Ask HN: Which Laptop? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Which Laptop?

5 pointstst201011 comments

Hi All,

I'm updating my laptop at the end of the month (payday!) and was wondering which to choose. I've been browsing around the internet for the past week but there are so many to choose from its hard to know which is best.

Currently I have a HP tx2000 with dual boot Windows 7 Professional & Ubuntu. It has served me well over the last couple of years but its starting to fade now. Plus its not the lightest laptop around, even without the battery and CD drive, and since I do a lot of travelling I need something lighter.

The main use for the laptop will be programming/movies/internet and my budget is about $1000/€700.

I'm open to any suggestions?

Thanks, T

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I can really recommend lenovo thinkpads, my school has been using them as student laptops (t60p, t61p & w500) and the wear and tear ive seen these laptops go through is amazing. They are fast, robust and decently priced.

look at these:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834146...

http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/controller/e/web/LenovoPo...

make sure you get one with high enough resolution

They are also hideous. This may be a bit shallow, but as someone that has even a little design experience, there's no way I'd be able to look at a ThinkPad all day.

I think you miss the point of functional hardware vs highclass design. Thinkpads dont really scratch, or atleast you dont see them, they arent flimsy like so many HP's and Dell's ive had to repair.

When i make my gin and tonic and im not in my kitchen i use the top of my thinkpad as a cutting board for my limes, i mean thats an extreme case, you cant see a single scratch.

ThinkPad's are just great (I'm currently using a T60 myself). You should aim for X series, they are ultralight and mobile.

Why ThinkPad? ThinkPad's sport hardware features that are hard to find in other laptops (TrackPoint, hardware-based full disk encryption, hard disk active protection system, fingerprint sensor, etc.) and are generally very well-built. As a touch typist I couldn't live without TrackPoint; how do MacBook users manage? The battery life is far better than of most of competitors. International warranty is a huge plus, too.

As a business oriented laptops they may sure not look too fashionable, but I actually enjoy that sight over, say, MacBooks. Only thing I miss is MagSafe connector, but this is not a huge price to pay.

I would recommend you to get a MacBook or a MacBook Pro, it's mind blowing (I'm a Windows/.NET guy and I'm telling you, it's mind Blowing). I still do .NET using a Windows 7 Ultimate on top of VMWare Fusion or you can use Bootcamp to boot on Windows 7 whenever you want. (I still don't need bootcamp, VMWare Fusion it's enough for me even when I do WPF, Silverlight + Expression Blend and stuff)

Conclusion: get a Mac, it's awesome!

Amen! I've used HP notebooks running both Windows (as supplied by HP) and Ubuntu. Having switched to a Mac Book Pro, there is no way I'm going back. VmWare Fusion lets me run Windows (several different versions for testing) and Ubuntu. Battery life is consistently 7+ hours. Everything "just works"(TM) and it doesn't constantly nag you with this update or that reminder.

I would recommend the Asus UL30A - 1.7kg, 13", very long battery life, about 650€ with 4GB RAM, silver color and matte screen. It has also good Linux compatibility. The display could be better, but I have yet to find a notebook screen with which I'm content.

http://dell.com/ubuntu occasionally has something ok. I've got a Dell Latitude e6500, which I got with no OS, and it runs Ubuntu fine.

Why don't you make this an "Ask HN:"? Just prefix it, I expected a blog post when I saw the current title.

Thanks for the suggestion. have updated to Ask HN:

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