[ubuntu-uk] Advice needed: Ubuntu on 'Notebook' or Laptop

[Matthew Daubney]

On Fri, 2009-05-22 at 13:54 +0100, LouGid39 at cromer.demon.co.uk wrote:
<snip>
> Many thanks for your prompt reply Matt:
> 

The joys of procastination from revision :)

> 1). Yes, processor-intensive work
> 
> 2). Printers:
>      (a) an oldish HP DeskJet 820Cxi
>      (b) newish EpsonStylus DX6000 (scanner+printer)
> 
> 3). I was referring to those 'notebooks' that to
>     external appearances look exactly like laptops.
>     Someone suggested they may have flash memory
>     instead of hard-drives, but I don't know if that
>     is correct, or the distinquishing feature.
> 
> 4). I wouldn't dream of trying (nor wish) to run
>     mathematica on a pocket device (I've got a
>     Nokia80 for instance) or using such a thing for
>     serious long session work (eyesight demanding).
> 
> 5.) Other hardware (hardly relevant): An Acorn RiscPC
>     (RiscOS 4.39) -- very useful for certain jobs.
> 
> 6.) Thanks for the link.  I'll take a look.

Ok, for a serious work horse you'll def want a core 2 duo or above
(shiny shiny quad cores are nice, but depends how many pennies you wish
to spend and I don't think I've ever tried mathematica over many cores).
The good news is that it appears both of your printers should "just
work" with a recent Ubuntu install. 

If this is a workhorse machine, I'd stick to the ubuntu LTS releases
unless there is a new feature you absolutley do need. These tend to be
more stable than the in between ones.  

I'd also aim for 2gb of RAM or above, again, base it on what you want to
spend and what your work requires. 

The only other thing to be a bit wary of is wireless cards. Some work
fantastically, some don't work at all. Most of the intel wireless chips
work fine, and theres a few others that do too, there's probably a list
on the ubuntu wiki somewhere (wiki.ubuntu.com).

Hope that helps,

-Matt Daubney
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