Anyone happy with Dell-Ubuntu PC's?

George Hein · External Since: Jan 24, 2006 Posts: 13

My family has had about 10 ThinkPads, but as another is dying we 'need'
another laptop. Lenovo not as good as IBM and Dell avoiding the MS-tax
lead me to try Dell. Any experiances? Meanwhile on my main laptop,
ThinkPad-T42 with Debian I'm very happy. Been using OS/2 when it first
came out for years, then switched to Linux about 7 years ago. I do not
want to pay MS for their junk which I will not use.

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Steve Witt · External Since: Jul 06, 2007 Posts: 1

On Fri, 6 Jul 2007, George Hein wrote:

> My family has had about 10 ThinkPads, but as another is dying we 'need'
> another laptop. Lenovo not as good as IBM and Dell avoiding the MS-tax lead
> me to try Dell. Any experiances? Meanwhile on my main laptop, ThinkPad-T42
> with Debian I'm very happy. Been using OS/2 when it first came out for
> years, then switched to Linux about 7 years ago. I do not want to pay MS for
> their junk which I will not use.
>

Dell laptops seem to get a fair amount of criticism (though it seems that
someone has something bad to say about any given laptop). I've got around
10 or so Dell Inspiron 8200 laptops that we bought at work a few years
ago. These are now pretty old, but we still use them a lot. They have been
OK for the most part, but we've had problems with displays, video cards
and keyboard/touchpad. I think 2 of the 10 have been put out to pasture
due to display problems after the 3 year warrenty was up. I have a 3rd
that is starting to have display problems, but is still intermittant.
During the warrenty period, I thought that the Dell service was pretty
good. I don't have any experience with newer Dell laptops. I guess it
really depends upon how long one thinks a laptop should last.

We're replacing these with new HP Compaq nw8440 laptops that are pretty
nice, but are still too new to have any reliability experience with, but
so far so good. My work has a deal with HP so its hard to buy another
brand.

I was under the impression that Thinkpads were considered to be some of
the best laptops and I've always wanted to try one. From your comment it
seems that there was a significant drop in quality/reliability when IBM
sold the line to Lenovo.

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Bob Proulx · External Since: Jan 17, 2005 Posts: 63

Steve Witt wrote:
> I was under the impression that Thinkpads were considered to be some of
> the best laptops and I've always wanted to try one. From your comment it
> seems that there was a significant drop in quality/reliability when IBM
> sold the line to Lenovo.

I have personal experience with the T42 and T43 but not with the T60.
The T42 and T43 machines have been great and have been very compatible.
As far as I can see I don't think the T60 is significantly lower in
quality but I think there has been a small incremental drop in it.
For example the T60 keyboard I think is incrementally not as good as
the previous ones. All of the keys are now the same color whereas
before they had highlights on some keys. The same with the mouse
buttons which are all monotone and smaller in the T60 whereas before
they were larger and highlighted. That little bit of color here and
there grabs you and makes it easier to use and is a very small thing
and has an positive impact on usability in my opinion. They are all
monotone in the T60. Also the volume, mute, power, plus the special
"thinkpad" buttons have been changed to what seems to me to be a
cheaper key. I am sure they are fine but they just don't seem to be
the high quality keys that were used previously.

All of those things are things that can be gotten used to but to me
indicate a cost driven emphasis over a usability emphasis. This seems
to only be happening not all at once but as the design is changed.
Since little has changed yet overall the machine is probably just
fine. But it is possibly a trend that over time the newer machines
will be even more cost driven and have lower quality as compared to
the previous machines.

Just my opinion...

Bob

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Serge FRANCOIS · External Since: Jul 07, 2007 Posts: 2

Le samedi 7 juillet 2007 00:10, Bob Proulx a écrit :
> Steve Witt wrote:
> > I was under the impression that Thinkpads were considered to be some of
> > the best laptops and I've always wanted to try one. From your comment it
> > seems that there was a significant drop in quality/reliability when IBM
> > sold the line to Lenovo.
>
> I have personal experience with the T42 and T43 but not with the T60.
> The T42 and T43 machines have been great and have been very compatible.
> As far as I can see I don't think the T60 is significantly lower in
> quality but I think there has been a small incremental drop in it.
> For example the T60 keyboard I think is incrementally not as good as
> the previous ones. All of the keys are now the same color whereas
> before they had highlights on some keys. The same with the mouse
> buttons which are all monotone and smaller in the T60 whereas before
> they were larger and highlighted. That little bit of color here and
> there grabs you and makes it easier to use and is a very small thing
> and has an positive impact on usability in my opinion. They are all
> monotone in the T60. Also the volume, mute, power, plus the special
> "thinkpad" buttons have been changed to what seems to me to be a
> cheaper key. I am sure they are fine but they just don't seem to be
> the high quality keys that were used previously.
>
> All of those things are things that can be gotten used to but to me
> indicate a cost driven emphasis over a usability emphasis. This seems
> to only be happening not all at once but as the design is changed.
> Since little has changed yet overall the machine is probably just
> fine. But it is possibly a trend that over time the newer machines
> will be even more cost driven and have lower quality as compared to
> the previous machines.
>
> Just my opinion...
>
> Bob

Hello,

Why not try the keynux laptop or system 76 laptop ? Both use standard and good
components. And they garanti the compatibility of their laptops with Linux.
Que demander de plus ?

Here is the address : http://www.keynux.fr/default_zone/fr/html/home.php
http://www.system76.com/
The first one is in France and the second in US.

For my wife, I project to buy a keynux.

Serge.

Johannes Wiedersich · External Since: Jun 10, 2005 Posts: 73

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Serge FRANCOIS wrote:
> Why not try the keynux laptop or system 76 laptop ? Both use standard and good
> components. And they garanti the compatibility of their laptops with Linux.
> Que demander de plus ?
>
> Here is the address : http://www.keynux.fr/default_zone/fr/html/home.php
> http://www.system76.com/
> The first one is in France and the second in US.

They look expensive, if you are looking for halfway decent hardware (ie.
hard drive / CPU not more than one year old on purchase). The default
CPU for their Pangolin Value and Darter Ultra is older and less
powerfull than that of my 3.5 year old thinkpad. (Checking the US site).

I also couldn't find a classic 4x3 display and they don't even care to
mention if their display is an ugly reflecting or an anti-reflective type.

Johannes

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user · External Since: Jun 25, 2007 Posts: 5

> They look expensive, if you are looking for halfway decent hardware (ie.
> hard drive / CPU not more than one year old on purchase). The default
> CPU for their Pangolin Value and Darter Ultra is older and less
> powerfull than that of my 3.5 year old thinkpad. (Checking the US site).

> I also couldn't find a classic 4x3 display and they don't even care to
> mention if their display is an ugly reflecting or an anti-reflective type.

So they sell old notebooks with Ubuntu? And an interesting post appeared
about notebooks with Windows and Ubuntu:
http://www.devside.net/blog/dell-ubuntu-lies

--
I'm a gambler
And I'm a runner.
But you knew it
when you laid down.
I'm a picture
of ugly stories.
I'm a killer and I'm a clown.
(Alice Cooper)

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George Hein · External Since: Jan 24, 2006 Posts: 13

> So they sell old notebooks with Ubuntu? And an interesting post appeared
> about notebooks with Windows and Ubuntu:
> http://www.devside.net/blog/dell-ubuntu-lies
>
Thanks for all your input, I'll keep looking for a good laptop, probably
will stay with Thinkpads but hate that MS-tax as much as the IRS.

Meanwhile I got the ThinkPad-600 working by grabbing the clock battery
from a broken T20, splicing wires from both batteries (connectors do not
match), and plugging it in.

I also have two old broken mini-laptops, Thinkpads 240 and 240x, but
screens do not match so I just ripped screen side out of one and plugged
it in to a monitor, runs fine. Laptops are great but parts are very
incompatible. Desktop parts have similar problems although not as bad.

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Serge FRANCOIS · External Since: Jul 07, 2007 Posts: 2

Le mercredi 11 juillet 2007 09:20, ÐÐšÐ±Ð°Ñ€Ð° a Ã©critÂ :
> > They look expensive, if you are looking for halfway decent hardware (ie.
> > hard drive / CPU not more than one year old on purchase). The default
> > CPU for their Pangolin Value and Darter Ultra is older and less
> > powerfull than that of my 3.5 year old thinkpad. (Checking the US site).
> >
> >
> > I also couldn't find a classic 4x3 display and they don't even care to
> > mention if their display is an ugly reflecting or an anti-reflective
> > type.
>
> So they sell old notebooks with Ubuntu? And an interesting post appeared
> about notebooks with Windows and Ubuntu:
> http://www.devside.net/blog/dell-ubuntu-lies
>
> --
> I'm a gambler
> And I'm a runner.
> But you knew it
> when you laid down.
> I'm a picture
> of ugly stories.
> I'm a killer and I'm a clown.
> (Alice Cooper)

I have bougth an Ymax DN (17") with this specifications :

Chipset Intel 945GM + ICH7-M - Technologie
PCI-Express - Bus principal (FSB) basse consommation Ã 667 MHz

Intel Core 2 Duo T5600 - 1.83 GHz (Merom - 2 Mo cache L2 - Bus 667 MHz -
Technologie SpeedStep)
Screen 17" WSXGA 1440 X 900 TFT (technologie Glare-type SmartView)
1024 Mo SO-DIMM RAM DDR-2 / 667 MHz.
ContrÃ´leur video ATI Radeon Mobility X1600 Ã 256 Mo DDR VRAM.
HD : 100 Go - 7200 tr/mn - Cache 8 Mo - SATA 150
Writer : DVD-RAM Label-Flash Bi-layer Dual-mode + RW /-RW / CD-RW.

- Support PCI-Express x16
- Support double affichage (deux Ã©crans en
parallÃ¨le) - RÃ©solution max. 2048x1536 (couleurs vraies)
- AccÃ©lÃ©rateur graphique 2D/3D Ã 128 bits, dÃ©codage
MPEG I & II, DVD-playback + compensation de mouvement
- Sortie TV / S-VidÃ©o (PAL/NTSC) + sortie VGA
rÃ©solution max. 2048x1536
- ContrÃ´leur audio 3D-Full duplex S/PDIF Dolby 5.1 CH,
compatible SoundBlaster Pro & AC97 v2.2 - 6 canaux virtuels
- 2 haut-parleurs stÃ©rÃ©o intÃ©grÃ©s
- RÃ©seau sans fil intÃ©grÃ© Intel PRO 3945 ABG -
802.11a/b/g Ã 54 Mbps
- Fonctions wake-on-LAN, wake-on-modem et wake-on-RTC.
- Lecteur multicarte 5-en-1 intÃ©grÃ© (Formats MS / MS
Pro / SD / SD-IO / MMC)
- TouchPad avec Track Point et touche de dÃ©filement
(scrolling).
- Batterie smart Li-ion 6 cellules - 6600 mAh -
Autonomie : jusqu'Ã 2h30
- Dimensions : 393 x 281 x 26/34 mm (Largeur x
Profondeur x Hauteur) - Poids : 3.7 kg avec la batterie 6-cellules
- Garantie : 2 ans piÃ¨ces et main d'Å“uvre, sauf Ã©cran
(1 an) et batterie (6 mois)
- 3 ans de garantie sur processeur, disque(s) dur(s)
et mÃ©moire(s) RAM
Sortie TV / S-VidÃ©o (PAL/NTSC) rÃ©solution max.
1024x768 + sortie DVI / VGA rÃ©solution max. 2048x1536
Ports d'EntrÃ©es/Sorties Â·Â· 4 ports USB 2.0 (Taux de transfert jusqu'Ã 480
Mbps) Â·Â· 1 mini port FireWire IEEE 1394 (Jusqu'Ã 400 Mbps)
Â·Â· 1 entrÃ©e micro, 1 sortie casque
Â·Â· 1 sortie audio numÃ©rique S/PDIF 5.1
Â·Â· 1 sortie TV / S-VidÃ©o (PAL/NTSC)
Â·Â· 1 sortie VGA rÃ©solution max. 2048x1536 (couleurs vraies)
Â·Â· 1 port Express Card 54(34)
Â·Â· 1 entrÃ©e Ligne (Line-in)
Â·Â· 1 connecteur RJ45 pour LAN, 1 connecteur RJ11
pour Modem Â·Â· Lecteur multicarte (MS/MS Pro/SD/SD-IO/MMC)
Â·Â· 1 connecteur pour antivol KensingtonÂ®
The distro is mandriva spring 2007.

It doesn't seem's too old and neither the price too high. In Dell we have
something equivalent for 1150 â‚¬, but with only 1 year of waranti against 2
years and 3 years for processor, memory and hard disk. And I'm not shure the
harward is so good as Keynux's.
We don't buy a latop for only few months.

For the 4x3 display, we all suffer of the dictatorship of the fashion. Even
for the factories who built the laptor, they don't find any more 4x3 display.

But any one mad his choice. The important is to have the good informations.

Serge Francois.

Stefan Monnier · External Since: Mar 31, 2005 Posts: 79

> Both Dell and Lenovo offer laptops with anti-reflective 4x3 display, IIRC.

They definitely seem to be on the way out.
The wonderful 14" 1400x1050 that used to be the "ideal T series config" has
apparently disappeared in T61 where you get stuck with a 14" 1440x900.

Stefan

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Johannes Wiedersich · External Since: Jun 10, 2005 Posts: 73

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Stefan Monnier wrote:
>> Both Dell and Lenovo offer laptops with anti-reflective 4x3 display, IIRC.
>
> They definitely seem to be on the way out.
> The wonderful 14" 1400x1050 that used to be the "ideal T series config" has
> apparently disappeared in T61 where you get stuck with a 14" 1440x900.

I'm not sure, if they are on the way out, but at least on their German
site, there are a few options (some marked as "new") with a 1400x1050
display (my favourite as well, though on a R51).

German site (unfortunately, the US site doesn't work with my
Iceweasel/Konqueror):

http://www5.pc.ibm.com/de/products.nsf/$wwwPartNumLookup/_UI026GE?OpenDocument

HTH,

Johannes
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Stefan Monnier · External Since: Mar 31, 2005 Posts: 79

>>> Both Dell and Lenovo offer laptops with anti-reflective 4x3 display, IIRC.
>>
>> They definitely seem to be on the way out. The wonderful 14" 1400x1050
>> that used to be the "ideal T series config" has apparently disappeared in
>> T61 where you get stuck with a 14" 1440x900.

> I'm not sure, if they are on the way out, but at least on their German
> site, there are a few options (some marked as "new") with a 1400x1050
> display (my favourite as well, though on a R51).

Hmm... so maybe there's some hope,

Stefan

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