Laptop recommendation

[Warren Block]

On Sat, 18 Feb 2017, Sergei Akhmatdinov wrote:

>> When I bought my laptop back in 2007, I blew it -- it has a wireless
>> networking card with a Broadcom chipset that is not FOSS-friendly. Debian
>> has a work-around using proprietary firmware, but I would prefer a laptop
>> with 100% FOSS-supported hardware.
>
> Perhaps I am going off on a tangent, but most of the time you can buy
> an Aetheros card online and replace it.

Yes.  I have used replacement Atheros wireless cards in my most recent 
notebooks: Dell Latitude E7240 and E7440, small ultrabooks with Haswell 
processors and graphics.

Some vendors only allow particular wireless cards of their own choosing, 
which makes replacing the stock one with a particular chipset expensive, 
challenging, or impossible.  This includes Lenovo and HP.  If you are 
dead-set on one of those and feel lucky with their security or quality 
issues, it might be easier to use a low-profile USB wireless adapter.


The entry on the wiki for the Dell E7240 has everything I wished I could 
ask before buying it.  The E7440 is essentially the same thing with a 
14-inch screen.  Both can be had with 1920x1080 screens, which I 
strongly recommend because the lower-res screen is not IPS.

https://wiki.freebsd.org/Laptops
https://wiki.freebsd.org/Laptops/Dell_Latitude_E7240_i5-4310U