[olug] Laptop suggestions

[Rob Townley]

Consider getting a few used commercial grade laptops / TabletPCs for the
family.  Historically, commercial grades are much sturdier, cheaper and
easier to upgrade and are produced in greater numbers than consumer grade.
Most importantly, they are often on the hardware compatibility lists of
major software vendors such as RedHat <https://hardware.redhat.com/Laptop>and
Microsoft which not only provides base line vetting of hardware and device
drivers, but also makes it easier to optimize performance.    2010 is
nothing, we still get a great deal of use out of a HP TabletPC from 2006.
I would look at a local vendor such as 2nd-Byte.com
https://2nd-byte.com/collections/all

https://2nd-byte.com/collections/all
https://hardware.redhat.com/Laptop

On Tue, Oct 24, 2017 at 11:03 PM, aric at omahax.com <aric at omahax.com> wrote:

> I suggest a few things
> 1.  Intel Kaby Lake R 8th Gen i5 or i7 U series CPU they are quad core,
> have high clock rates and use much less power then the previous generation.
> 2.  Dual Channel Memory  Some "ultra books" come with only one DIMM slot.
> Many come with 2 and often only have only one slot populated, this is
> ideal, after market RAM is cheap, just add a stick and double your memory
> capasity and bandwidth.
> 3.  M.2 PCI-e type SSD or atleast a slot for it.These are very fast and
> make the old SATA SSDs seem like slow spinny disks.
> The rest, screen size and resolution, auxiliary 2.5 in drive bay,
> keyboard, touchpad, decrete GPUs, is all subjective to personal preference
> and needs.
> ....Ideally you want one that doesn't require a hair dryer and a spudger
> to get to the hard drive.
> ------ Original message------From: Craig WolfDate: Mon, Oct 23, 2017 10:26
> AMTo: Omaha Linux User Group;Cc: Subject:Re: [olug] Laptop suggestions
> Ok, I will chime in here:
> Asus is great equipment based on usage I have seen from people over the
> years.  I would go there first for a personal laptop.
> Sony/Toshiba sucks to get ANY support on if the hardware stays functioning
> in any way...won't put anyone I care about in those.
> HP/Dell business lines are pretty solid, if not a bit expensive.
> Lenovo...mixed.  Seem to have hinge problems on many models and I have seen
> that (less than 3 years tops out of them) more than once.
> Love my Macs BUT not upgradable at all.
>
> These are my opinions...your mileage may vary.
>
> Craig Wolf
> (402)990-3010
>
> Strengths: Activator, Relator, Adaptability, Learner, Achiever
>
> On Mon, Oct 23, 2017 at 9:34 AM, Matthew Goeres  wrote:
>
> > I bought a Lenovo Thinkpad T460 from the Lenovo outlet and have had
> really
> > good luck with it. The the thinkpads are very easy to upgrade. This one
> for
> > example, I paid $700 for it new, it had the higher res display, a 256G
> SSD
> > 16G of ram, and a core i7. I have since upgraded from 16G to 32G of ram
> and
> > a 1TB SSD. Running Linux Mint with several virtualbox VMs for random
> tasks.
> > Very happy with it.
> >
> > If you have any IBM thinkpad experience, they will seem sort of cheap,
> but
> > as long as your expectations are set and you understand the Lenovo
> > thinkpads aren't the indestructible tanks that the old IBM ones were
> then I
> > think you will be fine with it.
> >
> > On Mon, Oct 23, 2017 at 8:57 AM, Justin Reiners
> > wrote:
> >
> > > I have also purchased many Toshibas for family members who needed
> > laptops.
> > >
> > > Best buy open box area is very nice for deals, since you are just going
> > to
> > > wipe it anyways.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > On Oct 23, 2017 8:53 AM, "Lou Duchez"  wrote:
> > >
> > > > I've always had good luck with Toshiba laptops; I don't have any
> > specific
> > > > models in mind, but Toshiba seems like a worthy bet.
> > > >
> > > > I've had my current Toshiba laptop since late 2011, and it's still
> > > running
> > > > like a champ.  Part of it is that I treat it like a desktop -- for
> the
> > > most
> > > > part I leave it on my desk -- but in general its performance has
> > remained
> > > > solid.  I added RAM at one point, but that's it.
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > I'm starting to look at a new personal laptop to replace my aging
> > MacBook
> > > >> Pro (15" Mid-2010).
> > > >>
> > > >> As evidenced by the age of this system, I like to keep my equipment
> > for
> > > a
> > > >> long time and I will pay a bit more for an expandable and reasonably
> > > >> powerful system that I can upgrade over.  My hard top end for the
> > budget
> > > >> is
> > > >> $1800.
> > > >>
> > > >> I've heard good things about the Dell 13 XPS, but for a bit of
> savings
> > > >> (and
> > > >> throwing some support behind the Linux builders) I've also
> > investigated
> > > >> the
> > > >> System 76 "Galaga Pro".
> > > >>
> > > >> Are there any other vendors/brands/models I've overlooked that I
> > should
> > > >> investigate?
> > > >>
> > > >> Dan
> > > >>
> > > >> _______________________________________________
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