David A. Wheeler writes:
and I can walk home with it. And it has a faster processor. Oh, and the wireless, network, and modem are internal, so they don't use any PCI slots, in contrast to laclinux.
Bottom line: About a $600+ premium. For a no-name. Ouch.
You get what you pay for.
My no-name laptop will spank the monkey out of any name-brand laptop, as far as Linux reliability and support goes.
My experience is that name-brand hardware is utter crap. That goes for desktops too, not just laptops. I've been buying laptops and servers from independent retailers for a long time, and never had a reason to regret it. They use the exact same components that the name brands do, except that the stick to ones that are actually work in both XP and Linux. My laptop has a built-in compactflash reader. Never had a chance to use it, but as far as I can tell Linux sees it, and it has an mountable icon in Gnome.
Now, if you get some big-name Dell or HP, with a built-in flash reader, what do you think your chances are of seeing Linux even be aware that the bloody thing exists?
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