[Blackpool] A little help in finding a good laptop

Tue Jun 5 11:00:45 UTC 2012

Hi Mark, long time no see, thanks for the postcard.

My responses are in-line with your questions. Indented with >>

Thanks
Les

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

>
>
>
>
>
> Hello Guys,
>
>
>
> 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.
>
>
>
> So here is what my expectations would be :-
>
>
>
> 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.
>
>  >> Tony is, as Rob said, the expert on Mint, but the underlying base is
> Debian / Ubuntu, so anything that works well for those distros, will work
> well with Mint.
>
> 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.
>
> >> I would say, in order of preference, I would consider the following for
> graphics.
>
   >> Nvidia - The latest drivers, both free (Nouveau) and non-free, are
well supported across Mint, and anything that is Tegra based will play
1080p     >> video without burdening the CPU.
   >> Intel - Not as powerful as Nvidia chips, but has the best level
of compatibility.
   >>AMD / Radeon - Does work with Mint (I tested it recently) but really
poor support when compared to the previous two. Avoid unless you get a >>
bargain.

> 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?
>
>  >> I would go for Intel, Core2 Quad minimum, preferably Core i5 to give
> you plenty of horsepower for the coming years. You can get i5 machines in
> your budget, but make sure you can upgrade the RAM past 4GB, as that is now
> the average. And as you say, USB3 would be a good investment.
>
> Other than those two factors it starts to get easy.  I think the minimum
> additional spec would be
>
>
>
> * 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.
>
>  >> Make sure that the machine you buy has hardware support for
> virtualisation, this makes running a virtual machine alot easier, and
> quicker. The list of CPUs are here
>
http://ark.intel.com/Products/VirtualizationTechnology

>
> 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.
>
> >> Jon and I discussed running a follow up session in the future, we're
both very enthused about OpenShot.

> *    Gimp…Would like to know how to use this
> well, so I can edit images and integrate stuff into Open shot video
> projects
>

>> And with the latest version (2.8) we can all have a look at what this
new version can do.

>
> *    Audacity…so I can also integrate sound
> samples etc into the above projects too
>
> >> Well we are now the new team behind the Ubuntu Fullcircle podcast, so
we can all do with learning a few skills in Audacity.

> *    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.
>
> >> Jon has run a very successful series of Python masterclasses, and I'm
sure we can quickly bring you up to speed.

> *    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.
>
> >> Both the Arduino and RaspberryPi have been great successes at the LUG,
with Mike running a large LED matrix from an Arduino, and my attempts at
creating a working media centre via a RaspberryPi.

>
> 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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>

-- 
*Les Pounder*
http://about.me/lespounder
@biglesp on identi.ca & twitter