[PLUG] Linux on Laptops

[Renegade Penguin]

It's fairly heavy (remember, widescreen, full keyboard including ACTUAL 
number pad, etc.  Holds 2 HDD and a DVD burner or 3 HDD.  You're back up 
significantly with weight.

HOWEVER - I have had 2 problems with this notebook.  The DVD burner (I 
burn a lot of DVDs) went out.  $459 repair.  And currently am having an 
issue with the video card.  $1800 repair.

BUT *********************************
I got the 5 year, next business day onsite service, including accidental 
damage protection.  They are FedExing me a new chassis (everything but 
the LCD) and it costs me $0.  Same with the DVD burner replacement 
(modular slide-in issue).  $0.

The warranty was an extra $500 (normally $900) for that 5-year span - 
will have paid for itself 4 times over and I've only had it a year.  
Remember - accidental damage protection!

A friend of mine 2 days ago just dropped their $2000 Dell notebook and 
smashed it.  The zipper in their briefcase was undone, and it hit the 
concrete.  No warranty - out one brand new notebook.

This computer has a 3 gigahertz DESKTOP P4 with hyperthreading.  Unlike 
95% of the notebooks out there, the processor is SOCKETED instead of 
soldered in.  So if it dies (or I want to upgrade) - then guess what?  
NO ISSUES.

Mine ran about $3000 (I have 2 gigs of RAM, 2 80 gig HDD) with the 
warranty, and I have never been happier.  FOUR USB 2.0 ports (Dell's 
comes with one), Firewire, full numeric keypad, and did I mention the 
widescreen?  I used to have 2 LCD monitors (18" and 19") on my desktop 
machine - this is all I need now.  I can fit my entire office into my 
briefcase - computer, printer (Canon i80) and scanner (Canon i35).  The 
wider softside leather notebook briefcase ran about $75 at Best Buy. 
(Targus)

It is SO worth it to get a full notebook system with warranty.  At 3 
gigahertz, I can run ANYTHING I need, including graphics software under 
an emulator, or virtual machine - absolutely anything.  Do your research 
and find out what features you want.  I wanted:
widescreen
full keyboard
numeric keypad
gigabit ethernet
b/g wireless
4 USB ports for:
    full-size mouse
    printer
    scanner
    thumb drive
DVD burner (rewriteable even)
WARRANTY
firewire
BRIGHT, SHARP screen (best on the market is Gateway's)

There was only one choice for me.  YMMV, but I have never been sorry I 
got this machine, and I now don't own any desktop machines.

RP

Rich Shepard wrote:

> RP,
>
>   Just curious, RP, how much weight are you toting with this unit?
>
>   Despite the comparatively low power, memory, and hard drive space of my
> Toshiba Portege, it weighs only 2 pounds and is less than an inch 
> thick. It's
> really nice when I need to carry it for a long time. My 1992-vintage 
> Gateway
> weighed 7 pounds. I soon came to hate carrying it on trips or to 
> conventions.
>
> Rich
>