[techtalk] laptops

[Nicole Zimmerman]

Lighthouse Keeper in the Desert Sun wrote:
> 
> I'm looking into buying a laptop.  So far I've looked at Dell and Sony.
> I'd consider a powerbook, if I knew I could get software for it (linux,
> that is.)  Does anyone know of companies that sell laptops with linux
> installed?  I don't want to have to pay for more miscrosoft if I  don't
> have to.  I've set an upper limit around $2000 (US).
> Thanks

You'd probably be hard pressed to find a recent (g3) powerbook for less
than $2000, unless you're thinking iBook. Ours (g3 333) was right around
$3000 with academic discount and slight modifications (more RAM, bigger
hard drive, etc). Putting linux on it is an adventure, but not nearly
impossible. The screen is huge, the sucker is fast, and the graphics
card isn't bad (ati rage pro). No pre-installed linux (or at least it
would be very very difficult to find that way).

I don't know of any PC companies offhand that sell laptops with linux
pre-installed (or at least no OS, which would be better than Windows if
you were just going to scrap it anyway). I thought Dell was beginning to
offer such a deal, and Dell is a pretty good company to deal with (with
very good hardware... hubby has one person in his 'domain' using one and
they have never had a problem, don't even ask about gateway). 

-nicole

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