New Laptop questions

[gaf-mNDKBlG2WHs at public.gmane.org (Jerry Feldman)]

My opinion based on associations and installfests. I personally have had
good luck with HP, but they make so many models it's hard to really say
that much. As Jarod mentions, it should be ok.
Dells are ok as are Thinkpads although some people, like Rob have had
difficulty.  We've had some good luck with some Sony Vaios. Also look at
warranties. When I bought my HP laptop from eCost.com, it came with a
3-year factory warranty where Dells come with 90 days. I think that may
have changed. However, in favor of HP, they have a very large Linux
community (as does IBM), but that is almost entirely devoted to servers.
In the past, they did certify some business laptops as ready for Linux.

Stay away from Gateway. I have long experience going back to the 80s. In
2 different companies, the IT guys responsible for incoming inspection
told me that nearly every unit had some defect, and I opened one where
the secondary IDE channel was DOA.

--=20
Jerry Feldman <gaf-mNDKBlG2WHs at public.gmane.org>
Boston Linux and Unix
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