The Best Laptop

[Nate Williams]

> > Wow, considering that, I had no issues other than having to use
> > OLDKERNEL to get my pcm slots working, my TP600X runs 4.9 perfectly. So
> > much for the above.
> 
> I've had three ThinkPads, including a 600E.

I've personally owned 6 different models of them, including a 750, a
755CX, a 600, a 600E, a 600X, a T21, and a T22.  All of them worked very
well under FreeBSD.  I also supposed 200 of them in the field running
various OS's (including Win95/98/NT/2K) as well as FreeBSD.  We did
stress testing on numerous laptops, and time and time again the
Stinkpads won out.  They had *FAR* *FAR* *FAR* less problems than any
other laptops I've owned, included the older NEC boxes, various Sony's
(which I consider to be absolute junk), and numerous Toshibas.  Note,
the Toshiba's were nice, but weren't nearly as usable as the Thinkpads.

> All of them had problems
> running FreeBSD.  The 600E even had problems running Windows 2000 and
> XP, even though it had a sticker on it that said "designed for
> Microsoft Windows".  Problems I've experienced include:
> 
>  - original battery dies, brand new replacement battery also dies
>    within months

Never had a problem, although mine spent about 50% of the time in the
docking station.  Every laptop I've owned or supported has had the
battery die within 12-18 months, regardless of make/manufacturer.

>  - increasingly severe trackpoint drift culminated in the trackpoint
>    being completely unusable, keyboard / trackpoint unit was replaced,
>    symptoms reappeared months later.

This (unfortunately) is a very common ThinkPad problem, which they
seemed to have finally licked in my T21.  I will admit things tended to
become a problem, so I solved this by always using an external
mouse whenever possible (not on planes obviously).

>  - BIOS detects trackpoint malfunction during POST, and refuses to
>    boot without first running complete systems diagnostic (which takes
>    about half an hour and requires a working mouse because the BIOS
>    setup / diagnostic utility is graphical rather than text-based)

I've never seen this *ever*

>  - laptop suddenly decides to suspend even though AC is plugged in;
>    upon resume, runs for 30 seconds before suspending again, etc.
>    Once this kicks in, laptop is unusable.  The only remedy I found
>    was to clear NVRAM in BIOS setup.

Never seen this.  I find this interesting as the Thinkpads refuse to go
to sleep when plugged in.  (This one of the issues I faced when
debugging the APM code).

>  - DOS / Windows utility required to select RS232 instead of IrDA,
>    because BIOS setup utility has practically no useful functionality
>    besides "select boot device" and "set boot password".

Correct, but this is a one-time affair.  There were Linux utilities to
do this, but no-one ever took the time to port them to FreeBSD, as it
was a non-issue for most bocks.

> > And considering the troubles I have had with office based Dell
> > Brickbooks (at 9 pounds or so, they are not really portable) Inspirons
> > and Latitudes, I would not use them if I could do otherwise.
> 
> That's disingenious.  Both IBM and Dell have a variety of models, some
> designed for performance and others designed for low weight.

Lumping all IBM's as bad because *YOU* had a bad model is no worse.  My
experience is quite the opposite of yours, and given the # of FreeBSD
committers who have had good luck with the Thinkpads, I'd say that it
was even out-of-the-orginaary.

Now, as of the Internet meltdown I've not owned a laptop, so my
experiences with newer models is nil.  However, if I were to buy another
laptop today, I would *seriously* look at buying an older model T2X
series, since:
1) I don't make the big $$ anymore
2) I know they work well w/FreeBSD
3) I've had great experience with ThinkPads and IBM support

I can't speak to any long-term ownership issues with Dell's, although
what experience I had with them made me love the light weight and
keyboard 'feel' of the Thinkpad which I find vastly superior to any
other laptop I've used.

Then again, Warner like's his Sony, and I wouldnt' touch one with a
ten-foot pole.



Nate