Ubuntu on a new laptop

aftershxck

aftershxck

aftershxck

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Hi,

I'm considering getting a laptop - most likely something a mid to high end Sony Vaio, however aside from the OS it'll come with, I also want to install Ubuntu as this is what we use at work.

Now having Ubuntu available on the laptop is the biggest deciding factor over anything such as playing games and so on but before buying an expensive paperweight has anyone here had experience with installing Ubuntu on a recent model laptop?

I.e. is there likely to be a lot of compatibility issues with the hardware specific to laptops or?

If not then I'd consider getting something like an Eee PC with just Ubuntu on!


Thanks!
 
I did it on my samsung x22 recently and it went swimmingly (shame i dont actually like ubuntu i was just testing to see what worked when its pretty powerful wauto detection stuff was let loose on my laptop)

Anyway i had zero problems!
My laptops got a t750, 2 gig of ram, an ati2400 and the intel wireless adaptor built in (set up wireless acess off the bat impressivly). Basically unlesss it has something obscure (or a really really unheard of wireless adaptor in it, which it probably doesnt) you shouldnt have problems :)
 
Sony has a terrible reputation for selling laptops with very poor Linux support. Have you considered one of the Dells on which you can get Ubuntu installed at the factory?
 
pingwing said:
I did it on my samsung x22 recently and it went swimmingly (shame i dont actually like ubuntu i was just testing to see what worked when its pretty powerful wauto detection stuff was let loose on my laptop)

Anyway i had zero problems!
My laptops got a t750, 2 gig of ram, an ati2400 and the intel wireless adaptor built in (set up wireless acess off the bat impressivly). Basically unlesss it has something obscure (or a really really unheard of wireless adaptor in it, which it probably doesnt) you shouldnt have problems :)
Click to expand...

That's awesome news! I'm hoping (guessing) that any modern laptop will have pretty generic components with regards to adaptors and stuff (i.e. Intel for network cards and soon)

BillytheImpaler said:
Sony has a terrible reputation for selling laptops with very poor Linux support. Have you considered one of the Dells on which you can get Ubuntu installed at the factory?
Click to expand...

I'm leaning towards the Sony brand if possible - and I'd rather re-install/dual boot Windows and Ubuntu myself so I can configure everything how I want!


Thanks for the advice, any others with experience of Ubuntu compatabilty with new laptops?

Thanks
 
HP 8510P

T7700, 4GB, Ati Mob 2600HD, bluetooth, wireless lan etc etc

all went well except for multimonitor support through its docking station.......= rubbish

I dual boot it with Vista :(
 
I recently bought a HP dv5 1015ea (C2D P8400, 4gb, 9200M GS), have only tested with the Ubuntu 8.10 live cd and it picked up everything perfectly, sound, wireless, even bluetooth was detected.

Not sure how things are with Sony laptops but I was certainly very impressed, just haven't got round to installing it yet.
 
Last edited:
Thanks guys, you've convinced me it should go swimmingly with a new laptop - if it works with other models then surely (hopefully) it'll be OK with VAIOs!
 
BillytheImpaler said:
Sony has a terrible reputation for selling laptops with very poor Linux support. Have you considered one of the Dells on which you can get Ubuntu installed at the factory?
Click to expand...

works fantastically well on my fw11s :) why shouldnt it, its a centrino 2 platform - most of the drivers are already readily available.
 
In my experience they have used a lot of unsupported WLAN cards. This may have changed as everybody adopts Intel stuff across the board. I was also never able to get Sony's media buttons working properly. This may have also changed. :)
 
ah fair enough, yeah. I think the centrino platform was definately a change for the better. even audio over hdmi is supported on my fw11:) although ill be honest, i havent tried the media keys yet :)
 
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