Laptop for the person who hates laptops.

Isaac · Post by **Isaac** » Wed Oct 21, 2009 7:14 am

So I go out to the store and pick out a cute little laptop that's said to be very compatible with Ubuntu. After 24 hours of trying to get comfortable with it I punted it back to Radioshack.

I hate laptops but I need one for school. And I'm used to my big Desktop. I'd like something I can take notes on but I don't want anything too big. Because to save money, this University I'm checking out, only buys desks with the tiny writing surface.

snoopy · Post by **snoopy** » Wed Oct 21, 2009 10:10 am

I'm confused by your final string of words that you intended to be a sentence.

You're looking at tablets?

Isaac · Post by **Isaac** » Wed Oct 21, 2009 10:39 am

snoopy wrote:I'm confused by your final string of words that you intended to be a sentence.

Retry. Thank you.

Zantor · Post by **Zantor** » Wed Oct 21, 2009 3:29 pm

What is it you are looking for, Isaac? Are you looking for something basic, sophisticed, or business grade? Do you want a netbook or something bigger?

Canuck · Post by **Canuck** » Wed Oct 21, 2009 5:22 pm

How about a stone tablet and chisel if you hate technology so much;

Isaac · Post by **Isaac** » Wed Oct 21, 2009 5:23 pm

Canuck wrote:How about a stone tablet and chisel if you hate technology so much;

I hate Compaqs and HPs. But they are cheap.

Zantor wrote:What is it you are looking for, Isaac? Are you looking for something basic, sophisticed, or business grade? Do you want a netbook or something bigger?

Just something with a comfortable mouse interface and a regular keyboard. But such a thing probably doesn't exist, outside of the desktop world.

Krom · Post by **Krom** » Wed Oct 21, 2009 6:44 pm

Isaac wrote:Just something with a comfortable mouse interface and a regular keyboard. But such a thing probably doesn't exist, outside of the desktop world.

Any laptop with 2 USB ports + a USB keyboard and a USB mouse.

Zantor · Post by **Zantor** » Wed Oct 21, 2009 7:11 pm

To get a laptop with a full size keyboard, you will have to get one with a 17\" screen, which probably isn't practical.

I would suggest any well built laptop with a 14.1\" or 15.4\" screen made by anyone good, and NOT Dell, HP, or Compaq. Get an MSI, ASUS, Acer, Sony, Toshiba, or Lenovo.

Cuda68 · Post by **Cuda68** » Wed Oct 21, 2009 7:41 pm

Lenovo - love mine

Zantor · Post by **Zantor** » Wed Oct 21, 2009 8:06 pm

here is an excellent solution to your dilemma.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6834115674

An Acer laptop, a 15.6\" screen, and Windows 7, on sale for $399.

Isaac · Post by **Isaac** » Wed Oct 21, 2009 8:55 pm

Cuda68 wrote:Lenovo - love mine

Do you? Do you run linux on yours?

Zantor wrote:To get a laptop with a full size keyboard, you will have to get one with a 17" screen, which probably isn't practical.

I would suggest any well built laptop with a 14.1" or 15.4" screen made by anyone good, and NOT Dell, HP, or Compaq. Get an MSI, ASUS, Acer, Sony, Toshiba, or Lenovo.

here is an excellent solution to your dilemma.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6834115674

An Acer laptop, a 15.6" screen, and Windows 7, on sale for $399.

I just retuned the 10.1" Acer Aspire. Maybe you're onto something. I'll buy this 15.6" from the store to try it out. Thank you!

And that's two votes for lenovo!

Krom wrote:
Isaac wrote:Just something with a comfortable mouse interface and a regular keyboard. But such a thing probably doesn't exist, outside of the desktop world.
Any laptop with 2 USB ports + a USB keyboard and a USB mouse.

I'm going to be using it in class. And they have these tiny note taking desks. I'd use a mouse at home with it though. But it needs to be a note taking laptop. And maybe that lenovo mouse stick thing will work better than a touch pad.

Krom · Post by **Krom** » Wed Oct 21, 2009 9:27 pm

I tend to prefer the little mouse buttons in the center of the keyboard to touchpads, but really both of them are a royal pain so I just drop a Logitch VX Nano in a pocket which handily solves that problem.

Although my laptop is a 17\" laptop so at the very least I know that when it eventually breaks down or becomes too old and slow to keep using I can just tie a rope to it and use it as a boat anchor.

Zantor · Post by **Zantor** » Wed Oct 21, 2009 10:56 pm

Isaac, I strongly suggest you buy it from Newegg. Often their prices beat that of retail brick and mortar stores, and they have an excellent reputation. I have been a consistent Newegg customer for 3 years.

Isaac · Post by **Isaac** » Wed Oct 21, 2009 11:10 pm

Newegg has most of my money. Don't worry about my trust in them.

OPERATING SYSTEM UBUNTU 8.04 (Standard Edition) (I would upgrade to 9.10)
WIRELESS CARDS Wireless 802.11g (1397) Mini Card
HARD DRIVE 16GB Solid State Drive
BATTERY OPTIONS 56WHr Lithium-Ion Battery (6-cell)
PROCESSOR Intel® Atom Processor® N270 (1.6GHz/533Mhz FSB/512K cache)
DISPLAY 10.1\" Widescreen Display (1024x600)
WARRANTY AND SERVICE 1 Yr Ltd Warranty, 1 Yr Mail-in Service, and 1 Yr Tech Support
MEMORY 1GB DDR2 SDRAM
INTEGRATED WEBCAM Integrated 1.3M Pixel Webcam
......................................$364

I'm not saying I'm going to buy a Dell but this is pretty much what I'm looking for. I just don't know if I'd like the touchpad.

Jeff250 · Post by **Jeff250** » Wed Oct 21, 2009 11:37 pm

So I take it that you already know about this?
http://www.dell.com/ubuntu

I have the Inspiron 15n with Ubuntu. Getting a laptop with linux preinstalled (Dell or not) is the best way you're going to guarantee that linux will run smoothly on it. Dell also throws in some DVD playing software and mp3 codecs too, although I'm sure you've already found ways around the legal conundrums surrounding these.

fliptw · Post by **fliptw** » Thu Oct 22, 2009 12:27 am

the vx nano is neat. I gave one as a gift a few years ago.

Still on original batteries.

Zantor · Post by **Zantor** » Thu Oct 22, 2009 10:23 am

I think you can adjust to using a touchpad, but it's your call. I own a Logitech VX Nano and it's one of the best mice I've ever owned.

Isaac · Post by **Isaac** » Thu Oct 22, 2009 10:56 am

2 things.
I've got nothing against mice. But the very reason I'm getting a laptop is the same I won't have space to use a mouse.

And since I'm writing study notes and not drawing on this laptop (as far as I know) I can alt+tab, shift+tab, and tab my way around most of the time.

So I just need something that can help me use a browser. Tabbing up and down firefox is annoying. I'd rather use w3m where my arrow pad is used. And I think the Lenovo joystick nipple thing will work the best. So that's first on my to do list.

Zantor · Post by **Zantor** » Thu Oct 22, 2009 1:01 pm

Firefox has a feature called Caret Browsing; push F7 to activate it. It makes navigating pages with the keyboard easier.

I have a Toshiba Satellite and I use the touchpad, even when browsing the web. I think you will just have to adjust to using a touchpad or a mouse thumbstick (the thing Thinkpads have). You might find adjusting the touchpad's sensitivity to be of help.

A laptop that does not have a full keyboard often has it condensed in a way that the manufacturer thinks is user friendly. It isn't always the best, but it's workable. You can also buy a USB numpad to plug in so you don't have to use the keyboard's condensed numpad.

Isaac · Post by **Isaac** » Thu Oct 22, 2009 5:26 pm

That might do it zantor! I didn't know about F7 in FF. Thanks dude.

JMEaT · Post by **JMEaT** » Sun Oct 25, 2009 8:29 am

Here you go. Not quite a laptop though:

Isaac · Post by **Isaac** » Sun Oct 25, 2009 11:15 am

JMEaT wrote:Here you go. Not quite a laptop though:

It's not a real product yet. you jerk

Canuck · Post by **Canuck** » Wed Nov 04, 2009 8:24 pm

Haha I have the perfect line;

\"Get on my nerves!...\",

Laptop for the person who hates laptops.

Laptop for the person who hates laptops.

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