[wplug] Linux Notebook Recommendation

[Drew from Zhrodague]

Greg Simkins biz wrote:
> It looks like you made a good move Drew.  I viewed the review video  
> at:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFmSoGzh2y4.  There are a lot of  
> features.

	For me this was a good move. I needed a laptop since my previous laptop 
(Dell, C640, tigerdirect) is now a pile of sobbing dust. I was gonna go 
with one of the popular netbooks, and decided to get something a little 
more beefy for wardriving, and the (extremely limited) coding I do.


 > Until I just ordered the Dell Mini 9, over the past 3 years I had
 > shied away from purchasing Dell equipment since obtaining their
 > support is so frustrating, if not impossible.  I got accustomed to
 > walking into the Apple store when I have any issues with my MacBook
 > Pro or iMac.  I am not as clever as some of my WPLUG associates in
 > solving configuration problems and I very much value the Apple
 > technical support.

	Dell support is highly annoying when there is a problem. Unless you 
have the hardware support where they come in and just replace parts.

	I didn't like the Apple store in Shadyside. They kept me waiting for an 
hour to buy an iPhone, and then the procedure took an hour with me 
telling the guy my phone number every 2 minutes. I kinda want a small 
MacBook Pro, but at that price I can buy a car, or a down payment on a 
crappy house. I'm cheap like that.


> I am also reluctant to set up my own system on used equipment because  
> I always have issues with a driver or two with Linux.  After viewing  
> the video, I would be concerned that with the security features Dell  
> brags about on the D420, I would end up having trouble accessing the  
> system or encrypting all my data and losing the key (or perhaps ubuntu  
> disables all those features).  ...and as you say, you are still  
> fighting with Blue Tooth. At the price point on the Mini 9, I thought  

	Security features? Oh yah, there's a smartcard reader. I've never seen 
these used in the real world. I can't imagine the fingerprint reader 
works, though I don't have the model which includes this.

	Normally I am a RedHat (and now CentOS) user. I was *NOT* looking 
forward to having to configure a bunch of things, and have some of the 
features not work under CentOS. Again, Redhat is for servers, not 
laptops. I am still blown away with Ubuntu, and how it works with every 
device. There's an issue with docking/undocking. The bluetooth issue I 
believe is related to my 5-year-old Nokia being a POS.

	Also, it's nice to hear other people's experiences with equipment. As a 
longtime sysadmin, I've always been interested in how people use 
computers. Even me!


-- 

Drew from Zhrodague		http://www.WiFiMaps.com
drew at zhrodague.net		http://www.pghwireless.net
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