I've bern curious about System 76 machines for some time. Which one did you get? Did you stay with the stock Ubuntu install or did you install something else? It's about the only way I'm aware of to buy new HW without indirectly paying for a Windows OEM license. Sent from my iPhone On Aug 24, 2013, at 8:04 AM, Jon Schewe <jpschewe at mtu.net> wrote: > I just bought a machine from System76 and it seems pretty good. They sell systems with Linux already on them and ensure that the hardware is compatible. > > > On Fri, Aug 23, 2013 at 3:11 AM, Mike Miller <mbmiller+l at gmail.com> wrote: >> Thanks for this advice. I mostly don't like the machines at Costco, either. But two years ago I bought a little Acer laptop for my daughter, then four years old, with 4GB RAM, 500GB HDD and very long battery life for only $250. She has been using it all the time since then. It still works great. I bought three Seagate 3TB external USB3 drives at Costco last year for $100 each. When they have a good deal, it's hard to beat. >> >> The thing that concerns me with buying used laptops is that the batteries often don't work well, so then I need a battery and they are expensive. We'd like to get a machine that has HDMI out, but the Lenovo T500 seems to have some other kind of HD output that needs an adaptor to get HDMI, but it doesn't carry the audio. I'll still be considering the T500, so thanks! >> >> Mike >> >> >> >> On Thu, 22 Aug 2013, whjwhj wrote: >> >>> I've played around with the machines I've seen at Costco and many of them seem cheap. Particularly the keyboards. Soft, bouncy, squishy keyboards. Also, I keep my eye on screen resolution, particularly on the least expensive machines. They might have what appears to be a nice 14" or 15" display but then the resolution maxes out at 1380x768 or so. They can do so much better. 1400x900 and up is good. I personally can not stand the glossy reflective displays which so many of the machines have these days (including, alas, Apple). >>> >>> My last three Linux machine purchases have all been used Lenovo Thinkpad machines and I've been absolutely delighted with them. It's clear Lenovo (formerly IBM) is very much focused on durability, particularly on their business class machines. And the keyboards are excellent. >>> >>> They all run Linux just fine for me and appear to be a popular choice for Linux users in general. >>> >>> Lenovo has an outlet store with some good deals: >>> >>> http://outlet.lenovo.com/ >>> >>> I've gotten all three of mine from Craigslist and they've all been fine performers. I bought a new battery for one and I've been upgrading RAM and installing SSD drives periodically to give them a little extra bump. >>> >>> e.g., This machine here looks very nice. Good screen resolution at 1680x1050. Add more RAM perhaps and maybe an SSD or a larger HDD to replace the 160GB that's in there and you're set. (Although this machine might be a bit heavy for a student's backpack.) >>> >>> http://minneapolis.craigslist.org/ram/sys/4000943841.html >>> >>> I'm fond of the T series and X series machines. I own an X200 and a T420s. Both these machines are light and portable while offering ample performance and features for my needs. The T43 I own is a bit heavier and very old and past it's prime. It still runs perfectly however and I use it regularly for light duty stuff. >>> >>> whj >>> >>> On 08/22/2013 11:14 AM, Mike Miller wrote: >>>> Now is the Back To School season, so maybe it is a bad time to buy. Is >>>> it better after maybe September 15? Do we often see sales? >>>> >>>> I've noticed that when Costco has a good deal, it's a really good deal. >>>> So are any of these good machines? I'm really interested in the cheaper >>>> ones. I didn't really like the HP Pavilion I bought last year -- very >>>> weak WiFi, I thought. >>>> >>>> http://tinyurl.com/l7ywqhx [costco.com] >>>> >>>> Are some brands especially good for Linux and some not so good? >>>> >>>> Mike >>>> _______________________________________________ >>>> TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota >>>> tclug-list at mn-linux.org >>>> http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list >>> _______________________________________________ >>> TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota >>> tclug-list at mn-linux.org >>> http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list >> _______________________________________________ >> TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota >> tclug-list at mn-linux.org >> http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > > > > -- > http://mtu.net/~jpschewe > > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://mailman.mn-linux.org/pipermail/tclug-list/attachments/20130824/f5c58aea/attachment.html>