Suggestions on notebook

[gaf at blu.org (Jerry Feldman)]

On Sun, 5 Mar 2006 09:57:02 -0500
"James Kramer" <kramerjm at gmail.com> wrote:

> Thanks for the information.  I will help to focus my research efforts. I can
> take a little time to decide, but my Tohsiba Tecra 8100 has lost a key and
> it is becoming increasingly aggravating to type on it.  It appears that I
> would be happy with the HP, Compaq or IBM.  I don't do much gaming although
> I use 3D graphics for modeling so I will select the dedicated memory.  I can
> easily get by with 32 bit, but 64 bits sounds appealing to my inner geek
> side. The price of new notebooks is becoming more affordable so it should be
> fun hunting.  I am certain that soon after I make the purchase, Toshiba will
> come out with their cell processor line of notebooks using graphics drivers
> derived from Playstation 3.
Just a bit about 64-bit vs. 32-bit. 
Linux fully supports 64-bits and has for over 10 years.
On the X86-64 processors you have a fully linear memory model. 
Applications written for 32-bits will run fine, but will think they are
on a 32-bit processor. 
However, there is no guarantee that your system will be faster just
because it is 64-bits. While many applications will run faster on
64-bits, some 32-bit applications may run slower when ported to
64-bits. also note that both AMD and Intel roadmaps show that they will
be producing no 32-bit processors sometime during second quarter this
year. Make sure you check online at one of the Linux laptop sites such
as http://www.linux-laptop.net/ before you buy. Being inside HP, I know
that HP spends quite a bit of money on Linux, but they still make
computers that don't support Linux. personally, my Compaq Presario
laptops have done well and have survived a few droppings. 
Again, in your case, go for the better graphics chips and plenty of
memory.


-- 
Jerry Feldman <gaf at blu.org>
Boston Linux and Unix user group
http://www.blu.org PGP key id:C5061EA9
PGP Key fingerprint:053C 73EC 3AC1 5C44 3E14 9245 FB00 3ED5 C506 1EA9
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: signature.asc
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 189 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.blu.org/pipermail/discuss/attachments/20060305/fc46068d/attachment.sig>