8

Instead of asking the question, "What laptop make/model is good to use with Ubuntu?", I was wondering if focusing on the characteristics of a laptop would be helpful. Things I am wondering about are along the lines of:

  • ATI vs nVidea vs "it doesn't matter"
  • wireless specs to look for or avoid
  • display specs to look for or avoid
  • audio specs to look for or avoid etc.

Thoughts?

Thanks!

JanC
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user4888
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3 Answers3

6

You can have a look in this site it has Ubuntu-certified hardware for Laptops, Desktops, Servers and Netbooks

user68186
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hhlp
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5

Look for

  • Intel video
  • Intel wireless

Avoid

  • Intel GMA500 (aka Poulsbo)
  • Broadcom wireless
  • certain Realtek wireless chips are problematic, I've heard

I can't imagine display specs having anything to do with compatibility.

Audio is generally fine too, except bleeding-edge latest hardware may have problems (e.g. headphones jack not disabling internal speakers). Those generally get fixed in the next release, or you may hope to find a backported fix in the -updates repository sooner.

Marius Gedminas
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  • Also avoid laptops that have both the intel and amd/nvidia graphics. switching is an absolute nightmare!! – gontadu Jan 12 '11 at 09:41
0

From what I have been reading on AU, you should avoid ATi. Their support has increased, and is better that before, its not comparable to nVidia. The newer ATi HW is good, though. Avoid Broadcom wireless, you might get it working wwith tweaks, but no sooner do you install something thats related to wi-fi drivers you will break it. eg: Installign Dropbox's proprietary daemon will cause the drivers to fail.

Hope that helps, happy hunting.

theTuxRacer
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