On 07/06/07, D. Hugh Redelmeier <hugh@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
- The smallest inexpensive notebooks I found have 14" displays. The choice of 14" systems is low -- there are many more 15.4" models.
I concluded a Samsung R20 would have been perfect for me if they didn't use ATI graphics. (I'd have risked that machine with NVidia, but not ATI). The choice of cheap 14.1" laptops is pretty limited in the UK too.
- I wanted Intel-all-the-way for the reasons that have already been pointed out. I ended up getting an Acer Aspire 5570-2792 with a "Pentium Dual Core". This CPU is the confusingly-named price-reduced version of the Intel Core. I figure that it is a good mobile CPU at a bargain price. No 64-bit, no VT.
I feel the normal "64bit is only really useful if you plan to run big apps" refrain is worth remembering here, and the same for VT. That said the Core Duo is apparently basically a Pentium M, the Core 2 Duo has a bit more punch. I have a respectable enough desktop machine, so I wasn't too worried about performance and would have been quite happy with a 14.1" Core Duo machine if I could have found one at a reasonable price; the 5570-2792 is discontinued in the UK unfortunately. Instead I've gone for a Vaio C series (this particular one was fairly cheap compared to what Sony machines normally cost). These are 13.3" wide-screens which seems a nice size. If I could have had a look at the Lenovo 3000 in a shop I might have bought it (limited choice of bricks and mortar shops around here; see below), but I found most of the 15.4" machines I did look at quite bulky. What I did do was go into Dixons and ask if I could try booting one of their machines (a similar Sony) with a Live CD. The reply I got was "I can't let you do that." Since I'd already ordered the machine online (for about £200 less) and they didn't seem remotely interested in trying to sell it to me I didn't try to push it any further. (I concluded long ago that Dixons/PC World demo machines are there only to demonstrate that they can play videos. And most of the staff are only there to sell insurance.)
I've documented what I had to do to get Ubuntu going. F7 should be similar: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/LaptopTestingTeam/AcerAspire5570-2792
Excellent, I plan to do this same (though I'm keeping my fingers crossed it will work with no problems).
I think that this machine was a good choice given that price was a primary concern. I got quite a good deal (Canadian $600). I then replaced the 1 x 512M of RAM with 2 x 1G sticks for a very low price (C$80 total) -- RAM prices have crashed perhaps due to slower than expected MS Vista adoption
Even hard-discs are cheap enough now that you could consider 'fixing' a machine that was supplied with 60GB.
If the price were less important, I would have made a few different choices. I agree that 12" screen makes a notebook more portable but it usually makes it more pricey too. I actually use a cheap 10.6" one (not easy to find!).
If price was less important I'd have bought a Thinkpad R61... -- imalone
