Hatrack River Forum: linux compatible laptop?

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Posted by Dav (Member # 8217) on :

I'd like to buy a laptop and set it up to dual boot with Windows/Linux. Has anyone out there bought a laptop recently and tried Linux on it, and found compatibility to be good/bad/indifferent?

The basic hardware support is crucial: decent video support, wired networking (ethernet), sound, dvd/cd-drive.

I'd also really like wireless networking on linux, though I could get by without it if necessary.

I already have had my desktop PC dual booting Windows/Linux for about 2 years now, and it works pretty well for me. But now I'd like to have a laptop too for when I go on trips, and I don't want to miss out on fiddling with Linux when I'm on vacation [Smile]

PS: If I'm really ambitious, I may even try doing a tri-boot configuration with BSD as well.

Posted by ricree101 (Member # 7749) on :

From my understanding, wirelss might be one of your biggest compatibility issues. Most cards don't have native linux drivers, and my experiences with driver wrappers have been less than good. I don't know for sure about the other areas, but when I put it on my desktop there was no problem. I did have to download libdvdcss to get dvd playback, but the install was fairly painless.

Posted by human_2.0 (Member # 6006) on :

Get a MacBook. Quad boot it. Ok, I don't think they boot Windows yet, but...

Posted by dantesparadigm (Member # 8756) on :

I almost bought a MacBook Pro but I went with the 12" PowerBook instead because it was less expensive and well proven. I'm a recent convert to the wonderful world of Apple and I haven't looked back since.