High Tide Aquatics

New laptop suggestion

Gomer

Gomer

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Any suggestions of good, portable, ~$500 (preferably ubuntu stable..it's a bonus, not a requirement) laptops? I have no laptop experience so here I reach out.

...and preferably one that I can get to my doorstep by early next week (local purchase at Fry's or order from Newegg is a bonus since they are relatively convenient). I'll be out of town in the near future for a few and need to work on a paper for work.

Initially, I was looking at getting a Macbook (I like PCs but Macs are quite amazing despite the hefty price tag), but I can't see getting one noe since the release of new ones is will happen soon from what I hear.


...so now I'm looking for a standin. It will be used for non-gaming.
Internet, email, writing papers etc. Would be nice to have a CD drive in it so that I don't have to buy an external one since that really jacks up the net price.

For it's use, I want to run Ubuntu and the opensource suite. I do own Office, and if I need it, I guess I can use WINE (likewise for Endnote and IGOR).
 
Only way you could get a mac for under $500... ah hell nevermind on that :D
Do you want a full sized laptop, or one of those mini netbooks?

Costco has the Acer Aspire One, which comes with windows, but you can get a feel for the size and stuff at least. Order from Newegg and you can most likely get the windows free (linux installed) for $50 cheaper or so.
 
netbooks are great for traveling but man that little screen is hard to edit papers on :( They are the BEST for flying though. Even my little laptop gets closed on most flights if the person in front of me puts the seat back!
 
Yeah I brought my laptop to Maui to watch a movie on the flight, ugh that was a mistake, I couldn't even open the screen all the way, as a result I watched "The Game Plan" with The Rock... nice little Disney flick... *urf*. Well at least my laptop served a purpose to dump my camera memory every night.
 
I've been brewing over this for a while and am really tempted to get a macbook afterall. They do have the "free after rebate" ipod touch educational promo....wonder if I can get that without technically being a student anymore....

MS office, say hello to openoffice
 
IMO you're paying a premium for hardware that really isn't worth the premium. If all you're going to run is a linux app then worry about the hardware since you can't argue Windows vs OS/X or whatever the latest Mac OS is, don't pay all that extra for the fancy apple logo.
 
I run a mac in the office, a windows PC in the lab, and a Linux and windows PC at home. Mac hands down has a far superior OS :p If I went with the mac, I'd run the mac OS :)
 
I'm not going to argue OSes with you, but you mentioned wanting to run Ubuntu, so I figured you'd run that on the MacBook as well. However good luck getting in that $500 price range with a macbook unless it's used/refurbished/fell off the back of a truck yanno!

You asked for advice I gave it, if it's my choice (unbiased now) between a MacBook and a Ubuntu box, I'd go with the later because you can get much more hardware for the same price, or the same hardware and simply save a bunch of dough that can buy corals or something :)
 
If you own a mac, look into http://www.plexapp.com, awesome apps to use as a media center. IMO, if you don't need a PC for work, go with mac.
 
OK, no personal long-term experience with a Mac "yet" but I'll let you know soon. After years of holding out, mainly due to the limitations of Mac office tools, I just ordered a Macbook Pro. I'm going to pick it up Monday. I'll let you know if it makes me smile.

On the other side, if you want a laptop running Linux, why not try a used Dell with gOS? I put gOS on my 733Mhz Vaio with 256MB and it runs great. I have office, internet and a simple desktop.
 
I use a Mac Book Pro at home and a HP laptop at work. This setup works great for me because the HP fits all my work needs (Office, specialized aps, etc) and the Mac I use for personal (iLife). My problem with the Macs is that when they crash, they tend to really crash and need outsider repairs. My PCs on the otherhand, if it crashes, I reformat the drive, reinstall my backup and I'm good to go.

If it were me and I was on a budget, I'd get a simple, small laptop and a nice monitor. This would last a while and the laptop fits the travel needs while the monitor takes care of the strain on the eyes. When money is more available, I'd then get a Macbook Pro. :D
 
My vote would be a dell latitude (business class = better components) or a lenovo thinkpad. You can find deals on both all the time (fatwallet/slickdeals). I bough a latitude right before christmas for ~650 with pretty much all the bells and whistles. It even came with xp and vista (vista of course sucked).
 
iani said:
My vote would be a dell latitude (business class = better components) or a lenovo thinkpad. You can find deals on both all the time (fatwallet/slickdeals). I bough a latitude right before christmas for ~650 with pretty much all the bells and whistles. It even came with xp and vista (vista of course sucked).
Click to expand...

Reed issues Latitudes to it's employees that need them. We've had blazing great success with them. For us we can hotswap batteries, HD's,, etc. :)
 
Here's something within your budget.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834146534&nm_mc=EMC-IGNEFL060209&cm_mmc=EMC-IGNEFL060209-_-Notebooks-_-LC1A-_-34146534

We use Latitudes at work (13 D630s, 7 D520s, 5 X1s, etc.). They're pretty maintenance free (other than some batteries that had to go back due to QA issues).
 
thanks eric :) I'm going to hold off buying for another month+. I won't really NEED it till the beginning of august. who knows what sales or advances will happen between then and now.
 
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