ITWire

Generally, each of these stories relates some measure of difficulty due to the vendor having no real procedures with how to deal with such a situation but a cash cheque does arise in the end.

{mospageload david}The authors of these tales do advocate, however, that you carefully document your refusal to accept the Windows licensing conditions that are displayed when you first turn on the laptop (and Windows attempts to configure itself.) If you are purchasing a laptop with Linux pre-installed, then you lose the opportunity to reject this license yourself and it is possible this lack of documented evidence may hinder any attempts for a refund. If you go down this route, we’d be delighted to hear of your adventures.

Do it yourself

Rather than buy a laptop with Linux pre-installed, you can have unlimited hardware choice by simply adding Linux yourself to any laptop you choose. This gives you unlimited flexibility, but here’s where the problem of hardware really comes in.

Fortunately you’re not on your own; there are at least two heavily-trafficked collaborative web sites where individuals can look up the experiences people have had in getting Linux up-and-running on specified laptop models as well as contribute their own stories.

We’ll start with the Linux Online laptop list which presently covers a moderate amount of models, albeit from a wide variety of vendors. Click any link to be directed to an external web page where a brave Linuxphile records their success and how they brought it about.

The downside of this site is that the links are all external. This means, firstly, the pages can disappear over time, but more significantly, there is no consistency or quality control. The Dell Inspiron 9400 receives an excellent wrap with the author producing a comprehensive HOWTO. In contrast, the Digital HiNote fares less well with a few sparse paragraphs in German. Make no mistake, Linux Online have made a great resource but the best is to come.

The pinnacle, which we have saved to now, is Linux on Laptops which is a veritable cornucopia of information on, well, Linux on laptops.

The range of vendors and models is unparalleled, and systems are classified both by the hardware and the Linux distro that was applied. Clicking the Apple page brings up no less than a whopping 79 distinct guides to getting Linux running on Apple hardware. The HP page scrolls on and on, as does Toshiba.

Popular Aldi store brand, Medion, is included as is Alienware and even the short-lived Commodore PC from Commodore Business Machines of Commodore 64 fame, the latter two being in the final “Other” section.

Put shortly, if you want to run Linux on a laptop, and there’s a model which has caught your eye you simply must stop here and check it out. New submissions are easily found and a busy forum aids with troubleshooting problems that arise.

Whichever way you choose, you'll find no end of help from the friendly Linux community and your local user group. Go for it!