buying a laptop either bare or with Ubuntu

[Jerry Feldman]

On 01/22/2009 03:58 PM, Lloyd Kvam wrote:
> Yes they do have units you can try.  Most systems work OK with Linux and
> when Steph and I were shopping around, the main issue was the laptops
> with numeric keypads - the keypads did not work in our quick fiddling.
> I assume that could be remedied with a bit of work.
>
> The HP laptop that was too slow did OK in casual store browsing.
> However, once Steph started trying to do some real work on the laptop,
> the screen scrolling was just too slow.  I assume that could have been
> fixed within a few weeks, but she did not want to wait.
>
> For me, the main concern would be proving that the wireless chip set
> worked OK.  I'd expect to get the other components operational
> eventually.  
>
> (My current laptop has a camera and bluetooth that have never been used.
> The built-in camera device is not recognized, but I never had any need
> to use it.  I never got around to buying a bluetooth mouse or keyboard
> which would have forced me to discover if the bluetooth radio works.)
>
>
>   
One thing a LiveCD cannot do well is judge speed. Not only are some 
components loaded from the CD, speed is limited by the amount of memory 
available. Most of the lower cost laptops have the minimum amount of 
memory for the installed OS. GNOME and KDE are very memory intensive. I 
would probably want a minimum of 1GB to run GNOME or KDE. Additionally, 
some graphics chips (probably most on low-end laptops) share memory with 
the host computer. A live cd with lxde might be a better measure if you 
are going to test it in the store. A number of mail order companies, 
like eCost, have factory refurbished systems at some decent prices with 
full factory warranties.

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


-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: signature.asc
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 251 bytes
Desc: OpenPGP digital signature
Url : http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/private/gnhlug-discuss/attachments/20090122/fbc86243/attachment.bin