Laptop dead, suggestions?

[James O'Gorman]

Andrew Elmore wrote:
> On Mon, May 15, 2006 at 10:48:59AM -0600, Warner Losh wrote:
>> So, I'm in the market for a new laptop.  Unless someone is donating me
>> a decent one, I'd like it to have the following characteristics:
>> 	>= 1GHz speed
>> 	>= 512MB RAM
>> 	>= 40GB hard disk
>> 	Excellent battery life
>> 	light weight (< 4 pounds?)
>> 	decent scren
>> 	well constructed
>> 	PC Card slot
>> 	ExpressCard slot
>> 	SD card slot (with the standard SD host interface)
>> 	builtin wireless
>>
>> Does anybody have any recommendations?
> 
> I have had good experiences with IBM/Lenovo Thinkpads, having owned
> several over the last ten years.  Most of mine have been the desktop
> replacement variety (except for two, a Z50 supercompact which ran
> NetBSD/hpcmips, and a previously used 560), but the Thinkpad X-series
> meets most of your requirements, not sure about the SD card slot or
> Express Card.

I'd second the ThinkPad vote. They're fantastic machines, although not
the cheapest. The T and X series are certainly worth a serious look, IMHO.

> The X-series are the only ones without a builtin trackpad, which may
> or may not suit your personal preference-- I find the TrackPoint red
> "eraser" pointer to be very ergonomic, and appreciate having one of the
> few laptops with three mouse buttons.

While the X-series are fantastic machines, the newest models (X60/X60s)
usually use the Intel 3945ABG card for the wireless*, which isn't much
use in FreeBSD at the moment! (See my previous posts to this list about
wireless attempts.)

James

* However there are a few models (mostly in the US I believe) that use
the Atheros card, hence the ath driver might work. YMMV.