Recommended Linux Laptops, suppliers? I ORDERED A DELL

[Steve Holden]

"Alex Martelli" <aleax at aleax.it> wrote in message
news:rxhca.80186$zo2.2058245 at news2.tin.it...
> Dennis Lee Bieber wrote:
>    ...
> >         Probably less than you might think. As I recall, the Latitude
line
> >         is
> > Dell's "corporate" laptop -- the one marketed to IT departments who
> > would buy lots of them in one standardized configuration. It tends to
> > be one generation behind "state of the art". For "state of the art",
> > one would look at the Dell Inspiron (which is pushed toward the home
> > consumer).
>
> Absolutely correct in terms of "state of the art" -- the "Highlights"
> of the two series start, for Inspiron, with "Emphasizes newest
> notebook technology", for Latitude, "Emphasizes durable, proven
> technology" -- very sharp contrast here.
>
>

My Latitude C810, now around a year old (and therefore running a Pentium
III, I bought a month or two before Dell started shipping P4 laptops) is
still serving me extremely well. For what it's worth, I'd recommend buying
through the small business channel - if you get a price from the web site
for a consumer-based configfuration they will often beat that by $100 when
you call, and they will always at least match the price you've developed.

Also, it's *well* worth spending the money to extend the warranty and get
the "CompleteCare" service with on-site support (in my case I seem to
remember it cost an extra $350). This has already paid off for me, as one of
my cats clawed the keyboard open in a spectacular fall, and I got a
replacement installed while I was teaching class the next day! It's an
unusual experience, to say the least, to be able to call the support number,
press two keys, and be speaking to a technical support specialist.

regards
--
Steve Holden                                  http://www.holdenweb.com/
Python Web Programming                 http://pydish.holdenweb.com/pwp/
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