I'm considering a new laptop, looking for experiences.

[Bill Freeman]

Woops.  I meant to send this to more than just Josh.


Follow up:

I went with the ZaReason "Strata 6770", pimped out with the slower
(2.2GHz versus 2.5GHz) core i7, 8GB RAM, a 750GB 7200RPM disk, and Tux
logo and on the key between FN and left Alt (nominally the "Windows"
key).

I did wind up replacing the OS they installed for me: at order time I
hadn't realized that Mint 12 LMDE was 32 bit only.  I stuck on Mint DE
XFCE.

While I haven't tried the built in bluetooth or either of the video
outputs yet, everything else just works without any special coersion.
(I.e.; I can play DVD movies on this drive (the old Acer's drive was
not to be persuaded unless I booted into Windows, the webcam works,
etc.)

I did have a few episodes of getting past the "system will halt"
message to a "Power Down" message, but then not powering down,
requiring me to use the button, but this has "cleared up".

I would rather have the all the USB connectors on the left: the USB
2.0 connectors, where I want to plug in my wireless mouse dongle, are
on the right, putting the dongle where I want the realestate for my
mouse.  Lefties may disagree.  The USB 3.0 connector is on my left, so
I can use that when I just have a mouse to plug in, but I also have a
wireless headset with a similar dongle, so sometimes mouse side space
is constrained.  (The external audio connections are also on the
right, so that doesn't fully help in replacing the wireless headset.)
More so if I want to plug an external drive or video capture device
into USB 3.0.  I can likely switch to a bluetooth mouse, and find the
bluetooth headset that I don't use, and I have a USB 3.0 hub on order,
so it isn't going to cramp too much, but worth knowing for the
righties out there.

Similarly, all external connectors, with the exception of the AC
adaptor connector, and except for the SD/MMC connector (which is on
the front), are toward the user end of the sides that they are on (as
opposed to the monitor hinge end), exacerbating the place for my mouse
and for my coffee problem as compared to if they were toward the back.

It will be interesting to see how the WiFi works in a place with lots
of other WiFi interfaces.  My Acer's became useless at PyCON 2010 as
the halls filled up and everyone booted their laptops.

All in all, I'm pretty happy with it.  It's fun to see those 8 CPUs in
System Monitor (4 core with hyperthreading).

Bill