

Ask HN: Which Non-Macbook notebook would you recommend? - sl911

Hey All,<p>Need recommendations for a Non-Macbook notebook with these 2 chief requirements:<p>1. Longest battery uptime.
2. Excellent build quality.<p>Appreciate all the help I can get.<p>PS: I've got nothing against the Macbooks, its just that I live in LinuxLand and I'm in love with Ubuntu 10.04.
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sajid
Lenovo Thinkpad X series:

<http://shop.lenovo.com/us/notebooks/thinkpad/x-series>

Superb build quality, ultraportable (< 3 lbs), long battery life (up to
11hrs).

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someone_here
Be careful with video drivers... some of them are incompatible with Linux due
to custom tweaks (such as 50hz monitors)

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yosh
<http://www.thinkwiki.org/> is a good resource for figuring out Linux
compatibility.

I also recommend Thinkpads. The T and W series are good too.

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DanBlake
Sony Z series.

13 inch laptop // dual SSD's // Gaming graphics card // 1080P resolution (wow-
in a 13) // 11 hours battery life // .75 inches thick (iirc)

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profquail
I'm planning on getting one of these as soon as I can get a US-model,
configurable one with the 1920x1080 screen (it's currently only available with
the 1600x900 screen). Looks like an awesome dev laptop!

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pogos
I'm in the same position as you, looking for a good linux laptop. Haven't
found one yet.

I had a chance to play with Thinkpad t410 and x201 and I have to say they
weren't as good as I expected. There was very strange whining noise emitting
from the cpu area and displays were just awful. I heard that the noise problem
persists with newer Core i3/i5/i7 Thinkpads.

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docgnome
I've always found Dell to have decent hardware at a reasonable price. They
also have an N series which comes with FreeDOS so you don't have to pay the
extra MS tax.

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someone_here
I have heard good things about System76:

<http://www.system76.com/index.php?cPath=28>

A bit pricey, but apparently superb build quality.

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aj
Not updated configuration options though. Core i series not available yet (for
the ultra thin ones)

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pellicle
Haven't yet used them, but these guys <http://laclinux.com/gnu/Laptop> sell
and support Lenovo Thinkpads with GNU/Linux installed and swear by them.

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aohtsab
Also looking for a Linux laptop.

Any recommendations/feedback for ASUS models? I'm looking into the K501D-X3
laptop.

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ecolonsmak
I have had an Asus N61JQ for the last couple of months. 300GB HD, 4GB RAM
1333mhz, Quad core i7 1.6ghz, and ATI 5730 w/ 1GB. good solid build quality,
noisy keyboard that didn't come w/ a backlight. decent system for $999. Plays
well with linux as well. I bought one of their netbook models and that's been
pretty solid as well.

