Best place to start is at the beginning...

So I need a laptop for some light web design and mostly word processing. I have a fairly beefy desktop (Core i7 2600k/16gb RAM/GTX560ti) to handle the heavy lifting.

In the past, I have sought out a budget used machine that was decently spec'd to shoehorn Ubuntu or Debian onto. This time, I want to do the opposite and shop for a new laptop mainly based on Linux compatibility with the idea that this one may not be the next in a long line of "craptops" that I have bought for similar purposes over the years.

So I come here for your thoughts. I was hoping for a 13 inch screen and under $600 (hopefully a good bit). If I go over $600 and settle on 14 inch, I can go right to system76 for an Ubuntu configured machine from the jump.

I almost bit on the HP DMZ1 special today, but it wouldn't ship for 10 days as I spec'd.

So... I ask here in the most knowledgeable laptop forum and LINUX sub-forum for your ideas.

 

With Ivy Bridge coming out at the end of the month/early next month (for dual core mobile), there should be some good closeouts coming along.

You are probably going to want a system with integrated graphics, since anything in the 13"-14" range now tends to have switchable graphics, which is a complete mess in terms of Linux support.

Besides that, the only really major thing is to try and figure out how good the BIOS/ACPI/WMI support is for a particular model. Specifically, if there is support for special hotkeys and things like backlit keyboards. Mailing lists are a good place to find info on this, but also going to the kernel source drivers/platform/x86/ directory and browsing the source can be quicker.

 

Lenovo x130e with the intel option--definitely not a craptop although it might be a little bit beefier than you would want.

 

That x130e might not be bad. It is similarly spec'd to the System76, but offers the convenience of being smaller. If the S76 came in something smaller than 14 inches, I'd have snapped it up already.

 

Found someone selling some re-purposed X60 notebooks (non-tablet) locally today. He was asking $150, and since he was a mile away, I did not haggle.

Couldn't go wrong for the price, and the non-widescreen is solid for what I plan to use this thing for (mainly writing and light surfing).

At 12.1 inches, it hits the sweet spot size wise.

It's a little long in the tooth, but for the price, it couldn't be beat. And it's a Thinkpad.

Already had an SSD and a memory upgrade in my cart, but I took the SSD out before hitting BUY. The SATA I port will inhibit much of the SSD benefit and when you factor in nearly $100 for the SSD, I am past my total acquisition cost comfort level (besides, this has a 160gb 7200 RPM drive).

Gotta love older hardware as well. Picked up a port replicator dock w/ an extra power cord for $30.

 

I am using a Lenovo ThinkPAD T400, it has a dual core processor and 2 GB RAM.

I runn it with Debian Wheezy amd kde4.

It's a cheap option for starters

 

Thinkpads rock. They hold together and they are easy to open up and modify.