laptops w/linux

[rlk at alum.mit.edu (Robert L Krawitz)]

   From: eric <235u at comcast.net>
   Date: Sun, 26 Oct 2003 11:40:07 -0500

   hi, i wrote a note to the sales dept.s of hp and ibm telling them
   that i want to buy a laptop (both companies have some cool toys)
   but i don't want windows on it.  i'm trying to get around giving M$
   money for something i'm not going to use.  both said that they do
   not offer laptops with linux installed and that they also do not
   offer laptops with no os installed.  if i buy a laptop from them i
   have to give M$ money.  i wonder if they don't offer this because
   the market is too small or if they're in some contract where
   they're not able to sell a laptop without xp on it.  i dig ibm
   laptops and think it's pretty lame i've got to give my hard earned
   pennies to bill.  any of you think of a better way around this that
   i don't know about?  anybody sell quality laptops with
   redhat/fedora or suse installed? thanks for any pointers.  -e.

Buy a used one on eBay or the like; that way you won't be giving them
any more money.  I bought a used Dell Inspiron 8000 about 2 years ago
that way, and while I've fixed/upgraded a few things (replaced the
keyboard and hard drive, added a couple of batteries, upgraded the
processor, and will shortly be upgrading the screen) it's given me
great service.  It runs Linux just fine; suspend/resume and even
suspend to disk work better than a lot of laptops do on Windows.  I
haven't actually entirely wiped Windows off it; the BIOS flash
unfortunately requires it (and some of the BIOS upgrades have been
useful.

I'm personally quite partial toward Dell laptops; the Inspirons are
somewhat bulky and heavy and are aesthetically fairly ugly, but they
use generic components, have high screen resolutions, and have lots of
upgrade possibilities.  The 8000, 8100, and 8200 are particularly
desirable in this regard because they have a slot for a second battery
or second drive (floppy, optical, ZIP, or even a second hard drive),
and even the "fixed" drive is easy to replace.  It's also very easy to
get components on eBay.  The newer 8500 and 8600 don't have this
second slot, although they have spectacular screen resolution.

-- 
Robert Krawitz                                     <rlk at alum.mit.edu>      

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"Linux doesn't dictate how I work, I dictate how Linux works."
--Eric Crampton