Path: csiph.com!v102.xanadu-bbs.net!xanadu-bbs.net!feeder.erje.net!eu.feeder.erje.net!newsfeed.fsmpi.rwth-aachen.de!news-1.dfn.de!news.dfn.de!fu-berlin.de!uni-berlin.de!individual.net!not-for-mail From: Tim Watts Newsgroups: uk.comp.os.linux,comp.os.linux.misc,uk.d-i-y Subject: Re: New Dell Latitude for linux Date: Tue, 02 Sep 2014 21:52:24 +0100 Lines: 104 Message-ID: <89nhdb-6sh.ln1@squidward.local.dionic.net> References: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Trace: individual.net aYLXZmdyrIxVN4pNtMeIuQQ/0C5VqDFtJzABSFcrARwQJtytRo X-Orig-Path: squidward.local.dionic.net!not-for-mail Cancel-Lock: sha1:d2S/O/BtfIDuXocv1o4/AEEtpvo= User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:24.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/24.2.0 In-Reply-To: Xref: csiph.com comp.os.linux.misc:11888 On 02/09/14 21:21, chris wrote: >> >> Dell E7740, i5-4310U with Intel HD 4400 Haswell graphics with >> 802.11a/b/g/n/ac WIFI > > I can't find this one. Do you mean E7440? Yes, sorry. Spazzy typing... >> >> And does anyone know if the 256GB SSD MiniCard disk option is any >> good?[1] >> >> Any random thoughts? :) >> >> BTW - Lenovo have stopped offering a "build your own" custom buy and the >> T series trackpads have gone down the pan according to reviews. So no >> more Lenovo. >> >> Why Dell? Well I can get a decent academic discount as Dell supply my >> uni. And I quite like SWMBOs E6420 - at least it's form factor. > > I really wouldn't go with a Dell. Or at least make sure you get a > support package. Some at work have them and they do break down... Luckily the 5 years next day on site costs very little on an academic purchase... Every laptop I've ever owned had some sort of problem in 5 years. HP - the hinges broke. Lenovo fan is dying and the touchpad covering fell off. > Having said that, why not try the Dell XPS 13 with Ubuntu pre-installed: > http://www.dell.com/uk/business/p/xps-13-9333/pd?oc=sbnb2328&model_id=xps-13-9333 > > > It's a very high quality screen and nice and light without compromising > on performance. It does tick a lot of the boxes. Unfortunately it seems to have no touchpad buttons (not real ones anyway). Sorry - I could not list every detail, but I use the TP heavily and like 2 or 3 real buttons. In act I always disable "soft click" as it always misfires when I use TPs. But I am impressed by the screen specs. How do you find the TP? >> ==== >> >> Basically, my old Lenovo T410i is giving up slowly. My "absolutes" are: >> >> 1 - 8-16GB RAM > > I'd go with as much as you can get. > >> 2 - Medium CPU (i7 seems not much better than i5) >> 3 - Graphics that x.org can manage 3D for (eg GoogleEarth) plus VMware >> player needs to manage 3D support for guests. > > I'd go with Intel, Radeon are often hard to configure. I still can't get > accelerated 3D to work on my desktop. +anotherone for Intel... >> 4 - 500GB "spinning rust" HDD PLUS >> 256GB (ish) SDD for OS+home+VMWare-disks > > How are you going to get two disks in the above laptops? Mediabay adaptor - like I did with the Lenovo. I never use the DVD so that gets pulled out. >> 5 - 802.11ac (I am going "ac" at home) >> >> 6 - 14-15 inch and vert res of 900 min. No smaller screen size and no >> bigger as it makes me unpopular on the train! >> >> Works with linux >> HDMI second screen > > Not a problem. +1 >> ==== >> >> The only official Dell way to get the HDD options is an internal SSD >> MiniCard and a media bay mounted 500GB HDD >> >> Personally I'd prefer to get a 500GB internal spinning HDD and buy a >> generic mediabay adaptor (NewModus prob - cannot find a Dell part) and >> stick a SanDisk Extreme II in as I know and trust these. > > HDDs are getting rarer in laptops now. I wouldn't go back to HDDs - the > performance improvement you get with SSDs is a big bonus. It's still cost - I need 750GB but 500GB can be slow - hence the dual disk approach. Thanks for the ideas!