Need a new laptop now!

[morty007]

I am moving onto a new job and need a laptop very quickly. I've never owned one before, but I've had dell's that were great. I'm looking at either a Inspiron 1420 that I will dual boot, or a Thinkpad. I've heard thinkpads are great with linux and work "out of the box" but I don't know anything about the brand really. Please give me any input or suggestions you might have!

Regards,

[awong]

Are you dual-booting because you need Windoze at work? If not, you could get a Dell pre-loaded with Linux and then install Mint over it. Otherwise, go the dual-boot route with a notebook/laptop that is known to work with Linux, i.e., the pre-loaded Dells are alright. I don't have any experiences with Thinkpads; someone else could help you there, although I've read positive reports regarding Thinkpads.

[morty007]

I guess I really don't need a dual boot machine, but was thinking of one just for a backup OS or test stuff if something goes wrong. The Dell sales rep I spoke to has only sold 2 linux machines in the 2 years he's been with Dell.