[xubuntu-users] New Laptop

[Steve Litt]

On Fri, 12 Jun 2015 20:47:54 +1000
Rob Ward <rl.ward at bigpond.com> wrote:

> I have been back at work for 6 weeks and have a bit of cash to splash,
> and I would like to ask the XUbuntu community what would be a good
> laptop to buy?
> I have been using XUbuntu for slightly over 12 months and had a very 
> good experience.
> I have a desktop, a web server, a media centre and and a laptop, all
> running XUbuntu, and do not want to return to Win7 or 8? (10 haha!)
> Any suggestions for a system that will take a seamless XUbuntu
> installation?
> 
> Location: Victoria, Australia :-)

Hi Rob,

Do they have Costco stores in Victoria, Australia?

Here in the USA, Costco is a membership warehouse store with a 90 day,
no questions asked guarantee. Their laptops are reasonably priced,
and occasionally one goes on sale and you can get a really good deal.

You buy your laptop, back up your Windows partition just in case,
install Linux. If Linux works, you keep it. If it won't work with
Linux, you bring it back for a full refund. 

To me, this is much easier than trying to research every chipset of
every model, only to find out that they changed chipsets in the middle
of a model run.

So if they have anything like Costco where you live, it's something to
think about.

By the way, depending on the situation, a used laptop might be in
order. Before buying, you can plop an Xubuntu live CD into it, boot it,
look at /proc/meminfo, look at /proc/cpuinfo, test the video, sound,
network, and wifi. When you give the guy the money, you already *know*
it works with Xubuntu.

Keep in mind that, for at least the past 4 years, it's debateable
whether laptops have progressed. In 2011, a 4GB RAM laptop cost $400.
Today it costs $400, with 8GB costing $600. About the only thing you
get today that you didn't get then is touch-screen: Show of hands: How
many would enjoy a repetitive motion injury?

Laptops of 2007-2010 were physically built much more solidly. My
experience, with a houseful of kids, is that laptops less than 4 years
old will unhinge, fall apart and break within 2 or 3 years. It keeps
getting worse: 2015 laptops are scrawny little things that I doubt
would take even one mishap. 2008 laptops keep on going: They're thicker
and stronger. Oh, and older laptops don't have secure boot.

SteveT

Steve Litt 
June 2015 featured book: The Key to Everyday Excellence
http://www.troubleshooters.com/key