[Cialug] Laptop recommendation

[Matt]

I ended up getting an off-lease Dell Precision M6600, which I love.  
It's like they somehow managed to fit an ACTUAL COMPUTER inside of a 
laptop case.  It will even play some of my favorite 3D FPS-style games 
at good framerates and average-to-high settings (got one with the Nvidia 
Quadro 3000M GPU).  It has room for a couple of 2.5" drives plus an 
mSATA SSD, and it has 4 DIMM slots. I have run Fedora, Ubuntu, and Arch 
on it (while I was trying to decide which I wanted to deal with), and I 
was not only able to get all the hardware working, but I also managed to 
get bumblebee to handle switching between the Intel and Nvidia GPUs when 
I wanted to play a Steam game.


Unfortunately, though, the Precision line of laptops weren't ever meant 
to be "mobile" as much as being a workstation that you could fit in a 
carry-on.  It weighs a ton and isn't particularly 'aerodynamic', so if 
light and pretty are requirements in any way, it's not for you.  I have 
run into people with Linux running on the newer M6800, so it seems as 
though Dell has been good about choosing Linux-friendly hardware for 
this line.  Also, it shares a lot of hardware with the Latitude line, so 
you might have decent luck with one of those if you want something a bit 
more back-pain-friendly.

Sadly, I don't have the money to give you any advice on new laptops. :(  
Good luck in your search!

-- Matt (N0BOX)

On 11/5/2016 11:39 AM, Todd Pierce wrote:
> My HP Probook 4520s has been working out perfectly (Ubuntu 16.04 server).
> Other people have had problems with the trackpad but mine works perfectly.
> What was curious to me was that even the little SD card slot worked and
> that there were virtualization options.. at least enough to support Android
> Studio.
>
> There was that problem with the keyboard being mismapped, but as you guys
> know, that is just because I am a newbie and a retard.
>
> Yes, it is an old machine, but hey, it cost 125 bucks and it was customized
> with SSD instead of a disk.  Also nice about older machines is that when
> your drunk friend punches the screen out it only takes fifty bucks to
> repair!  (which he paid, by the way)
>
> On Fri, Nov 4, 2016 at 1:18 PM, Daniel A. Ramaley <daniel.ramaley at drake.edu>
> wrote:
>
>> What laptops are good these days for running Linux? I care more about
>> reliability and open source drivers than i do about flashiness or gaming
>> features. I wouldn't want a touchscreen, fingerprint scanner, or some of
>> the other gimmicks that some laptops come with. I would need it to have
>> virtualization extensions on the CPU. And would want a trackpad that's
>> comparable in quality to what comes with Apple hardware. Any suggestions?
>>
>> __
>> Daniel Ramaley | Server Engineer 2
>> Information Technology Services | Drake University
>> T: +1 (515) 271-4540
>> W: http://its.drake.edu/
>> _______________________________________________
>> Cialug mailing list
>> Cialug at cialug.org
>> http://cialug.org/mailman/listinfo/cialug
>>
> _______________________________________________
> Cialug mailing list
> Cialug at cialug.org
> http://cialug.org/mailman/listinfo/cialug