Linux Format forums

[Gordon]

I'm considering buying a laptop from PC World. Could anyone recommend one which they sell which will work well with Linux?
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Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent

[shifty_ben]

This comment may seem terribly unhelpful, but trust me in a few months time if you don't listen to it you will likely wish you had.

_dont_ buy from PC World, I bought a rather nice PC from there, got home (after some problems instore I might add) off comes XP, on goes Linux Hard drive died within months (and no i didn't accidentally break it with hdparm ) so I contacted them and said my HD's died, got receipt etc. Like a tit I said the fact I put Linux on there doesn't effect my warranty does it?
Moral of the story is, if you do buy from them and it breaks don't tell them you put Linux on there, especially if its something like the hard drive - because with a bust hard drive they would never know - Most laptops are fairy well supported, if you see something by IBM then its probably your best bet although i have heard that Toshiba are quite well supported. If your not sure then your best bet is too look at the demo one, use the windows device manager to make a note of all the hardware in it, come home and google the night away before going back the next day and buying it (if the hardwares supported of course )

Incidentally if you do get one and find that it needs a bit of tweaking, i have found a good cure for that I-can't-be-bothered feeling. Wipe the harddrive and put W2k on there, by the time you have finished installing your anti-spyware and anti-virus tools et al not to mention office etc. you find yourself much much more motivated
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[spottedcat]

Have a look at: http://www.linuxemporium.co.uk/
Under Hardware, they list the IBM laptops they supply, preloaded with Linux.
I've noticed that these people do the same IBMs (with Windows, of course ) cheaper.

The wireless cards the linuxemporium sells have the Ralink chipset which I've only been able to configure under WEP in Linux. My Sony Vaio (bought in Currys, actually) has the Intel Centrino thingummy, and WPA works fine with this with SuSE 10.0. As does most of the rest. If you're considering a Sony (they're expensive), I'll give you more details.

Edit: Oh, btw, I've read (but can't confirm) that it's best to avoid ATI graphics chipsets in laptops. My only experience is with a desktop with an ATI AGP card. OK-ish, but the desktop fonts looked nasty. Changed it for an NVidia - instant improvement. My Sony laptop has the Intel 915GM graphics chipset and this looks fine.

[nelz]

I didn't buy mine from PC World, although they were nice enough to let me play with one before buying elsewhere , but my iBook G4 works very nicely with Linux, now there are OSS drivers for the built in wireless.
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Unix is user-friendly. It's just very selective about who it's friends are.

[spottedcat]

...and I've heard that the IBM-chipped iBooks are being sold at a discount (in the Apple shop?) in anticipation of the new Mactel ones.

[Gordon]

Thanks folks. My idea is to also get an external USB hard drive as well and put linux on that so if anything goes wrong PC World won't know
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Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent

[towy71]

I would not buy anything from PCworld because, corporately, they seem positively against the free software movement, although I know of Linux users working in stores.
I honestly think you could buy better computers cheaper elsewhere.
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still looking for that door into summer

[Nisky]

Consumer law mean PCworld will have to replace your hard drive under warrenty as it's faulty. Do not take their first response quote the sale of goods act. It like Dixons selling you a washing machine and saying they won't replace it under warrenty because only white washes are supported!

[shifty_ben]

Without a doubt its not technically legal for them to say that, but that won't generally stop them. They seem to see changing the operating system as a major change.
Thats why I always build my own (PCs not Laptops) its just so much less hassle

[spottedcat]

[towy71]