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Re: Best "new" laptop



> On Thu, Feb 01, 2001 at 05:38:56PM -0800, Heather wrote:
> >      *  video chipset that is -actually- supported by X 4.  I'm strongly
> > 	interested in moving that direction, but since my current systems
> > 	work, I'm not terribly interested in half measures or putting up
> > 	with bleeding-edge vendor bull.  Wish me luck.  I think this is
> > 	my pickiest feature request.
> Hmm, my Dell Inspiron 5000e has ATI Rage Mobility M3 16 MB (r128).
> Works rather well in XF4 (@1400x1050), although I get some weird
> "desynched" "burning" LCD screens when switching back to text mode
> in certain modes.

Ah, I know that system.  Really nice box, a bit large for me though.
They solve the sound driver for Maestro3i yet?

which modes?

Hmm, does using a kernel with framebuffer text modes fix that?  (that
should give you a proper graphic reset;  framebuffer text modes are really
graphical states.)

> And if using frame buffer on bootup, then the same weird thing happens.

Oh.  ouchy!  Is this a custom kernel?  I think you have to go in and tag 
something special in the framebuffer section for ATI cards when building it.
 
> >      *  it has to have decent onboard disk space.  ...
> > 		btw: best 9 mm drives, anyone?  criteria - well behaved, then
> > 			capacity, then price.  I might just buy one of these
> > 			and not bother with a new laptop yet.
(trimming; DELL's support is good, the drives aren't so hot.)
> My 20GB Fujitsu drive just failed on me after only 7 weeks.
> IBM drives are said to be rather "clunky", and it seems Dell has *frequent* 
> problems (... clunking [ouch], high pitched noise) with big HDDs
> (many brands, but also IBM).
> Somebody said Toshiba drives were more quiet in general, but I don't know
> much about this.

Yeesh.  I think I can settle for 12Gb then.
 
> I had my previous HDD spin down rather frequently (every 20 minutes),

Sounds like one of those things the BIOS thinks is a feature, and we usually
don't.  I'm not enough of an electrical engineer to be sure (even if you are,
and gave me details :> ) but I have the impression that keeping the platters
at bernouilli-vacuum speeds costs less power than the spinup.

> Actually I don't let the IBM spin down any more at all.

seems wise...

> In short: bigger drives seem to be VERY fragile !!!
> But OTOH the 6.4 GB IBM in my very old Acer notebook already grew
> much louder, too :-\

Well, they do get old eventually :(


* Heather Stern * star@ many places...



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