Need help deciding on a Linux/BSD laptop

[Chaotic42]

Hi all.

I thought I'd spice things up in the forum and ask for some advice on a laptop. I currently have a Pentium III laptop that I've been using, but it's starting show signs of age and I can't really justify the cost of adding a new battery and whatnot.

Here are my plans for whatever laptop I end up with:

-Linux or BSD
-Open Office stuff
-Sage math computing (open source alternative to MATLAB and the like)
-Maybe some light PovRay, but not likely
-No gaming or graphics other than possible light photo editing in GIMP

I'm torn between two options. The first is getting a refurbished Thinkpad T60 or 61 and getting more memory, an SSD (I know they're only SATA), and a new battery. The second is buying a newer laptop for about the same cost as the above. I'm figuring under $600.

As far as I've been able to determine from reading about it, the Thinkpads are built like tanks and should give me years of problem-free computing. This would come at the cost of lower battery life and performance.

I'm leaning towards the refurb, but I wanted to see if anyone had any suggestions or points to bring up that I hadn't thought about. I'm assuming I can just take this OCZ SATA3 2.5" drive and replace the existing HDD with it in the laptop. Is this correct?

I appreciate any advice you all can give. Thanks.

 

[Paperlantern]

Personally, I would go with the refurb IBM than a lower end newer machine, especially for what you are describing. It should do wonderfully for you.

Yes, virtually ANY SSD will fit in virtually any laptop. I recently threw a 64GB Kingston SSD in a MBP from 2008 (machine I'm posting from) and it fit and worked great. The machine screams.

 

[ed29a]

Wouldn't something like this be better? Better processor and screen, and it's below your 600$ budget, plus it's brand new.

Only thing to be careful about is webcam, lan and wireless support from Linux. Generally it's good but you might find a specific card that is not driver supported on Linux.

 

[Chaotic42]

Wouldn't something like this be better? Better processor and screen, and it's below your 600$ budget, plus it's brand new.

Only thing to be careful about is webcam, lan and wireless support from Linux. Generally it's good but you might find a specific card that is not driver supported on Linux.

Interesting. The webcam I don't care about. I'll honestly probably just cover that with tape. How is the build quality on the newer Thinkpads? The older stuff seems to be legendary.

Hmm, the Edge 525 is interesting:

System components
AMD Accelerated Processor A4-3300M
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64
15.6 W HD (1366x768) Anti-Glare, Midnight Black
Integrated AMD Radeon HD 6480G
4 GB DDR3 - 1333MHz (1 DIMM)
Fingerprint Reader
720p HD Camera
500 GB Hard Disk Drive, 7200rpm
Multi Recorder Optical Drive (12.7mm)
9 cell 2.8Ah Li-Ion Battery
Country Pack North America with Line cord & 65W AC adapter
ThinkPad b/g/n
AMD Integrated


"Normally" $1200, it's $569.

 

[Chaotic42]

Ooh, now I'm looking at the X220. 18+ hour battery life? Yes, please. I'm selling my iPad 2, so I can comfortably make up the difference. Got to decide today though or the 220 goes off sale.

 

[ed29a]

Played with an X220 last week a bit, very nice laptop. Looks solid build, not flimsy as some netbooks. And the specs are very nice as well.

 

[Chaotic42]

Played with an X220 last week a bit, very nice laptop. Looks solid build, not flimsy as some netbooks. And the specs are very nice as well.

Yeah, everything I've found seems to indicate that it's a great laptop, though the power efficiency might not be that great with Linux and BSD seems to be a non-starter.

I got anxious and bit, my X220 will ship in a couple of weeks:

Core i3-2350M @ 2.3GHz
12.5" Premium HD LED backlit display (no webcam)
4GB DDR3
Fingerprint reader
320GB HDD
9 Cell battery
Carrying case

All for $886.17 with tax. Not too bad.

 

[Chaotic42]

I finally got my x220i system in and I have to say that I am really happy with it. I threw an SSD into it and it's great. Debian works, 4GB of memory is $19.99 on Amazon.com, the battery life is great... It was a great decision.

 

[Anteaus]

Played with an X220 last week a bit, very nice laptop. Looks solid build, not flimsy as some netbooks. And the specs are very nice as well.

That's because it isn't a netbook. It's a real laptop that happens to be lightweight. Netbooks by design are very cheap and usually centered around very low power atom processors. I know some people like netbooks (especially students), but I can't stand them.