On Sun, Aug 02, 2009 at 06:34:49PM -0700, fred basset wrote:
I'll soon be able to spec. a new laptop for my new job. Can anyone
recommend any systems that can run the latest Debian and support all
the hardware out of the box? I prefer IBM and Dell laptops myself. It
would be great to hear from anyone who's got a perfectly working
machine.
Good luck with that. You'll need it.
Laptops are still full of proprietary hardware, and very few work
perfectly with a stock distro. Your best bet is to find a maker that
sells one with a Linux distro, or a laptop reseller like EmperorLinux
that customizes distros for a laptop.
Dell purportedly sells a netbook with Ubuntu on it, but I haven't tried
it myself. Eee PC models vary in their support depending on model, but
most features work out of the box with Ubuntu Netbook Remix or Fedora
11; I have an Eee PC 702 that works well with both. IBM Thinkpads are
generally well-supported by major distros, but some features like
fingerprint readers may require special firmware depending on the model.