Dropsafe

by Alec Muffett

Query: Buying a Small Notebook/Sub-Notebook Computer

Dedicated Mac-head I may be, but I also occasionally mess around with at least two X86 Unix operating systems: Linux, and Solaris; this lets me mess with Gimp, Wireless Sniffing, faff around with Kernel drivers, and generally make a mess, allowing me to keep my Macs nice and clean for day-to-day use.

I have Gilles’ old Toshiba Libretto, which I am hacking around with as a motorcycling laptop; it however is woefully underpowered, which makes me wonder what its modern-day equivalent might be?

The minimal research I’ve done indicates the Thinkpad X40 might be a “goer”, but I am interested in alternatives, not least due to price.

So, I would be looking for:

  • physically small but robust
  • low power consumption / long battery life
  • linux-friendly hardware, especially 802.11[bg], and 100baseT
  • 20+Gb HD
  • 256+Mb mem
  • enough CPU to just run gnome, mozilla and a few xterms
  • around 1024×768
  • preferably no-bundled-windows option, i’ll not need it

Any suggestions?

⊞

Comments

4 responses to “Query: Buying a Small Notebook/Sub-Notebook Computer”

  1. Stephen Usher
    re: Query: Buying a Small Notebook/Sub-Notebook Computer

    Have a look at Ergo Computing’s laptops. (http http://www.ergo.co.uk/Microlite3/Files/overview.html)

    They’re basically Asus laptops, small, light, magnesium alloy cases. 6 hour battery life.

    Or, if you want to spend lots of money you can go for one of their range of ruggedised laptops which they sell to the Army!

    Reply
  2. pof
    re: Query: Buying a Small Notebook/Sub-Notebook Computer

    Some suggestions of small laptops: – Latitude X300 (the one I own, linux friendly) – Toshiba R100 – Compaq EVO nc4000

    Reply
  3. stephen lau
    re: Query: Buying a Small Notebook/Sub-Notebook Computer

    Fujitsu’s Lifebook P1000 series (http webshop.fujitsupc.com/fpc/Ecommerce/buildseriesbean.do?series=P1) are Linux friendly.

    I’ll also chip in a vote for my Dell Inspiron 700m under which I’ve gotten everything running under Linux including wireless (802.11g), funky widescreen (1280×800), suspend (using swsusp), with the exception of the built in SD card reader. pretty good (5+) battery hour life too. 4.6 pounds with the extended battery.

    Reply
  4. Chris Samuel
    re: Query: Buying a Small Notebook/Sub-Notebook Computer

    > linux-friendly hardware, especially 802.11[bg], and 100baseT

    Try before you buy if you can, burn a Live CD (if you want to try the Wireless stuff go for the Auditor one linked from my website) and make sure they let you fire it up, see what dmesg says.

    For WiFi, Prism chipsets are pretty good, but have a read of http users.linpro.no/janl/hardware/wifi.html – you may find yourself buying a PCMCIA card too (if only to be able to audit 11a and 11b/g at the same time).

    good luck!

    Chris

    Reply

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