New Laptop questions

[ienglander-ROuZJvFXBa6Vc3sceRu5cw at public.gmane.org (Englander, Irvin)]

Before you buy a new HP laptop, check it with the version of Linux that you plan to run. There have been BIOS problems with a number of HP laptops. I was unable to get Live CDs (several different distribs) to run on the laptops that our students get at school. Most crashed and froze on bootup. With some difficulty, we were able to do full installs of Fedora, but even there, there were issues and challenges along the way. I've also had problems with a recent HP desktop at home.

Currently, I'm telling my friends that I've had the least install problems with Acer machines; I'm on my way out right now to buy a new Acer netbook (11" screen with a full-sized keyboard.)


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From: discuss-bounces-mNDKBlG2WHs at public.gmane.org [discuss-bounces-mNDKBlG2WHs at public.gmane.org] On Behalf Of ref [tbs-Gb/NUjX2UK8 at public.gmane.org]
Sent: Thursday, June 18, 2009 3:33 PM
To: L-blu
Subject: New Laptop questions

Hi folks,

So my trusty workhorse of 3 years is wheezing and stumbling and yearning
for pasture. As laptops go the HP dv8000t was the best I've ever had,
and I've had a few (Starting with a side handled Amstrad in hte late
80's! ). It survived a coast-to-coast-to-coast Amtrak summer, and about
a hundred thousand air-miles. My only complaint has been the short
battery life, but then it is a desktop replacement, not an airbook.

So on to the new. After  looking around I think I will go with an HP
again, this time an HDX18t, and got a really good price on a quad core
(my new brother in law happens to work at HP!). Before I buy it, I
wanted to check and see if anyone has heard good/bad things about the
below listed CPU/graphics card components, with regard to running Linux,
specifically Ubuntu and CentOS. I did goole for a bit, but couldnt even
find mention of a linux driver for the NVidia card on their own
website ...

CPU :  Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad Processor Q9000 (2.00Ghz)
Memory : 6GB DDR3
Graphics : 1GB Nvidia GeForce GT 130M
Hard drive : 640GB 7200RPM SATA Dual Hard Drive (320GB x 2
Display : 18.4" diagonal High Definition BrightView (1920x1080p)

It also states that the Wireless card is a " Intel Next-Gen Wireless-N
Mini-card with Bluetooth" but I cannot get any other info on it, such as
model/drivers etc ....

any thoughts feed back welcome, I did look at the 'pure linux'
solutions, but nothing came close in the same price range ($1700 with
extra battery and tax and shipping included)

Richard