[vox] New laptop

Thu Jan 10 08:42:09 PST 2013

I'm currently stuggling with the new Optimus technology on an i7 with
nVidia card (the laptop has MXM3b interchangeable graphics cards) because I
like the idea of having both intel integrated (used as default) and the
oomph of a dedicated gfx card when needed. Just be aware that most laptops
require Bumblebee ( http://bumblebee-project.org/install.html ) to even use
the nVidia card (Intel is used by default).  I think there are some lenovos
that will let you switch with bios (option to use integrated, dedicated or
optimus) though.  Bumblebee is still maturing and is functional but my
670mx is not feeling any faster than the 540m in my old laptop.  I have
hope that the situation may change, but just be aware of this when
considering a current laptop with dedicated graphics!

On Wed, Jan 9, 2013 at 4:30 PM, Ryan Northrup <northrupthebandgeek at gmail.com
> wrote:

> I've personally had very good experiences with Dell machines in terms of
> reliability, particularly laptops (my own Dell Studio 1558, which is
> currently running Linux Mint 14, Ubuntu 12.04, and Windows 7 in a
> triple-boot and still runs incredibly, even though I've had it for two
> years and it was a refurb when I got it).  My old Dell Dimension desktop
> (from the early 2000's or so) is still chugging along pretty well with
> Debian Squeeze, and my employer uses Dells for all the workstations.  Based
> on my own experiences, I'd therefore recommend Dell if that's something
> you're willing to consider.
>
> I've heard great things about System76, too, so that might be worth
> considering; the price point's a bit higher, but you're getting quite a bit
> of bang for your buck (especially that Bonobo Extreme, even at minimal
> configuration), and it comes with Ubuntu preinstalled, so it's going to be
> Linux-friendly out-of-the-box (at least, you'd think).  I'm considering
> them for my next laptop purchase, now that I'm doing things like
> development and gaming under Linux and can use the souped-up hardware.
>
>
> On Wed, Jan 9, 2013 at 3:50 PM, Daniel Nelson <packetcollision at gmail.com>wrote:
>
>> The only way I would recommend Dell laptops is with the unconditional
>> warranty for as many years as you plan to have the machine. When I had
>> Dells, that warranty was invaluable. On average I had the screen, power
>> supply, keyboard, bezel, dvd drive, and hard drive all replaced at least a
>> couple times. They ship it to you in a couple days though, so it wasn't
>> that painful.
>>
>> Still, for a great laptop experience, I can't really recommend anything
>> other than a MacBook Pro. They run UNIX, and if you want an open-source OS,
>> my understanding is that Ubuntu at least runs pretty well on them.
>>
>> --
>> Daniel Nelson
>>
>> On Wednesday, January 9, 2013 at 3:21 PM, Richard S. Crawford wrote:
>>
>> My Dell desktop has served me well for about five years at this point. No
>> sign of slowing down. Still, I probably won't go to them for a new laptop.
>>
>> My thanks to everyone who weighed in on this question. I have much to
>> ponder.
>>
>>
>> On Mon, Jan 7, 2013 at 11:11 AM, Chris Evans <axiomfinity at ymail.com>wrote:
>>
>> Dell is cheap but I think they use substandard parts
>> So you get what you pay for
>>
>>
>> Sent from my iPad
>>
>> On Jan 7, 2013, at 10:42 AM, Darth Borehd <darth.borehd at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>  Call Dell.  They have Linux laptops and no O/S laptops (actually they
>> come with freedos) available.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On 6 January 2013 10:44, jim <jim at well.com> wrote:
>>
>>
>> For the last five or so years I've bought
>> my machines from Zareason in Berkeley. I
>> like them because they thoroughly vet the
>> matches of distros and machines.
>>
>>
>> On Sun, 2013-01-06 at 17:00 +0100, Vincenzo Ampolo wrote:
>> > On 01/05/2013 11:15 PM, Richard S. Crawford wrote:
>> > > I haven't bought a new laptop in years and now I'm considering one.
>> > > Does anyone have a preferred vendor, hopefully one where I can buy a
>> > > laptop that doesn't have a certain OS pre-installed?
>> > Some dells come with ubuntu ;)
>> >
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> vox mailing list
>> vox at lists.lugod.org
>> http://lists.lugod.org/mailman/listinfo/vox
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> vox mailing list
>> vox at lists.lugod.org
>> http://lists.lugod.org/mailman/listinfo/vox
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> vox mailing list
>> vox at lists.lugod.org
>> http://lists.lugod.org/mailman/listinfo/vox
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Sláinte,
>> Richard S. Crawford (richard at underpope.com) http://www.underpope.com
>> Twitter: http://twitter.com/underpope
>> Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/underpope
>> Google+: http://gplus.to/underpope
>>  _______________________________________________
>> vox mailing list
>> vox at lists.lugod.org
>> http://lists.lugod.org/mailman/listinfo/vox
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> vox mailing list
>> vox at lists.lugod.org
>> http://lists.lugod.org/mailman/listinfo/vox
>>
>>
>
> _______________________________________________
> vox mailing list
> vox at lists.lugod.org
> http://lists.lugod.org/mailman/listinfo/vox
>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.lugod.org/pipermail/vox/attachments/20130110/ebc5b8a9/attachment.htm 