Recommended laptops

[guitarscn]

This will be my first purchase that is focused primarily on having only OpenBSD on it and nothing else to be used as a main workstation. The budget is around $900 or so. I'm looking for something with quality parts and probably have everything supported and compatible with OpenBSD straight out of the box (like the graphics/sound, wireless card, etc.)

What do you guys suggest?

[J65nko]

When I was at What The Hack in 2005 most OpenBSD developers used ThinkPads, at that time still manufacutured by IBM.
Lenovo bought over the IBM laptop business but most models still seem to well supported by OpenBSD.

BTW I hate laptops with their lousy keyboards so I don't have one

[There0]

Yes, the last 5 Lenovo's i have had were VERY well supported, the odd "not configured" was seen here and there, my current t500 runs great, dmesg and such posted under the laptops section.

As a note any HP's and Dell's i have had all ran well too, i recommend Intel based but that is personal choice. I change computers (of the 4 right now) at least 2-4 times a year, depending on budget and neccesity.

If you have not yet check out this link, there is quite a few dmesg's and such from many types of laptops currently being used by forum persons.

http://www.daemonforums.org/showthread.php?t=1880

[Carpetsmoker]

When I was at What The Hack in 2005 most OpenBSD developers used ThinkPads, at that time still manufacutured by IBM.
Lenovo bought over the IBM laptop business but most models still seem to well supported by OpenBSD.

Actually, Lenovo has been manufacturing thinkpad for many years, even when the brand was owned by IBM, so in that respect nothing has changed. And from what I hear, the people designing the thinkpads are also mostly the same.

I have a T61 at home and used T400/T500's at work, the T400/T500 keyboards are bit bit inferior to previous models. There has been a lot of controversy over this though.
For the rest: It's more or less the same quality.

There are some issues with Lenovo customer support and sales. But this is another topic...

Anyway, my OpenBSD thinkpad runs pretty well, there are some issues though, but nothing more or less then I've had with FreeBSD or Opensolaris...

[Carpetsmoker]

BTW I hate laptops with their lousy keyboards so I don't have one

Actually, thinkpad keyboards are very good. So good in fact, that Lenovo has a standalone USB version.
I prefer my thinkpad keyboard over my "normal" keyboard, and would buy the standalone lenovo keyboard if I could order it in the Netherlands (So far it only seems to be available in the states )

I do agree that many laptops do have bad keyboard though, the main problems are actually very simple:

o Almost every laptop designer seems to be totally obsessed with the idea that a laptop keyboard should fit in a nice rectangle. This leads odd key locations, and even odder key sizes. (See this Asus keyboard for example.).

o Many keyboards are very, very poorly attached to the notebook. Only very few are actually screwed to the notebook. More than half are only attached by three little clicking thingies at the top, and few are screwed to the top. This just sucks. This results in a lot of vibration/noise when typing.
Double sided tape does a fairly good job fixing this by the way ...

There are also some other more minor issues. But these two cause the most grief and horrible typing experience.

[Oko]

Originally Posted by Carpetsmoker

Actually, thinkpad keyboards are very good. So good in fact, that Lenovo has a standalone USB version.
I prefer my thinkpad keyboard over my "normal" keyboard, and would buy the standalone lenovo keyboard if I could order it in the Netherlands (So far it only seems to be available in the states )

When it comes to quality of ThinkPad keyboards I completely agree with you .
I think that they are better by a mile than any laptop keyboards. The second is
an interesting information that I have not been aware of. I have to admit that I use
only IBM M-type keyboards on anything else but my ThinkPads. Due to the noise a ThinkPad keyboard for my home desktop would be probably welcomed by my wife.

[There0]

True that, the IBM/Lenovo keyboards are the cat's ass, period, i did notice my latest (t500) was a bit flimsier (they saved what 3 oz?) drilled up with holes. I have noticed a difference in typing fast on keyboard this but am certainly still very happy with it.

I used to find the older (5+ years ago) Toshiba's VERY solid to type on and in general, but that was then, and even then the IBM's were solid as could be, although i just purchased this T500 (2 weeks ago) i am already considering my next Lenovo (#6)

[There0]

http://www.thinkpadtoday.com/