Choosing a new laptop

[mike at sharedlogic.ca]

On Thu, Jul 03, 2003 at 10:44:07AM +0930, Greg 'groggy' Lehey wrote:
> 1.  Which brand?
> 2.  Which model?

I purchased a Dell Inspiron 8200 about eleven months ago.  Here are the
specs that might interest you:

* Intel P4 1.7GHz 512K L2 cache
* BIOS revision A06 (original)
* 512M/40G
* NVIDIA GeForce4 440 Go
* Ultrasharp UXGA display
* 3c905-TX/TX-M
* Matshita CDRW/DVD
* track point and pad; two buttons

I've been tracking 4-STABLE (and dual-booting Red Hat versions) from
the start.  No problems beyond my own goofs.  I avoided upgrading the
BIOS for various reasons, and I've never had fan/heat problems that
some claim.  Dell replaced the drive for me--no hassle--five months
after purchase, when it started clunking.

> I use laptops when travelling and for presentations.  For the former I
> want long battery life and high resolution (preferably 1600x1200).

The NVIDIA card works fine with the FBSD NVIDIA port--I get 1600x1200
as advertised.

> ...
> happy to have a wide-screen model.  I also want a keyboard which I can
> remap and a touchpad which works; a third mouse button would, of
> course, be a good idea.

I've remapped some keys, but haven't tried the Fn (sorry, I don't use
it much).

Hope that's useful.

-- 
Michael J. Forster, B.Sc., Software Engineer, Shared Logic Inc.
mike @ sharedlogic.ca, www.sharedlogic.ca/mjf.html