What laptop do you recommend?

[Norberto Meijome]

On Tue, 14 Mar 2006 08:00:31 -0800
"Kevin Oberman" <oberman at es.net> wrote:

> > Date: Tue, 14 Mar 2006 01:07:32 -0500
> > From: Parv <parv at pair.com>
> > Sender: owner-freebsd-mobile at freebsd.org
> > 
> > in message <20060314113412.3470fde5 at localhost>,
> > wrote Norberto Meijome thusly...
> > >
> > > On Mon, 13 Mar 2006 10:32:40 -0300
> > > freebsd at meijome.net wrote:
> > > 
> > > > I'm looking for a new, gruntier laptop. What laptop is known to
> > > > work WELL with freeBSD? e.g.:
> > > > 
> > > > ACPI with no problems (and as many features as possible)
> > > > PATA / SATA with no problems
> > 
> > I don't think Thinkpad has [SP]ATA things (yet).
> 
> From my T43:
> atapci0: <Intel ICH6 SATA150 controller> port
> 0x1f0-0x1f7,0x3f6,0x170-0x177,0x376,0x18c0-0x18cf at device 31.2 on
> pci0 Since the drives are still PATA, I assume it uses a SATA/PATA
> chip for the internal drives, but it may make SATA available to a
> docking station.

yeah, the T60s (available now @ my provider! ) also come with SATA
drives.

> > If you can, try to get a laptop either without a 802.11g (so that
> > you can decide which one to buy) or buy one supported by ath driver.
> > I have T42 w/ Intel 2200BG card, and it using w/ iwi driver
> > (net/iwi-firmware port).  Here, connected w/ Linksys WRT54G wireless
> > router/switch/AP, iwi interface|driver needs to be reset just about
> > every two hours (when i start getting "TKIP ICV mismatch on decrypt"
> > message.
> 
> iwi (and its kin-folk) have been betting heavy work in HEAD over the
> past week or two and, hopefully, things will improve. OTOH, I have two
> colleagues using this card with Windows and they complain that it
> locks up periodically and they have to disable and enable it to get
> it back, so this may not be just a FreeBSD thing. There is also
> fairly new firmware out (V3.0) which MAY fix some of these problems.

I have a 2200BG on this tosh A2 - some lockups, but couldn't pinpoint
it to the card (again, i've made the habit of ifconfig down before
suspend...) . No problems at all while running. 

> > > > Looking into either Intel duo Core or AMD64 chips.
> > 
> > Can't say about Thinkpad on that.
> 
> I think the only ThinkPads with Core Duo are T60s, although I'm sure
> other will follow. Don't know if Lenovo will ever go the AMD route,
> but I sure hope they do. My AMD desktop is one amazing system!

I know :) 

What about AMD64 (single or Dual core) cpus for laptops ("Turin" ? ) :
any good experiences there anyone?

> > > > >From what I've read, IBMs seem to have quite good support, so
> > > > >do DELLs
> > > > (though they seem chunkier than other laptops). I usually get
> > > > Toshiba, but I don't think they are so well supported.
> > 
> > Boy do those Toshiba's "TruBrite" screen looked amazing (in a chain
> > store). 

yeah, a colleague has a Tecra A5, bright as a CRT.

> 
> FWIW, I have been amazed at the brightness of my T43. It is MUCH
> brighter than my trusty T30.
> 
> > > What about DELL laptops? any model I should stick to?
> > 
> > People generally advise to get one from "business" line (used to be
> > "Latitude" for some time in past; don't know about the
> > present/future), not the "home" one ("Inspiron").
> > 
> > 
> > > Thinkpads are a bit pricey for me atm.
> > 
> > T4[0-3]-generation should be affordable by now, around USD1[0-2]00.
> > 
> > 
> > > (Greg Lehey i think was using dells... could well be wrong...)
> > 
> > Yes, some Dell Inspiron.
> 
> My wife has not been at all happy with her Latitude. Heavy and still
> not robust. Unpleasant keyboard and very touchy touchpad. (This is
> from her as I don't often use it.) I do love the 1600x1200 display,
> though!
> 
> For less expensive (and less powerful) ThinkPads, look at the R
> series. No Core Duos there, but they start at about $800 new. No
> touchpads (which I consider a plus), but a bit clunky compared to the
> T series. 

yeah.... i'm running the features vs numbers job atm...

Actually thinking of looking into the components of ASUS laptops, as
well as those from pioneercomputers.com.au - have heard of some great
experiences with those laptops with Linux.

BTW, thanks everyone for your help :) will keep asking questions as
needed, of course ;)

Beto