Guest LinuxFuzzy Posted June 8, 2005 Report Share Posted June 8, 2005 Hi everyone. I'm in the market for a laptop for Linux. I'm really interested in the Dell Inspiron 700m, basic config. This lappy will be used mostly for browsing/email/writing and MP3 listening. No gaming or movie watching. I'm just wondering if the Dell Inspiron 700m would be a good choice. I really like it, it's light. (which is a necessity) and decent priced for my budget. I'm more interested in getting Mandriva LE 2005 running on it, but will settle for 10.1 or 10. If I have to do some minor tweaking in linux to get things working, it's not too big of a problem, but the less problems, the better as always. :) I'm also open to other light weight (5.5 pounds or less), laptops if anyone knows of any that will work with any of the latest versions of Mandriva Linux. The 700m would be perfect though. B) Thanks in advance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianw1974 Posted June 8, 2005 Report Share Posted June 8, 2005 (edited) I use a Toshiba Satellite A10 laptop, although there are more later models out there now. I currently use 10.1 OE, but this was because I had an issue with LE2005 when I upgraded (video driver problem). This may have been caused because I used urpmi to upgrade, rather than install from CD. I've yet to download an ISO image to install it. I bought mine almost two years ago, and it cost around £600, so was relatively good pricing, plus branded too. Not had any problems with it for Linux, other than the minor issue above. I would have thought the laptop would be fine for it. Check the specs for the main components, to check driver availability. Modems can sometimes be an issue, although they can be overcome for some/most models. Edited June 8, 2005 by ianw1974 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neddie Posted June 8, 2005 Report Share Posted June 8, 2005 Hey, I'm running 2005LE on an Inspiron 510m, and it's a lot happier than 10.1 was. One oddity with this Dell was related to the screen resolution (1400x1050) not being listed in the Bios, so it needed a small patch program. Although I see the 700 has WXGA so ymmv. Overall it's running well, the only hardware gripe I have is the boingy keyboard, but again this is probably different on the 12" models. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ddmcse Posted June 8, 2005 Report Share Posted June 8, 2005 i used to have a Delll laptop ...watch out for LG cdrom drives mine had one . http://plug.org.in/pipermail/plug-mail/200...ber/010052.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LinuxFuzzy Posted June 9, 2005 Report Share Posted June 9, 2005 Thanks fellas. I appriciate the input. I've looked at the Toshiba model, and it's a tad too much weight for me. The Dell 700m should work out fine with LE2005. The only thing that concerns me is the LG drive problem, and there's nowhere in the specifications on the 700m that says whether it's a LG CD rom or not. Anybody know how I could possibly find out? I'm thinking I can call Dell and ask about it if I can't find out online. If anyone knows about what drive the 700m uses, let me know? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neddie Posted June 9, 2005 Report Share Posted June 9, 2005 According to http://www1.mandrivalinux.com/en/lgerrata.php3 it seems to only affect Mdk9.2 and certain CD-ROM (not CD-RW) drives, so shouldn't be too much of an issue for you. Good luck asking Dell about it, I emailed them some questions I had before I bought, but all I got was an automated reply saying they'd get back to me (and that was several months ago). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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