Just so you know, mark_alec said it's OK for me to spam the list with
this :p
After dragging my 4yo 15" laptop around with me during linux.conf.au
(and the next week and a half whilst I visited rellies in Victoria),
I'm wanting to buy a new (ultraportable) laptop, so around the 12"
range. As much as I hate to admit this, it looks like the best deal I
can find is the Dell Vostro 1200 (see attachment for how I've specced
it out). The actual laptop is around $1550, with another $200 there to
buy an external 19" monitor to sit at home. I'll also get at least 5%
off the price with the RACQ discount.
So, my questions are these: do people think this is a good laptop? Is
it value for money? Can you think of a better one in the same
size/pricepoint (I was originally looking at the HP Compaq Presario
B1246TU, which is $1.8k RRP with only 2 GB of RAM)? Would I have any
problems under Gentoo on it (I plan on ditching Vista)?
Also, with the monitor: I plan on buying a docking station at home
(btw, anyone know of a good one that would work under Gentoo?) and keep
my external keyboard, tablet and an LCD monitor plugged in to it. This
Dell monitor is about $200 extra for a 19" 1440x900. Is this a good
deal? Or should I pay an extra $100 on top of that to get a 20"
168x1050 + free Sannheiser headset, or forget Dell and get an extra
monitor from elsewhere? (Note that from a quick google, etc. Dell
monitors seem to be quite good for their price).
In case you're interested, here are some photos someone posted of this
lappy:
http://img245.imageshack.us/my.php?image=vostro1200frontnn8.jpg
http://img256.imageshack.us/my.php?image=vostro1200keyboardbj3.jpg
It's not the most attractive laptop, but looks OK. Having the Fn key
on the left of the Ctrl key could take a bit getting used to,
though :s If you go to the laptop's info page, it's also got a "tour":
http://www1.ap.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/vostronb_1200?c=au&l=en&s=bsd&cs=aubsd1
Anyway, to get some of the deals on it (like the free mouse + carry
bag), I need to order by Monday, and by Thursday for the free RAM
upgrade, so please tell me what you think!
--
Ivan Lazar Miljenovic
Ivan.Miljenovic@...
IvanMiljenovic.wordpress.com
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