Re: [LAU] buying a new laptop

On 08/31/2011 08:47 AM, Atte André Jensen wrote:
> Hi
>
> My laptop was dropped, and if it's beyond repair, I need a new one
> quickly. I would appreciate a few (preferrably hands-on experiences or)
> advices to this end, here are a few thoughts:
>
> 1) It should of course work as flawless with linux as possible (I run arch)
>
> 2) I have an edirol fa66 firewire soundcard that I'm quite happy with.
> Problem is, it seems laptops with firewire are hard to find. I could get
> an usb soundcard, but I have the feeling that it's not gonna perform as
> well (low latency, stability) as firewire, it that correct? Plus it's
> annoying to throw away (or sell) a perfectly good, stable soundcard that
> suits my needs, just because of the port type...
>
> 3) I would prefer a small (<= 13") light-weight, long-battery-life laptop.
>
> 4) I actually don't really need that much cpu power. I have a 2Ghz
> dual-core intel (T7250, whatever that means) now, that's more than
> enough. It's the first dual core I owned, and I had the feeling the two
> cores provides a snappier feeling, would others agree? Besides that I
> don't need the speed I have now.
>
> Options (I can think of):
>
> I saw a secondhand ThinkPad X61s (dual-core 1.6Ghz, 3Gb ram, 12"
> display) from a well known online shop I trust and used many times
> (bought my current laptop there). There's 6 months warrenty, and my
> general impression with ThinkPads is that they have good build quality,
> it's the only laptop I would consider buying used. It has firewire so...
>
> Go the netbook route. I'm at a loss here, all these new processors, both
> the i-series and the atom (N-series), I have no idea how well they
> perform. I tried a few from friends, and they seem fast enough. Anyone
> here making music on a netbook? This would most certainly mean I would
> have to get a usb soundcard, hmmm :-(
>
> Any inputs would be greatly appreciated :-)
>

My 2¢ if you'd buy 2nd hand: Dell D430. Bit old but it does have a
dual-core CPU and onboard FireWire (Ricoh, but it does work afaict).
Build like a tank and relatively cheap, you can get them for €300,- with
warranty.

Best,

Jeremy
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Received on Fri Sep 2 16:15:03 2011