OT: Recommended Linux Laptops, suppliers?

[Lulu of the Lotus-Eaters]

|I'm looking to buy a notebook/laptop. I would like to run Linux on it. I
|don't want to buy a notebook with Windows installed. I don't want to pay for
|that OS since I'm just going to discard it.
|Apple's are pretty much out of the price range

Someone else mentioned the discussion on /., which indeed pretty much
covered all angles.  The jist of it seems to be that you are stuck with
the Microsoft-tax, in practical terms.  You can buy a Windows-free
laptop, but at a price that is several hundred more than a similar
configuration with Windows included (i.e. from a bigger maker).  Even
some of the "Windows-free" sellers actually pay the Windows license,
then just remove the software before selling it to you.

Monopolies suck!

I would recommend thinking about Apples again, though.  Their laptops
really are NOT much more expensive, and for certain features they are
your cheapest option.  The absolute cheapest Wintel machine is cheaper
than an iBook, but that PC is much heavier and has a shorter battery
life.  And the cheapest Wintel might not have built-in ethernet, modem,
CD-RW, nor have as bright a screen.

Valuing weight and battery life highly, I bought an iBook 12" last
summer for $1000 (just after my 500Mhz was superceded by the next speed
jump).  That's the cheapest--in retrospect I wish I had spent a little
more for DVD/CD-RW, 14" screen, and mostly I wish my machine had come
with Jaguar (MacOSX 10.2) since there is no cheap upgrade.  I'll
probably upgrade soon to a somewhat faster machine with the newer OS,
bigger screen, and better CD drive, for less than $2000.  Prices
continue to fall, in spurts.

I am happy enough with MacOSX, and its Unix roots.  But there are
several good Linux distributions available for PPC if you want that.

Yours, Lulu...

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