On January 27 at 08:51 EST, Wojciech Polak hastily scribbled:
> Don't buy Dell with Intel integrated graphics cards. I have Latitude
> D410 with no direct rendering (X.org 7.0 supports it but I can't install
> it).

I have a friend with the D510 and it works.  Don't generalize.  I would
suggest anyone looking at a laptop to find someone with the specific
model and find out whether stuff works.

> Kernel modules for energy saving slow down processor even if no
> deamon is installed (pure modprobe speedstep-centrino),

Centrino/Pentium-M rocks :-)

> external DVD
> recorder (USB) doesn't work with K3b on non root acount,

Most would be internal though.

> can't get to work MX1000,

Not really an issue with the laptop itself.  I've got an MX310 (clearly
not as awesome, as 310 < 1000) and it works, though it doesn't have
wireless or anything.

> internal modem doesn't work.

Most don't.  Mine works just enough to dial up; unfortunately all the
cool voice modem features don't work, so I can't turn my laptop into a
PBX.

> Yet I struggle with it with
> suicidal thoughts that I might migrate to Windows

Noooooooooo!  There's always another way, it's not worth it!  Use VMware
or something, but pleeeease!  We need all the Linux geeks we can get!
:-)

> > another laptops that work great with linux are Dell, Sony or IBM, I
> > have had all of this and I never got into tuff trouble with their
> > hardware. 

I am using an IBM laptop now (at an internship).  It's not running
Linux, but FWIW it's almost indestructible, and I hear that the
fingerprint scanner and TPM chip both work with Linux.  (It's so nice to
have a built-in crypto processor that the *user* controls!)

> > > Never buy a  Gateway , I can't get 1024x768 on mine but in XP it's
> > > ok

I know someone who has a Gateway working under Linux.  It was a while
ago so I don't remember the specifics.

> > > > I am in the near future looking to get a new laptop. I am
> > > > wanting to get a laptop that has complete linux support as much
> > > > as possible, ie even the email buttons etc. And one that has
> > > > nvidia not ati would be wonderful. Anyway, the graphics aren't
> > > > as important... anyone with any amd64 laptops please reply and
> > > > let me know how things are going....

I would look to someone that sells Linux laptops.  LinuxCertified has an
AMD64 laptop IIRC.

I would also consider that the newest Pentium M chips (the Yonah ones,
now renamed Intel Core Duo) are dual-core, and that they are quite fast.
Someone tested them against an AMD64 and they were only a little weaker,
and in fact better at some tests.

I know you said you're not interested in chipsets, but just so you know,
graphics performance has about tripled between the Intel 855GM (the
lowest end graphics they have right now--it comes with Dothan Centrinos)
and the Intel 945GM (the highest end chipset one--it comes with Yonahs).
Personally I don't play enough games to make a discrete graphics card
worth the money, so I'm happy to hear this.

<snip>

(All those signatures--augh!)

--Thomas Tuttle