[Blackpool] A little help in finding a good laptop

[B McLellan]

My 2cents Mark, gfx chip set wise Intel are your best bet as the Intel
drivers are open source and well supported.

Dual or Quad core etc. always go for more if the budget allows. :)

I'm sure Tony will have some input on specific models and Mint as he
favours this distro and is always tinkering with bits different machines.


Rob
On Jun 4, 2012 4:14 PM, "Mark Watson" <mr_m_watson at hotmail.com> wrote:

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> Hello Guys,
>
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>
> Long time no post on the mailing list.  Been busy with a few things so
> haven’t been
> around.
>
>
>
> I am now wanting to get back into all the Linux stuff again,
> been very interested with all the new projects that have been spoken about
> on
> the list and on the BLUG pages. It has got me very excited with all the
> possibilities of what can be done with computers again.
>
>
>
> So I thought to get the most out of all the new stuff being
> worked on, I thought I would get a Linux laptop to get dabbling on.
>
>
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> So here is what my expectations would be :-
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>
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> I would like to spend about £400, cheaper is better, as long
> as there aren’t too many compromises with hardware configurations.  My old
> laptop was too sluggish and has too
> little video RAM or RAM
> to make a lot of the more exciting projects possible.
>
>
>
> I think my choice of Linux would be Mint, so base any
> suggests on that one distro.  I will
> probably try others as live versions, but as a newb I think Mint offers the
> best to get me up to speed.
>
>
>
> The biggest problem I think I am having when looking at
> laptops is finding the right graphic cards to work with Linux.  I know all
> work fine with Windows 7, but I’m
> not too sure what will work with Mint Linux.
> I remember speaking to Les a while back and he said Radeon graphics
> cards can be a bit tricky to get working correctly.  Doing some Googling
> has shown that this
> situation is still relevant even now, as the drivers aren’t as freely
> available
> as the Nvidia Linux drivers are.  Unsure what
> the situation is with the Intel HD graphic cards.  So any feedback on what
> graphics cards are truly
> 100% compatible in Mint, would be really appreciative to hear about, as
> this
> seems by biggest hurdle at this stage, in choosing the right machine.
>
>
>
> The next consideration is the processor to go for.  Got pretty confused on
> this one, as the
> choice seems to be so vast at the moment.
> Go for Intel or AMD?  Go for dual or quad processors?  Go for sandy bridge
> or go from Ivy
> bridge?  I would like a processor that
> will be powerful to do all my projects without limping to the finish line,
> or
> causing a bottleneck to what I am doing.
> Are quad processors that much better than dual processors?
>
>
>
> Other than those two factors it starts to get easy.  I think the minimum
> additional spec would be
>
>
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> * Minimum 4gb of Ram
>
> * HDMI output port
>
> * Good keyboard
>
> * Clear and vibrant screen, 720P
> would be nice, but since I don’t know much about latop resolutions a good
> resolution would be fine
>
> * USB
> 3 if possible (make it a little bit future proof)
>
> * Good mouse pad
>
> * Good quality of build
>
> * Reliable
>
>
>
>
>
> As for the configuration of my new lap top I would probably
> want a dual boot machine Windows 7 and Mint.
> I think I would like a virtual machine in Mint and run windows XP in
> there, as I prefer XP to Windows 7 at this stage.
>
>
>
> Now for my projects I want to do
>
>
>
> *    Open shot stuff….would really like to learn
> more from Jon’s tutorial he did a good while back, so a machine that can
> work
> with this, is a must, hence my desire to get the right video card
> configuration.
>
> *    Gimp…Would like to know how to use this
> well, so I can edit images and integrate stuff into Open shot video
> projects
>
> *    Audacity…so I can also integrate sound
> samples etc into the above projects too
>
> *    Programming…haven’t done a lot in the last
> few years, but have been having ideas for some programs I now wish to
> write, so
> want to get back into coding again.
> Noticed that the group was doing some Python work, which seems powerful
> and fairly accessible to the new comer.
> So I want a good machine for developing on.
>
> *    Also noticed that the Arduino and the
> Raspberry Pi have been talked about quite a bit of late, which got be
> interested in coding on them.
>
>
>
> So that is my intended project areas, for the machine.  A basic outline of
> the hardware spec I think
> I would want, and how I would like to set up my different OSs.
>
>
>
> So any feedback, links and ideas would be gratefully
> received.
>
>
>
> Sorry for such a long post…..
>
>
>
> Mark
>
>
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