# Buying NEW Pentium-M Laptop, Suggestions?

## ilovegentoo

Hey all.  I finally got Gentoo up and running successfully on my desktop pc (eMachine T2080).  I'm tickled.

Anyway, I am coming into about $1,600 toward the end of this month (March 2004) and want to buy a serious laptop.

My friends strongly recommend Pentium-M coupled with XP Pro.  But if I'm gonna drop $1,600 on a notebook then I want one that really rocks and that means one that I can install Gentoo on with little or no hassles.

I'm also a huge Unreal Tournament junkie, so video support is very high on the priority list.  So I gotta make sure it is supported under Gentoo.

Any suggestions?

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## Hypnos

Just get one with a phat graphics chipset; my ATI Radeon 7500 is insufficient for Unreal -- need at least a 9000, or an equivalent nVidia chipset.  My objet du desir might be out of your stated price range, unfortunately ...

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## cuban

I'm not sure how the ATI Radeon Mobilities are... but I just got a new IBM Thinkpad T41p. I picked it up for $1,692. It has gigabit ethernet, centrino wireless (works with NDISWRAPPER), 1.6 ghz P4 Mobile, 256 MB Ram and a 14'' screen.

It's the best laptop I've ever had and Gentoo runs great on it. There is also a very helpful thinkpad mailing list.

My $.02

Daniel

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## steel300

Intel just released open source Centrion WiFi drivers if you do decide to get the Pentium-M. Check it out here:

http://ipw2100.sourceforge.net/

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## ilovegentoo

Sounds good so far.  I am coming to realize that IBM is pretty Linux friendly.  $1,700 is slightly above my price range, but then again, I still have three weeks before I need to make my decision, so I may be able to drop a few items on eBay and round up a few extra hundred $.

If I'm gonna pay that much then I definitely wanna do my homework and make the best choice I can.  Heck, my current car, a 1991 Olds cutlass Calais, I paid $1,000 for.  So I can safely say this upcoming laptop purchase will be the biggest purchase of my life so far.

As for the ATI's, yeah a 9000 or better would be a good choice.  Tell me, do you know if they have independant video RAM or are they all shared?  I read somewhere that it is much better on a laptop if the video ram is independant from the system ram.

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## Hypnos

 *ilovegentoo wrote:*   

> Sounds good so far.  I am coming to realize that IBM is pretty Linux friendly.  $1,700 is slightly above my price range, but then again, I still have three weeks before I need to make my decision, so I may be able to drop a few items on eBay and round up a few extra hundred $.
> 
> If I'm gonna pay that much then I definitely wanna do my homework and make the best choice I can.  Heck, my current car, a 1991 Olds cutlass Calais, I paid $1,000 for.  So I can safely say this upcoming laptop purchase will be the biggest purchase of my life so far.

 

IBM is pretty Linux friendly and they make superb hardware, but you will not be saved the difficulties all laptop Linux users experience:  power management (ACPI, suspend-to-RAM, etc.), and possibly an unsupported soft modem.

[/quote]As for the ATI's, yeah a 9000 or better would be a good choice.  Tell me, do you know if they have independant video RAM or are they all shared?  I read somewhere that it is much better on a laptop if the video ram is independant from the system ram.[/quote]

Independent -- only low-performance chipsets rely on shared RAM.

PS:  I didn't know that they made the Calais into the 90s.  I drove an '86 Ciera for a while, and it was an utter piece of crap; my family had three other Oldmobiles, and they're decent. ...

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## taskara

I like Toshiba Tecra M2 or S1 laptops.. nice and light (2.2 kg) 14 and 15" screen respectively, fx5200 and ati 9200 repectively.. very nice.. centrino of course

I don't like Dell - they are chunky and plasticy and poor quality

the M2 has a lightweight magnesium alloy chasis.

not sure how much they are in the states, but here they are on the more expensive side, but hey -  I think Toshiba are the best in the quality game.. 

keep in mind Tecra are the business models - the satelite pro series are cheaper

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## ilovegentoo

 *Hypnos wrote:*   

> PS:  I didn't know that they made the Calais into the 90s.  I drove an '86 Ciera for a while, and it was an utter piece of crap; my family had three other Oldmobiles, and they're decent. ...

 

Yup, mine is the last of a dying breed.  1991.

Anyway, the remark about suspend-to-ram, etc -- I guess this means that no matter what I get there are going to be some features that simply are not supported, or at least not "well" supported in Gentoo/Linux?

I was hoping someone might pop up and say "I have X-brand laptop and every single thing in it is a jiffy to set up in Gentoo.  You're gonna love it!"

Is this a pipe (or wet) dream of mine or is there a notebook out there I can faithfully install Gentoo on without downing a bottle of Tylenol?

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## Hypnos

 *ilovegentoo wrote:*   

> Anyway, the remark about suspend-to-ram, etc -- I guess this means that no matter what I get there are going to be some features that simply are not supported, or at least not "well" supported in Gentoo/Linux?

 

You just have to do your homework -- ACPI/suspend-to-RAM seems to be the biggest headache; I don't know about the modem.

 *Quote:*   

> I was hoping someone might pop up and say "I have X-brand laptop and every single thing in it is a jiffy to set up in Gentoo.  You're gonna love it!"

 

Apparently Apple hardware is quite well-supported.

 *Quote:*   

> Is this a pipe (or wet) dream of mine or is this there a notebook out there I can faithfully install Gentoo on without downing a bottle of Tylenol?

 

Yes, but this problem exists with Linux in general, not just Gentoo -- kernel ACPI support is a work in progress, and not all device drivers (esp. graphics) behave well during suspend-to-RAM.

Nevertheless, if I were you, I'd find a way to get a Thinkpad  :Smile: 

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## ilovegentoo

 *Hypnos wrote:*   

> Nevertheless, if I were you, I'd find a way to get a Thinkpad 

 

Got any specifics/links in mind?

Preferences:  "around" $1,600, ATI Mobility 9200 or better (I'm a big time gamer), and the "basics" like TV-Out, USB 2.0 and Firewire.  And definitely a CD burner, maybe DVD burner if it falls below $1,800.

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## Hypnos

 *ilovegentoo wrote:*   

>  *Hypnos wrote:*   Nevertheless, if I were you, I'd find a way to get a Thinkpad  
> 
> Got any specifics/links in mind?
> 
> Preferences:  "around" $1,600, ATI Mobility 9200 or better (I'm a big time gamer), and the "basics" like TV-Out, USB 2.0 and Firewire.  And definitely a CD burner, maybe DVD burner if it falls below $1,800.

 

Eh, that's tough to pull of with a Thinkpad -- their strengths are battery life, durability and ergonomics, which are inimical to having the latest components and ultra-fast graphics (which are delicate and generate heat).  A Dell Inspiron 8600 might be a good compromise: it has all the features you're looking for, and will be around $1800-1900 with a DVD burner.

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## cuban

My T41p modem works great with slmdm.

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## yoda34

I have a ASUS S1N and it ROCKs with Gentoo. I am selling it at the end of this semester and buying the new ASUS with the widescreen, pent M and the ATI 9600 Mobility chipset. All seem to be well supported. After my experience with ASUS and GENTOO and it all working so well that is all I am going to buy from now on.

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## ilovegentoo

 *yoda34 wrote:*   

> I have a ASUS S1N and it ROCKs with Gentoo. All seem to be well supported. After my experience with ASUS and GENTOO and it all working so well that is all I am going to buy from now on.

 

I'm not being lazy here, but you got a link to the site for your particular notebook?  Sounds promising, especially the new one you're planning on purchasing.  What is it gonna run you?

Not only am I a big time gamer, but I'm a full-time university student myself, majoring in Bioinformatics.  If what you describe your next purchase to be is as good as you think, then I may want to pick one up myself.

UPDATE: I tried the site http://usa.asus.com and it said nothing was found under "S1N."  That is why I was curious if you have a link you could post to it or the new one you want to buy.

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## snowmoon

It's not generally availible in all parts of the world, but many MANY oem's sell it as asus or another brand name.

http://froogle.google.com/froogle?q=laptop+S1N&btnG=Search+Froogle

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## ilovegentoo

Hey, thanks for the Froogle link.  I plumb forgot about Froogle.  It's a great resource!

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## ilovegentoo

And clearcut Thinkpad suggestions in the range of $1,500 to $1,700?

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## cuban

IBM Thinkpad T41p Model number: 2379

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## Hypnos

 *cuban wrote:*   

> IBM Thinkpad T41p Model number: 2379

 

A fine business notebook, but a slow hard disk (5400 RPM), no Firewire and no DVD-burner .... I'd buy it, but I wouldn't recommend it for gaming/multimedia.

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## ilovegentoo

That was exactly what a friend of mine just said.  He said the Thinkpads are a bit pricy and really suck for playing 3D-style games such as Unreal Tournament 2004, which is very heavily graphics reliant.

What about the Dells?  I was just checking out this configuration:

http://www1.us.dell.com/content/products/features.aspx/featured_notebook1?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs

Very low base cost and some decent features for addons.  My overall conguration ran about $1,398.

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## Hypnos

 *ilovegentoo wrote:*   

> What about the Dells?  I was just checking out this configuration:
> 
> http://www1.us.dell.com/content/products/features.aspx/featured_notebook1?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs
> 
> Very low base cost and some decent features for addons.  My overall conguration ran about $1,398.

 

Slow hard disk, past generation processor, crappy LCD options, integrated crappy graphics chipset, no Firewire.

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## ilovegentoo

I've made my decision.

This is the notebook I've decided on purchasing:

http://froogle.google.com/froogle?q=Toshiba+Satellite+M30-S309

You'll notice the price range is from $1,306 and up.

Plus, here is a gem of a site about Linux support for Toshiba:

http://linux.toshiba-dme.co.jp/linux/

Any Toshiba notebook users wanna add their $0.02 worth?

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## taskara

 *ilovegentoo wrote:*   

> I've made my decision.
> 
> This is the notebook I've decided on purchasing:
> 
> http://froogle.google.com/froogle?q=Toshiba+Satellite+M30-S309
> ...

 

I love Toshiba.. as I posted above I played with the new M2 last week.. (but it doesn't look like you have them in the States yet  :Confused: ) anyway it's nice and fast, LIGHT but solid, and sexy.. has fx5200 too, but only 14" screen..

I like the Tecra series but they are normally less designed for "games and multimedia" and more exe than the cheaper satellite series.

nice choice  :Smile: 

I heard toshiba has a 6200rpm laptop hdd or something with 12Mb cache.. oh oh please I want one of those.

I'm going to Japan in May so I'll DEFINATELY be checking laptops out!!

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## Hypnos

 *taskara wrote:*   

> I heard toshiba has a 6200rpm laptop hdd or something with 12Mb cache.. oh oh please I want one of those.

 

A number of manufacturers are offering 7200rpm drives.

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## taskara

 *Hypnos wrote:*   

>  *taskara wrote:*   I heard toshiba has a 6200rpm laptop hdd or something with 12Mb cache.. oh oh please I want one of those. 
> 
> A number of manufacturers are offering 7200rpm drives.

 

but with 12Mb cache?

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## Hypnos

 *taskara wrote:*   

>  *Hypnos wrote:*   A number of manufacturers are offering 7200rpm drives. 
> 
> but with 12Mb cache?

 

I dunno   :Razz: 

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## taskara

hehe.. yeah.. I typed 6200, but meant 7200..

can't wait to check out technology in Japan  :Very Happy: 

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## ilovegentoo

Well, the one I've chosen, the Toshiba Satellite M30-S309, comes with a 15.4" WXGA screen.  I figured the widescreen would also be kickass for both gaming and general work.

If I'm not mistaken, Unreal Tournament supports widescreen.  Never played it that way but I can imagine it would be pretty awesome.  The default for this unit is 32 megs video RAM, but for like $50 more I can up that to 64 megs.  Decent anyway.  Still checking to see if I can double that even further to 128, but unsure at the moment.

But everything else is just killer.  I downloaded the 260 page pdf manual and it has tons of neat things (at least in XP Pro) but with a little work I'm sure I can get it Gentoo-worthy.

Not bad for a $1,500 +/- notebook.

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## Hypnos

Looks like you got what you wanted -- happy fragging!

Now, if only I could get Unreal to work on my own machine; Q3A runs like a dream.

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## ilovegentoo

 *Hypnos wrote:*   

> Now, if only I could get Unreal to work on my own machine; Q3A runs like a dream.

 

What seems to be the problem with it?

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## Hypnos

 *ilovegentoo wrote:*   

>  *Hypnos wrote:*   Now, if only I could get Unreal to work on my own machine; Q3A runs like a dream. 
> 
> What seems to be the problem with it?

 

Horrible rendering artifacts under OpenGL -- like none of the polygons are getting clipped.

Actors (weapons, player models) look fine.

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