Suggestions for laptop purchase for Fedora Core 3?

[Erik Hemdal]

> David A. Wheeler writes:
> 
> > and I can walk home with it.  And it has a faster processor.
> > Oh, and the wireless, network, and modem are internal, so they 
> > don't use any PCI slots, in contrast to laclinux.  
> > 
> > Bottom line: About a $600+ premium.  For a no-name.  Ouch.
> 

. . . .

> You get what you pay for.

. . . .

I've had good luck with Dell Inspiron and Latitude laptops running FC.  I
could mention models and numbers, but I suspect that hardware changes over
time can render any suggestion obsolete at any time.  "Good luck" includes
the following provisos:

1.  I rebuild ndiswrapper with each kernel, because of the Broadcom wireless
card.  Avoid Broadcom wireless cards (Dell TrueMobile is the brand name)
since they don't provide drivers.  I fell in this trap because I can get a
driver for a wired Broadcom card, so I figured wireless would be a cakewalk.
Not so.

2.  I don't use the modem.  Can't advise about this.  My guess is that it's
a software modem and I haven't turned over this rock yet.

3.  Stay away from any machine with shared video memory; you can't adjust
this via the BIOS.  This can cause display issues.

Most of the problems depend on what's specifically in the system, and the
cost reflects what the vendors have to do to make it all work.  I don't know
if there's any "one" laptop that just works without researching the hardware
options.  My guess is the "Linux-on-laptops" vendors have figured the
details out.

An aside, my local PC vendor charges (last I checked) about $250 - $300 to
install Linux on their hardware.  

Erik