Re: [PLUG] Looking for a laptop

[Chris Hedemark <chrish@trilug.org>]

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On Sunday, May 25, 2003, at 12:34 PM, Stephen Gran wrote:

> I'm in the market for a new laptop (finally!) as my old one has become
> almost unusable.  I have about $1000 to spend, and am having a hard 
> time
> making up my mind.  I like the feel of the older Thinkpads (my old one
> is 600e), but I have no brand loyalty as such - I just like the 
> keyboard
> and the included 3 button mouse.  I don't need any of the options that
> seem to come with most laptops these days, like CD/DVD burners and
> whatnot, as I have those in another box.
>
> I am mostly looking for a dependable, quick, and light-weight box that
> has a decent screen size (>14", preferably).  Obviously playing nicely
> with linux and/or BSD is a requirement.  If anyone has any suggestions,
> I would appreciate it.  I have been looking at the Thinkpad R32, but 
> I'd
> like other opinions before taking the plunge.

Apple iBook.  Great value!  OS X is BSD flavored, or you can run BSD on 
it directly (OpenBSD is known to work, unsure about the others).  I got 
my Apple (a higher end Powerbook) with the idea that I'd probably put a 
different OS on it but I've been very happy with OS X on it.  X11 
support in OS X is finally pretty good so I think it's a very safe bet.

The only problem based on your requirements is the screen size;  For 
$1000 you're only going to get a 12" screen.  For $1500 you get the 14" 
screen (and a lot more other stuff above the $1000 model).

The things are infectious.  At my old LUG it seemed like one guy would 
get an iBook, and then another, and before you knew it there were more 
people showing up with Apple hardware at meetings than all other 
manufacturers *combined*.

- --

Chris Hedemark
UNIX / Linux / BSD / Mac OS X / Windows consulting available.  No job 
too small!
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