Comsumer assistance...

[Bob Stockdale IV]

Richard Hubbard wrote:

> I am currently in the market for a laptop that needs to meet the following
> conditions...
> 1. cheap
> 2. reliable
> 3. runs linux (see item 1)(x-window) quickly
> 
> Because of item 3, my guess is that a pentium of the 233 class should be
> adequate (i saw that p75 doing great as long as there it was a text display,
> but as soon as the x-window system loaded, it died..)
> 
> I'm currently looking at e-bay and I really need to know, are there any
> brands to avoid?  I have run linux on Dell's before, so I know those work.
> 
> Also, as far as basic software is concerned, I'm probably going to be
> running StarOffice (This will be used for business, so I will need to
> interoperate with M$ Office, otherwise K Office looks great!)  The other
> question I have is ... Is there a QuickBooks Style Small business accounting
> software package out there for Linux? (yes, If I am pushed, I can write one,
> but right now I'm lazy.  If I can't find one, then I know what my next
> project is!)
> 
> Thanks for your help!
> 
> 
> Richard Hubbard
> MCT, MCSE, MCDBA, MCSD,
> CLP, CLI, A+, Net+, I-Net+, LCP, LCI
> phone : 716-553-5048
> 
> Heisenberg may have slept here...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 

If your going to run Star Office forget cheap(ie:inexpensive). If you 
want the best price/performance ratio then choose AMD Athlon. Also don't 
forget to recompile the kernel for the Athlon if you go that route. Most 
Distro's default to pentium kernel. Star Office is a resource hog. If 
you run this and don't have at least 128 meg RAM you will be fustrated 
rather quickly. Don't know what your budget is, but HP has a nice 
machine currently being marketed. This notebook has 1 Ghz AMD Athlon/4, 
256 Meg Ram,20gig hd,15" TFT display, built in Ethernet, DVD/CDRW combo 
drive and many other feature. Compaq offers a similar machine for a few 
hundred less and has smaller display and half the ram. These can be 
found locally for $1300 to $1500 after rebates. Typical pentium nbooks 
of similar performance would be over $2000.
	A shopping tip: I always use Shopping bots to find the best price before 
I look at ebay or ubid. To find bots look to http://www.botspot.com 
where you'll find many. Hope this helps.
Bob