UBUNTU, SLED, OR VISTA?
I’ve been looking for a new computer for a while now, comparison shopping and reading up while I save up the money, and have come to a point where I could really use some advice. I know this isn’t the sort of thing E2 is best at, but we are a community, the only community I’m really a contributing member of, and I know there is a pretty solid base of geeks in a multitude of flavors haunting the site, so I hope that by posting this here I might get some input. I’ll probably cross post to a couple of laptop sites and Linux forums as well.
The situation is this: I want a laptop, and I want to spend between $700-900 on it. It doesn’t have to be super fancy, but it must be solid. Its primary use will be writing, and it is critical that I get a good, solid, responsive keyboard that will not break, stick or fail in any other way. Secondary uses will be the usual Web stuff, organizing family photos, running a smallish customer database for my wife, and occasional gaming, but not the latest FPSes, mostly strategy stuff. If it can play Civ4 and/or GalCiv 2, I’ll be ecstatic. I’m not big on watching movies on my computer, and I’m not terribly worried about connectivity. I want the thing to be portable, but the full-size keyboard is crucial and occasional movie-watching and gaming will happen, so I’m thinking a 14" screen is perfect for me. 14" is more expensive than 15", unfortunately, but mobility is valuable to me.
In short, I need a workhorse with some spirit, not a Kentucky Derbycontestant. Now, when I think of workhorse laptops I think of Thinkpads. I’ve always wanted one, and the more research I do the more I hear that Thinkpads are THE horses to beat. The problem is, Thinkpads are not budget laptops. The most Thinkpad I can afford is an R61 with a few upgrades, which don’t include a lot of bells and whistles like recordable DVD, hi-res monitor and cutting-edge connectivity options.
For the same money, I can get a Dell Inspiron 1420 with several nice upgrades. Now, an Inspiron is not a Thinkpad. The legendary build quality of the Thinkpad just isn’t there. But from what I hear, the 1420 is a pretty solid computer that works well for most people, the keyboard is pretty good, and all those bells and whistles are suddenly affordable. At this point, I’m still leaning towards the R61, but the Dell is still a contender.
But there’s still one more element to factor in: I hear that Vista sucks.
I’ve never been a Microsoft fan. I don’t like the way they do business, I don’t like how everything they do is always mediocre at best, and I don’t like how they constantly push more and more stupid, unnecessary features that treat the user like a retarded child and waste system resources. I’m not a zealot about it, but I don’t like Microsoft, and from what I’m reading now it seems that Vista is seriously bloated. When I hear that my computer should have *at least* 2GB of RAM to do anything productive with Vista, it’s a big turnoff, and I’m wondering if there isn’t another answer.
Enter Linux.
I stuck my big toe into the Linux pool a few years ago, but I couldn’t find a few things that I would have needed to make my laptop work properly, and it wasn’t worth it for me at the time to keep playing with it. Now, however, I hear it’s a whole new ball game. I keep seeing the words “Linux ready for the desktop”. Unfortunately, I see “Linux almost ready for the desktop” almost as frequently. So I’m a little apprehensive. I’m decent with computers, but I’m not an IT guy. I don’t program. I’ve made a couple of Websites that worked (back when you could just use HTML to make a website), I’ve put in graphics cards and memory on my own machines, and I’m generally the guy that my friends and coworkers come to when they can’t get their machines to work. I don’t always have a solution for them, but I usually have some idea what the problem is - and, most importantly, I am able and willing to RTFM, which I find solves problems in every aspect of life.
With all that said, I’m not really sure about jumping into the deep end by buying a Linux machine. But I’d like to. For all kinds of reasons, some of which are undoubtedly silly, I want to. I want to:
- Run a lean, stable OS that isn’t targeted by every virus and Trojan in the world, doesn’t BSOD on a whim, doesn’t suck up system resources like Hummers suck gas, and won’t have to be replaced next year with a veryslightlylesscrappy substitute.
- Control what updates on my computer, when and if I want it to update.
- Save a few bucks on the OS, and a lot of bucks on security and productivity software.
- Support the open-source community.
- Send Microsoft and the OEMs a message that people will seek out practical alternatives to crappy products as long as there are any.
- Further my knowledge of computers.
- FIGHT THE MAN!! Yeah, just because I’m grown up doesn’t mean I can’t still believe in thwarting rapacious monopolies, standing up for freedom of choice and listening to RATM. Except I was never a RATM fan. Oh, bother....
As it happens, both the Thinkpad and the Dell are available in Linux versions. Linux tailored for the system, made to work out of the box. No screwing around with partitions, hoping there’s a driver available for your modem, just turn on the laptop and go through your basic installation procedure - in theory, at least. And both of the Linux distros are supposedly good, user-friendly ones. Thinkpad comes with SLED 10. The Inspiron ships with Ubuntu 7.10. I hear good things about both of them, but more about Ubuntu - especially since SLED is really made for a corporate environment and has fewer of the “fun and games” stuff.
So now my choices are:
- Buy the rock-solid laptop that has been used on space shuttles and the ISS, with SLED and not very many bells and whistles.
- Buy the not so legendary but reportedly decent laptop with what is supposed to be the friendliest, best-supported, Linux flavor and a few more unnecessary but nice features.
- Forget about theniche OS that all the fanboy geeks talk about and stick with the one I KNOW I can work with and play any game on the market with, without resorting to dodgy emulation programs. Possibly get Linux on the thing later on, but without any support from the OEM, without the Linux that is customized to suit that machine, and only after paying Microsoft for Vista.
- Buy a Mac? (Not really an option, they’re just slightly too expensive and definitely don’t seem as solid as the Thinkpad.)
So I’m asking for opinions from people who know their SLED from their SLES, those who have played with every Ubuntu animal from Hairy Hedgehog to Mischievous Manticore, and especially those who know both distros - and anyone who has personal experience with Dell laptops (I’ve already heard from the Thinkpad kids, and they generally tell me “don’t buy ANYTHING else.” Lenovo either makes seriously awesome laptops, or some excellent Kool-Aid.) Are either of the Linux versions really ready for “intermediate” end users who have no Linux experience? Is either one of them much friendlier than the other? It seems like more people prefer Ubuntu and say it’s friendlier to beginners - do those advantages outweigh the quality of the Thinkpad? Should I just suck it up and buy Vista?
I’d be grateful if anyone could give me some input - in messages, in daylogs, or even in full-fledged writeups. Seems to me there’s a place on Everything for writeups about specific computers and operating systems that go beyond what Wikipedia tells me.
Responses thus far:
- Two people recommended Macs. One of these had this to say: "We've dabbled with Ubuntu, but while they may call it easy, eventually I gave up trying to get it to work and reinstalled Windows on the poor laptop I chose to inflict Ubuntu on." The other Mac fan also suggested that "if you are completely sold on a PC, you should add the Dell Vostro line of laptops to your choices. They're Dell's business line of laptops, so they're supposed to be more Thinkpad-like. I've heard good things about the older ones, especially as far as getting as much bang for your buck goes." (I've heard this as well, but Dell don't yet sell a Vostro with Linux on it, so I'd still have to buy a Vista machine.)
- Four noders recommended Ubuntu wholeheartedly, despite the fact that every one of them cited minor problems that they had to work out to achieve perfect running condition. Mostly it seems that the difficulties you're most likely to encounter with Ubuntu are in the installation and compatability with certain hardware, problems that should be minimized when buying an Ubuntu out-of-the-box computer. One Ubuntu fan also said that SLED should be just as easy. Peaceable chaps, these Linux people!
- One of the Ubuntu guys actually wrote about his experience with the Dell Ubuntu Laptop, the same one i'm considering except with a lot more tailfins and super turbo. Four months later, he says Iris is holding up well.
- Two correspondents are staunch Thinkpad supporters, complete with war stories.
- More to come?