[ILUG] New Laptop

[Brendan Kehoe]

> I'm looking at a Dell Inspiron 8000 as a potential new laptop for general
> use, and I have had a look at the linux on laptops page to see if there are
> any quirks etc.  One thing I couldn't see though is if the onboard Firewire,
> Networking, and modem work under linux.

Hi Phil!

On a different question than whether the kernel supports its Firewire
offering, my one warning would be its weight.  Early last year I got a Dell
Inspiron 7500, complete with its 15" screen and 25Gb disk and two long-time
batteries.  I thought it would be the perfect system for me, but over about
eight months I found that its weight was driving me nuts.  My shoulder was
getting strained if I tried to carry it, and my legs got cooked by it.  It
also seems to seriously change the overall weight once you introduce one or
both of the bay batteries, or fill one bay with the CD/Floppy unit.

The reviews I've seen of the 8000 seem to say that they've reduced the weight
a couple of pounds, down to 8-9, but that's still a little hefty for me.

It's convenient if you periodically need to bring it somewhere, ideally via
car rather than the DART.  If you envision carrying it around all over the
place and using it at a tea/coffee place regularly, you might see if there's a
smaller version with the same features that made you choose the 8000
originally.

In answer to your question regarding its use under Linux, DejaNews---er,
Google, has a nice index of a comp.os.linux.portable thread about it,
including setting up X & pcmcia support properly.

http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&safe=off&ic=1&th=ae4a9a8022e09bf0&thn=Dell+Inspiron+8000+%26+Linux&seekd=957420143#957420143

Hope this helps,
B

-- 
Brendan Kehoe

CTO, nobie.com (http://www.nobie.com/)
       -- Finally true Net marketing in .ie