The machine
> has a 15" screen, HDMI and VGA out, 3 USB connectors, memory card slot,
> LAN port, 500 GB HDD (hybrid SSD I think), a DVD RW drive, wifi, and
> comes with Windows 7.  Windows 7 runs more snappily in 3 GB than Windows
> Vista did in 4 GB.  I've repartitioned the HDD and am now dual booting
> with Ubuntu 10.04 and that runs fine too.
>
> They do cut a few corners.  They keyboard is not as good as any of the
> other machines I've had, but I think I can deal with it.  The spacing is
> fine.  But the keys don't travel as far down and make slightly more
> noise.  The sound system is Altec Lansing, a well respected name.  If
> you're right in front of the machine, and the lid is open, and the room
> is quiet, it sounds pretty good.  If you're running with the lid closed
> and an external monitor, or if you're not very close, it's not loud
> enough to be usable.  There are no firewire, esata, svideo, parallel,
> serial ports, or modem ports, and no PCMCIA or CardBus card slots.  BIOS
> options are somewhat limited, but you can put a password on the HDD,
> boot up, and setup.  Overall, it seems like a pretty good machine for
> the money.
>
> I would say look for big beefy hinges where arms go from the lid to the
> base.  However, the Best Buy guy said only the Sony's over $1000 don't
> have much hinge problems.  I have no experience with Sony laptops.  To
> me, it totally stinks for a $ 1 piece of garbage hinge mounting plate,
> made of plastic, to disable a multi hundred dollar machine.
>
> If it's important to you, test the keyboard and sound system first.
>
> Almost all the laptops in retail stores have shiny / glossy screens.  I,
> for one, am not a fan of these, but I didn't have the budget to custom
> order a machine from Dell, etc. with a matte screen.
>
> One other weak point many laptops have is the cooling system.  Many
> times, the fan intake is right on the bottom.  If you set it on your
> lap, or on a bed, it will be blocked.  I've really had to watch this on
> my Toshiba and my Dell.  These intakes can easily get clogged with very
> fine dust and lint.  See my other response to a "laptop overheating"
> thread for more details on a bad experience I had.  You have to check
> these intakes periodically and not set them on a soft surface.  I put
> wedding ribbon over mine to stop the dust.  It's a good idea to run
> SpeedFan in Windows or LM Sensors or something similar in Linux to
> monitor your CPU temperatures.  As I mentioned in the other thread, you
> cannot assume every CPU can take the same maximum temperature.  They're
> all different.  The air intakes on the ASUS are partly on the bottom,
> but also appear to be at other points on the case, so maybe the problem
> won't be as bad.
>
> Hope this info helps.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Ron
>
>
> On 5/12/2011 7:27 PM, David Tomaschik wrote:
>    
>> All,
>>
>> I'm beginning to think about my next laptop -- my 2007-era System76 is
>> down to under 1 hour battery life, and the screen occasionally
>> flickers.  Ideally, I'm hoping to get away at the ~$700 price point,
>> but it's looking like that's impossible for what I'm looking for.  My
>> desires are:
>>
>> - Battery life for conferences (6+ hours would be ideal, 4+ is a must)
>> - 4GB+ RAM
>> - Full size keyboard
>> - 13-15" screen
>> - HDMI/VGA out
>> - Core i3/i5
>> - eSATA would be nice, but not a must
>>
>> Recommendations or models/brands to avoid are appreciated.
>>
>>
>>      
>