Celejar wrote: > On Thu, 10 Dec 2009 00:05:09 +1100 > Daniel Dalton <d.dalton@iinet.net.au> wrote: > >> Hi, >> >> Following is a list of laptops. I've narrowed it down to 3 and am >> considering buying one and running debian on it. How good is debian >> support on these machines? What is good, what is worth avoiding? >> I will be doing: >> programming, typing, msn, irc, web, email, music, virtual machines etc. >> >> Here is the list: >> >> 1. Acer travel mate 6293 AU$1799 >> 2. hp Compaq 6530S AU$1279 >> 3. hp Compaq 610 AU$999 > > It's really impossible for us to assess Debian compatibility in any > detail from just the companies' model names. Detailed HW specs are > essential. > > Celejar In general that is correct... I've not used any of the Acer or HP Compaq laptops. I've had HP DV6xxx series and Dell Latitude and Inspiron laptops and usually aside from the modem (if it even has one) and the wifi card everything is usually well supported. Many laptops are using the Broadcom 43xx wifi cards which work if you use the b43-fwcutter or ndiswrapper. On my Insprion I simply ordered a replacement Intel wifi and easily solved the problem. My work laptop (Dell Latitude D630) is running Ubuntu 9.10 fine with a Broadcom 4312 wifi card using the b43 driver. I would look at the tech specs for the wifi card if that's important to you. Otherwise in general the specs (processor, RAM, HDD, ethernet, display) are usually not a problem for support these days. If you're wanting to run virtual machines I would make sure you have enough RAM to support the host OS and any guests you wish to run otherwise it will begin to slow down quickly.
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