Laptops

15 replies [Last post]
bitf
Offline
Joined: 10/27/2009

So the time has come for me to get a laptop. I was drawn to Thinkpads because I know they work, but was unable to find anything recent (new or used) that came sans Windows and given Lenovo's policy of not refunding the Windows tax I looked at other manufactures. I tried Dell, but they don't sell Laptops with Ubuntu anymore, I know someone who had a very bad experience with System76 and Los Alamos Computer's Thinkpads cost twice as much as comparable models with Windows. Any suggestions?

lduros
Offline
Joined: 04/23/2011

I've had an overall good experience with Dell Inspiron 1545 laptop, most of
everything works with Trisquel except for the integrated wireless card,
which doesn't, and requires proprietary code to be built from source in
order to work. But that's it, all the rest works.

On Fri, Jun 17, 2011 at 12:26 AM, <name at domain> wrote:

> So the time has come for me to get a laptop. I was drawn to Thinkpads
> because I know they work, but was unable to find anything recent (new or
> used) that came sans Windows and given Lenovo's policy of not refunding the
> Windows tax I looked at other manufactures. I tried Dell, but they don't
> sell Laptops with Ubuntu anymore, I know someone who had a very bad
> experience with System76 and Los Alamos Computer's Thinkpads cost twice as
> much as comparable models with Windows. Any suggestions?
>

--
Loic J. Duros - http://lduros.net

Jeffery Alan Mathis II
Offline
Joined: 06/17/2011

I haven't purchased anything from them personally, but I've heard nothing but good things about Zareason. I'm considering them for my next laptop purchase.
--
Sent from my Android phone with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity.

name at domain wrote:

So the time has come for me to get a laptop. I was drawn to Thinkpads because
I know they work, but was unable to find anything recent (new or used) that
came sans Windows and given Lenovo's policy of not refunding the Windows tax
I looked at other manufactures. I tried Dell, but they don't sell Laptops
with Ubuntu anymore, I know someone who had a very bad experience with
System76 and Los Alamos Computer's Thinkpads cost twice as much as comparable
models with Windows. Any suggestions?

Daemonax
Offline
Joined: 09/30/2009

My Thinkpad T61 has been absolutely awesome. I've upgraded it to 4GB of
ram, and a larger harddrive. It's probably about 3 years old now and
it's still in nigh perfect condition. Lenovo also have good manuals for
the Thinkpads, are how to open them up, which I occasionally do to keep
the inside cleaned up.

The only thing I think you'd want to check with more modern Thinkpads is
whether the graphics card is supported for Free Software drivers. The
Intel 965 in my Thinkpad works great with Free Software drivers.

On Fri, 2011-06-17 at 06:26 +0200, name at domain wrote:
> So the time has come for me to get a laptop. I was drawn to Thinkpads because
> I know they work, but was unable to find anything recent (new or used) that
> came sans Windows and given Lenovo's policy of not refunding the Windows tax
> I looked at other manufactures. I tried Dell, but they don't sell Laptops
> with Ubuntu anymore, I know someone who had a very bad experience with
> System76 and Los Alamos Computer's Thinkpads cost twice as much as comparable
> models with Windows. Any suggestions?

akirashinigami

I am a member!

I am a translator!

Offline
Joined: 02/25/2010

Think Penguin has a few laptop models that it claims are fully compatible with free software. They even offer Trisquel preinstalled as an option.

http://www.thinkpenguin.com/catalog/notebook-computers

aloniv

I am a translator!

Offline
Joined: 01/11/2011

The site layout looks nice. It's just a shame that the laptops are not suitable for international users since "keyboards on desktops and laptops are limited to a US layout" according to the warranty page.
http://www.thinkpenguin.com/gnu-linux/warranty-returns

akirashinigami

I am a member!

I am a translator!

Offline
Joined: 02/25/2010

That's unfortunate; I hadn't noticed that. Perhaps they'll start offering international keyboards if enough people request it?

Chris

I am a member!

Offline
Joined: 04/23/2011

It depends. At the moment we can get different layouts for the Penguin Value although this may change again.

bitf
Offline
Joined: 10/27/2009

So I ended up snapping up a refurbished Dell Latitude E6400 on eBay. It comes with Mint, which is Ubuntu with extra blobs, but it's not big deal since I'd format the hard drive anyways. I got a good price on it but am a little worried about drivers for the wireless card. I sent it to some relatives to save on shipping and won't see it for a few weeks. I'll see what happens.

Adrian Malacoda

I am a member!

Offline
Joined: 12/26/2010

I have a Latitude D620. It has an Intel IWL wireless device, which requires nonfree firmware. AFAICT your laptop does too.

satellit
Offline
Joined: 12/16/2010

My Acer Aspire ONE n450 works perfectly with trisquel
10" Netbook /7 hr battery/250 GB HD
+wireless works

name at domain wrote:
> I have a Latitude D620. It has an Intel IWL wireless device, which
> requires nonfree firmware. AFAICT your laptop does too.
>

nle
nle
Offline
Joined: 01/18/2011

I just got a Thinkpad T420 from Los Alamos Computers today. The
wireless card and graphics cards are both not working with Trisquel. (
They really shouldn't have let me purchase it with Trisquel
pre-installed if the PC doesn't support it.) My suggestion would be to
go to stores with a bootable usb in hand to test.

On Fri, 17 Jun 2011 06:26:36 +0200 (CEST), name at domain wrote:
> So the time has come for me to get a laptop. I was drawn to Thinkpads
> because I know they work, but was unable to find anything recent
> (new
> or used) that came sans Windows and given Lenovo's policy of not
> refunding the Windows tax I looked at other manufactures. I tried
> Dell, but they don't sell Laptops with Ubuntu anymore, I know
> someone
> who had a very bad experience with System76 and Los Alamos
> Computer's
> Thinkpads cost twice as much as comparable models with Windows. Any
> suggestions?

aloniv

I am a translator!

Offline
Joined: 01/11/2011

This is what I did when I bought the Eee PC 1001PX. The only thing that doesn't work on it is the internal microphone. I probably wouldn't have noticed it had it not been for the shared microphone and headpset port. Either way an external soundcard plus a regular microphone or a USB webcamera that has a microphone solves this issue (the internal camera is pretty poor anyway).

aloniv

I am a translator!

Offline
Joined: 01/11/2011

I actually managed to get the internal microphone working on 4.0 (it works out of the box on 5.0). I updated the h-node page with the details:
http://www.h-node.com/notebooks/view/en/210/EeePC-1001PX/1/1/undef/undef/undef/undef/undef/undef/undef

Adrian Malacoda

I am a member!

Offline
Joined: 12/26/2010

My last laptop was an Acer, and it had no problems whatsoever with the libre kernel. Some companies (e.g. Intel, Broadcom) are more hostile towards device driver freedom than others. I think whatever supplier Acer uses is one of the "good" ones.

grvrulz
Offline
Joined: 09/23/2010

All Acer laptops nowadays have Atheros WLAN which works perfectly with free software. I got mine a little early so i got an Intel instead :(