which 17" should I get for Linux compatibility?

Hi all,

First off, I love Linux. Debian is my current distro, but there have been many others.

second, I need your help on which 17" laptop to buy for best Linux compat.

I'm looking at the lower priced 17"ers such as the dell vostro 1700 (c2d) and the new hp dv9500z (turion 64x2) are there any other as good or better 17" laptops in this price range of $900-1300?

with amd now saying they're going to provide better support and drivers for amd cpus and ati products, perhaps there is no longer anything to worry about?

Does Linux have any problems displaying on WUXGA screens at 1920x1200 res.?

equally compat with turion 64x2 and c2d?

can Linux utilize an HDMI port to display to an HD TV?

can it use 802.11n yet?

if I get an 802.11n card, will Linux run the Dell 11n card or do I have to pay more for the intel 11n card?

I don't mind buying a computer with windows, I will probably dual boot anyway. other people in the family need windows, I rarely use it except to help them fix it.

the vostro only comes with a 5400rpm drive so I plan on installing a 2nd 7200rpm drive as a primary drive. The new ssd drive will have to wait till they drop into my price world.

does Linux have anything similar to vista's turbopower, cache on a mem stick thingy? posts I've read seem to say it's a good speed booster. I wonder if it operates as extra swap memory or what. perhaps it's not even necessary under Linux.

Thanks, contemplate

 

I've been running linux on dell precision M90 17" WUXGA core duo for a year now. Runs great, compiz works.
It may be worth it to get the intel wireless card, as ther are linux drivers for it.

 

I don't have a 17" but I can shed some light on some of your questions.

I had an ATI card for the past 3 years until I recently changed laptops and got an nVidia card. It is great that AMD says it is going to provide better support for the ATI cards but I'd still stay away from ATI until it acts on its promise. Words are cheap. What really counts is action.

I can only partially answer your questions here. I have a 4965agn card in my laptop. The drivers are still being heavily developed so things are not perfect but it does work for all the tasks I have. I have used the card with the g protocol but not n.

You can certainly put a swap file on a USB memory stick in Linux. If you are talking about Robson (aka Turbo Memory), my opinion is that it is not worth it. You'll always be happier with more RAM than with Robson. I'm not going to go into the details of why I think that because the topic has been debated to death in these forums already. Do a search if you want details.

I do not know anyone who is using Robson in Linux. There's been a lot of speculation about whether it would be supported or not but nothing concrete has ever come up.