# best notebook out there???

## H-Dragon

what is the very best notebook out there? 

toshiba's p10 or especially the m30 look fantastic!

is centrino really the answer???  i am going to university and there a long battery life is crucial!

what are your experiences`?

what laptop is best for me if i care about a great display (uxga or wxga), long battery life, wireless lan, it needs to be robust!!!! it will be thrown aroung a lot.... and of course... it shall not cost more than ...say... 1500Euro.

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## dulljeff

At first, the models you mentioned cost more than 1500 Euro   :Smile: 

If you want wireless lan, a great display plus a long battery life, Centrino is the way to go, I think.

I recently bought a HP Compaq nx7000 and am totally satisfied, more than that. The display is simply marvelous! Battery lasts for about 3 hours if youre not running any games. 

Robust notebooks do not really exist, I suppose, because of the components always being sensitive against shock or pressure.

So I would recommend a nx7000 or a zt3000, of course, cause it's the only experience I have got.

Another really nice feature is that the notebook is so damn silent!   :Very Happy: 

Hope I could be of help!

Greetings,

dulljeff

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## Haukkari

Hmmh, Fujitsu-Siemens Amilo D -models are quite fast and have big displays. I have Amilo D-8820 and I'm more than happy with it. :)

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## ozonator

Hmmm.  Here's what my wish list would be for laptops on which to run Linux, categorized by the different priorities a laptop purchaser might have.  Except for the 'inexpensive' priority, I'm mostly ignoring cost (your primary question is about what's best, right?).

Portability:  ThinkPad X31 -- eminently portable, very solid machine.  Yes, there are smaller laptops, but though small, like all ThinkPads this one still has an excellent keyboard.  Some very small Toshiba models, too, but I wasn't as impressed with the keyboard, nor did they seem as sturdy.

Desktop replacement:  Apple PowerBook 17" -- huge screen, beautiful design.  Surely more than 1500 Euro!   :Wink: 

Durability:  yes, genuinely robust portables exist -- the Panasonic ToughBook, of course.   :Smile:   Alas, once again, surely more than 1500 Euro.

Inexpensive, likely less than 1500 Euro:  Apple iBook G4, though the Apple wireless card for it doesn't work in Linux, and there's no PCMCIA slot.  Still, I don't know of any other inexpensive laptop that's also so small, light, and durable; plenty fast, and great battery life, too.  And, you can always use OS X, which is a fine (and surprisingly unix-y) OS.

All-around:  Apple PowerBook 15" -- best compromise between big screen and portability; a pleasure to use.  Runner-up in this category:  ThinkPad T40.

Yes, my personal tastes are reflected here, and I might have missed the mark for your particular preferences and needs; others certainly have preferences for other brands and designs.  Ultimately, though, I've found that both Apple and IBM make impressive, well-built laptops.  Sorry, too, if most of these are possibly more expensive than you had in mind, but at least the iBook should be a strong contender, in features and price, even if the added portability comes at the cost of a smaller display.  (Since the G4 iBooks were only just released, you might be able to find a discounted G3 iBook still available somewhere; they're a little bit slower, but certainly fast enough for most uses, and the Apple 802.11b airport card works perfectly in Linux.)

Final note re. Centrino:  yes, Pentium M is the way to go for a portable x86 machine.  But, note that the Intel Centrino wireless cards don't work in Linux, like some of the Broadcom-based cards.  So, if you want wireless in Linux, make sure you double-check the wireless card for Linux support.

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## hulk2nd

yes i agree with ozonator that centrinos are really the best way atm for portable x86 computers. but the centrino wireless card is working with the driverloader isn't it?

ok they are really expensive. i owned 3 different laptops in a very short period of time. the first two were a mobile p4 and mobile xp. i payed 1500 for the first, wasn't satisfied, brought it back to the store, bought the second for 1800, unhappy again and then spent 2500 for a sony centrino vaio. ok that was really really expensive but now i say that was it worth. at the university i'm very happy to own a long-life silent centrino.

greets,

hulk

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## ozonator

 *hulk2nd wrote:*   

> yes i agree with ozonator that centrinos are really the best way atm for portable x86 computers. but the centrino wireless card is working with the driverloader isn't it?

 

Right -- forgot about that.  Yes, it does appear that it should work with driverloader (the Linuxant software).  And it's from a Canadian company, too, a few hours down highway 401 from me.   :Smile: 

Just looking at their web site, I notice that driverloader clearly isn't free software in the 'free as in speech' sense, but is it free in the 'free as in beer' sense?  There's a "30-day free trial", but in a press release about it, found this:  "Linuxant is happy to provide free trial DriverLoader licenses, while discussions are under way with hardware vendors to finance development costs. Linuxant hopes that DriverLoader will remain free for end-users."  Is there any more information than that available regarding long term availability and/or cost?

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## gilesjuk

I'm happy with my Fujitsu Siemens C1020 for the low cost I paid for it (£588 UK). It's not Centrino etc.. so the battery life will be about 2 hours but I don't really intend to run on battery much anyway.

All the hardware in this particular laptop works with Linux.

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## dc2rpt

Hi 

 *H-Dragon wrote:*   

> what is the very best notebook out there? 
> 
> what laptop is best for me if i care about a great display (uxga or wxga), long battery life, wireless lan, it needs to be robust!!!! it will be thrown aroung a lot.... and of course... it shall not cost more than ...say... 1500Euro.

 

In Germay Toshiba sells a Satellilte 5200-903, who's last price was about 1500 Euros. The CPU is not a Centrino/Pentium-M, but a Pentium 4M. But the Battery is hudge (about 6Ah), so it runs about real 3 hours. Wireless Lan is not inclued, but it has a miniPCI-Slot and integrated Antennas vor 2 and 5Ghz, so you can easily by a common miniPCI-Module. Bluetooth is includet, a DVD-Writer, a 1400x1050-Display and so on... Realy a nice Notebook.

cu Thomas

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