On Sun, 30 Jan 2005 04:33:50 +0000, Roy Schestowitz wrote:
> I am planning to purchase a Linux laptop soon. However, I have several
> concerns:
> Firstly, most vendors distribute laptops with Window$ licences regardless of
> the operating system used. In other words, you would pay the same price for
> a laptop with a free O/S.
> Secondly, few vendors appear to give a laptop with Linux /compatibly
> pre-installed/. I am not sure if HP do it; Slashdot had some harsh critique
> on that.
I asked the same thing a year ago.The best deals all include Windows, if
you dont want it, sell the CD and COA on ebay when you get it.Some shops
do sell without any OS, but,IMO, they are not the cheapest,even
without the OS.
Most laptops will be able to cope with a Linux install.I got an Advent
7031, which at the time was the best value around.I asked the salesman if
it would take a LInux install, he seemed to think it would.
It did. Mandrake 9 went on it and all was fine apart from the power
management doesnt work(ACPI).Further searching shows that this is because
of non-standard commands in the BIOS. IBMs and Sony laptops are reported
to be the best supported (perhaps because they sell the most?).
If you are worried about compatability, get a CD based distro, and boot
from it in the shop to see how it takes it.
Alan.
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