[Wylug-help] Laptop Suggestions

[Aaron Crane]

Smylers writes:
> I'm buying a new laptop.  Here are my criteria:
> 
> * The laptop it'll be replacing (a Dell Latitude X300) is just 1.4 kg,
>   which has been really convenient.  I'm not interested in anything
>   significantly heavier.

As far as I can determine, that's the most restrictive constraint,
assuming that you want the new laptop to be powerful enough to serve
as your main machine.  Any of the following might be reasonable
starting points:

  - MacBook Air, 1.36 kg, £1200+ (but no DVD or Ethernet)
    http://www.apple.com/uk/macbookair/

  - Sony Vaio SZ series, 1.7 kg, £1600+
    http://xrl.us/biaef

  - Sony Vaio TZ series, 1.2 kg, £1500+
    http://xrl.us/biaeb

  - Lenovo ThinkPad X300, 1.4 kg, £2000+
    http://xrl.us/biad9

  - Toshiba Portégé R500, 1 kg, £1200+ (or 800 g but £1800 with
    solid-state storage)
    http://xrl.us/biad7

  - Asus U series (several models, 1.0 to 1.6 kg, £1000 to £1300)
    http://uk.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=5&l2=75
    http://www.asuslaptop.co.uk/products.php?cat=59 (reseller; has prices)

For all I know Dell may offer a laptop of roughly the same weight as
your current one, but their site seems even worse than the Lenovo/IBM
one -- I can't see a weight indication more precise than "under 2 kg"
on any of their laptops.

There might be one or two manufacturers I've missed, though when I was
looking for a lightweight laptop a year or so ago, there didn't seem
to be a huge amount of competition in the powerful-but-light category.
I've been reasonably happy with my Vaio SZ, annoyed though I was to
give money to Sony.  But I don't think I'd make the same choice today;
the MacBook Air and the Asus machines look better to me.

If none of those suit, you'll probably have to look at less powerful
hardware.  That said, your tradeoffs for price/power/weight may not
match mine.

> * I want it to work with a protector (arbitrary projectors, belonging
>   to other people) when running Ubuntu.  By "work" I mean that it's
>   possible to get output on both the projector and the laptop's
>   screen.  Ideally I'd like the possibility of _different_ output on
>   each, but I'd settle for identical output -- just so long as it
>   doesn't wriggle around the screen, or only work the first time then
>   distort the next time I cycle to the external display.

I can't offer any guarantees for the current hardware revision, but my
Vaio doesn't seem to have any problems there, at least for showing the
same data on both screens.  I fear you won't be able to be completely
sure on that question unless you can find a success report from someone
using the exact laptop model that you propose to get.

>   I note that many current laptops have 'widescreen' aspect ratios,
>   whereas projectors do not.  What happens when plugging a widescreen
>   laptop into a projector?

For me, something suboptimal but not showstopping.  What I'd like is
to be able to plug an external display in and have X suddenly spread
itself over both screens, and the reverse when I unplug the external
display.

What actually happens is that you shut down all your apps, run the
Gnome "Screen and Graphics" preferences app, set the resolution to
1024×768, and restart X.  _Then_ you plug the external display in, and
that seems to work.

-- 
Aaron Crane ** http://aaroncrane.co.uk/