Re: Off topic: Need cheap new laptop, any suggestions?

[Paul Lagasse pglagasse@xxxxxxxx]

peregrine@xxxxxxxx wrote:

> Amen to what everyone else has said, and here's my pitch for NOT
> buying an operating system. Ubuntu Linux has everything the young lady
> will need. Buy decent hardware, download the rest (aTunes is free and
> more than acceptable as an iTunes substitute), and add RAM using the
> money you'll save.

Jeff, much as I like and use Ubuntu (and its derivatives) I'd hesitate
to suggest Linux to anyone who's been using iTunes, because many iPods
cannot be managed from Linux. aTunes, for example, says at its website
that it it can't be used to manage iPods.

There also can sometimes be hardware issues with Linux, though they are
diminishing. My own preference is to get a machine with my preferred
Linux distro preloaded or get one that is certified to work with the
distro of my choice, rather than just buying something decent and
installing Linux (though I've had good success with that).

Given that Lisa's daughter has a failing Inspiron, Dell might not be the
preferred brand, but if a Dell is chosen, most models can be paid off
interest-free over 6 months on a Dell charge, which might be a plus. My
wife's using an Ubuntu Dell M1330 laptop that was fully loaded and cost
around $1000 -- not low cost, but on a Dell charge it could be paid off
over 12 months interest-free. It's been running nicely, and the model is
now under $900 with Windows, but I don't have any experience using the
Windows version. The M1330 is better built than the Inspiron E1405 that
my daughter had; it had to be extensively rebuilt under warranty (for a
variety of reasons, some of them due to bad parts, some due to the
notebook's being used by a college student) -- very little on that
machine, be it plastic or silicon, is now original. The only negative
about the M1330 is an external wifi switch, which can be unknowingly
moved to the off position, causing loss of wifi and several lost hours
of trying to find a software fix for a mechanical problem.
Paul Lagasse