I need recommendation for a reasonable laptop?

[Webtest]

Esteemed forum Participants and Lurkers:
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Mint 8/Mint 10 LiveCD

I am looking for a recommendation for a decent, though modest, laptop for running Linux Mint. One absolute requirement is that it must be able to configure the boot sequence to boot from an SD card before the hard drive, and once the boot sequence is configured, the BIOS must not overwrite the configuration without user intervention.

I currently run Linux Mint off of a locked SD card on my HP dx2400 tower and it works extremely well EXCEPT ... sometimes when I remove the SD card and boot XP from the hard drive, the BIOS gets nasty and overwrites the stored boot sequence to give priority back to the hard drive. When that happens, I have to shutdown, reboot into the BIOS and reset the boot sequence to give the SD card priority, and then reboot again. That annoys me greatly.

I want to get a laptop so that I can have my secure Mint system when I travel, but I want to be certain that I can set the BIOS boot sequence to ALWAYS check for the SD card FIRST. I do not want this configuration to change unless I manually change it (which is HIGHLY unlikely!).

I don't need a super "hype" machine ... just something that will solidly run Mint, play DVDs, with a couple of gigs of RAM, 100 Mb RJ45 port, (WiFi would be nice), and good battery life (with a new battery, of course).

Thank you for any and all comments, suggestions, and recommendations.
Blessings in abundance, all the best, & ENJOY!
Art in Carlisle, PA USA

[rlindsey0]

Maybe start with one of these folks:

http://zareason.com

http://www.system76.com

http://sales.eightvirtues.com

I'm sure there are others.

[AlbertP]

If you want to run Linux on it, I'd recommend to buy a HP, Dell or Lenovo laptop from the 2nd half of 2010 or later, that does not have hybrid graphics.
These laptops are tested with Linux before they appear in the shops.

There aren't much laptops that forget the boot sequence. My laptop, for example, forgets it only if I reset the BIOS to default settings.

[AdamS]

I am a HUGE fan of acer timelineX series.

All 100% tested as fully working on linux

Sell several of them and own one.

Mint 11 will rock every last one of them.

[mikhou]

+1 for Acer Aspire TimelineX. I purchased mine about six weeks ago. The day I bought it I put #! on it, and it's been rockin' ever since.

mikhou

[Webtest]

Thanks for the recommendations for the Acer Aspire TimelineX. I was surprised by the range of machines that fit this description ... 11.6" to 15.6" display, etc. I also don't really want to pay $550 to $600 for a laptop. I've been looking for used machines, and there are quite a few nice machines in the $200 and under range. I just haven't found one that boots from an SD card yet. I don't need one right away, so I have just bookmarked the local Craigslist website Computer page and I watch it nearly every day.

Thanks again for the comments, and I'll be sure to post here when I finally find what I am looking for.

Blessings in abundance, all the best, & ENJOY!
Art in Carlisle PA, USA

[Reorx]

I don't know if it does every last thing that you want, but it is close for sure... >>> http://www.dell.com/us/business/p/vostr ... ostro-1015

[gn2]

I currently run Linux Mint off of a locked SD card on my HP dx2400 tower and it works extremely well EXCEPT ... sometimes when I remove the SD card and boot XP from the hard drive, the BIOS gets nasty and overwrites the stored boot sequence to give priority back to the hard drive. When that happens, I have to shutdown, reboot into the BIOS and reset the boot sequence to give the SD card priority, and then reboot again. That annoys me greatly.

Any BIOS will reorder the boot device list if you remove the device which is first in the list.
Have you considered pointing the BIOS at the (permanently fitted) Xp HDD as the first boot device then install EasyBCD in Xp to control booting from the (removable) SD card...?

[AlbertP]

There are also BIOS'es that do not point to a device, but are having a generic 'USB HDD' option which stays in sequence if there is no USB HDD. It can point to any bootable USB disk or pendrive. My laptop, HP Pavilion dv6730ed with Phoenix BIOS, is configured that way.