deskthority

I want to buy a netbook, notebook or whatever.

Some small portable computer in fact.

It should have a non-glare display (768x1024 would be enough) and a mechanical keyboard ...

The case should be non-glare too. Some cheapish looking rough plastic in black would be sufficient.

Something like this with modern innards would be perfect:



Any suggestions?

You could fit a panda board or two in there.

Macbook air

rodtang wrote:You could fit a panda board or two in there.

This looks nice.


Now, I need a portable monitor and some power supply.

If you wouldn't demand a mechanical keyboard I would definitely recommend a ThinkPad. These things are really nice. Solid, nonglare high-resolution screens, and the scissor switch keyboards are at least tolerable.

Also I usually carry a G84-4100 in my bag, so this takes care of the mechanical keyboard aspect for me.

Also it would be nice to know how big it should be. I'm really happy with my T400 with a 14" Screen, but that might be too big for you.

Maybe something like this: http://www.luxnote-hannover.de/notebook ... 6-ak7.html (that's a refurbished device btw)

I have a ThinkPad R32 sitting around which i could leave you for a few bucks.

Thanks for your suggestions.

The ThinkPad R32 is too old even by my standards.

It need not to come with a mechanical keyboard and it need not to be 1024x768, 640x480 would also be fine ...

I'm thinking of a small, easy to carry one. I don't need a big one.

2GB RAM plus 500GB hard disk would be what I need.

Ideally it should have support for SD cards.

A tablet with a keyboard dock for poker/hhkb.

Maybe a x200 will fit your requirement

I'm quite happy with a Lenovo x121 - owned a X31 for several years before and did not want to give up the small form factor of a 13" portable. I choose this instead of a netbook last year because I absolutely wanted a trackpoint again, and build quality and support of IBM/Lenovo machines under linux has always been up to my expectations - sure, it is a low-end machine, but given it cost me about a quarter of the x31 that is quite some value. The chiclet-style keyboard is not too bad, and the 1366x768 resolution was a little weird in the beginning but comes in handy once you get your wm setup for it.

Mine came with 8GB RAM (overkill, I know) and 320GB of HDD, and the integrated SD-Card slot is working flawlessly.

I moved from a Asus EEEPc 1000HE to a used Thinkpad X61s (♥) and never regretted it. You can get them for relatively small money on ebay. When I bought mine I paid about 150Euro for it.
12" screen with 1024*768 resolution. No touchpad only a trackpoint.
If it should be a bit bigger I would recommend something like a used T400, which is available with screen resolutions like 1440x900 (e.g. http://www.ebay.de/itm/360457363195)
The good thing about the Thinkpads is the wide and cheap availability of dockingstations and spare battery packs. The dockingstation of the X61 has a built in DVD drive for installation purposes.
Both of them don't have a mechanical keyboard though. But I think this requirement is a bit too hard to fulfill in combination with some modern hardware.

The compatibility regarding Linux is very good as well (I just assume you will be running Linux).

Yup, the one I linked above was a refurbished x61. Core2Duo with 1,6GHz, but only 2GB RAM and 100GB HDD, but that's easy to change. I wouldn't care about the preinstalled RAM and HDD too much, as it's often cheaper buying them seperately.

Oh sorry, I overread that. Btw: I use a G84-4100 as well.

What about a Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E130 or E135 ?

The ThinkPad Edge series is a low budget series. Not such a great build quality, not as solid. Also chiclet keys.

Edit: but compared to many other Netbooks they probably are still good. I know many people who are happy with them.

Maybe soon you will know another one.

According to some test report, the x61 lasts only 2 hours compared to 6 hours (E130 and E135).

Also, I'd prefer to buy a new one, except if someone comes with a good solution for a screen mod for a real-keyboard-laptop.

Any other suggestions for a netbook?

What about the acer travelmate series. (anything they released in the last 3 years should do the job. And they have windows less versions)

The keyboard of the lenovo looks better, but I will use a different one if I'm not using it for work but when traveling.

acer: 3.5h
lenovo: 6h

The Lenovo ThinkPad E130 is still the winner.

Do any netbooks have mechanical switches these days?

I'm not really aware of any laptop commonly available with mechanical switches, less yet netbooks, as netbooks are typically the low cost systems for people who can't afford a full size laptop.

Compgeke wrote:I'm not really aware of any laptop commonly available with mechanical switches, less yet netbooks, as netbooks are typically the low cost systems for people who can't afford a full size laptop.

What should a full-size laptop be good for?

I want something which I can carry with me and not a replacement for my home or office computer.

I would get a used X series Thinkpad. They have pretty good battery lifes (but consider buying a new battery) and the Thinkpad keyboards are okay to type on. I prefer the keyboard of my T61 over most rubberdome keyboards.

Something like this http://www.ebay.de/itm/IBM-Thinkpad-Len ... 3ccecd6fb9 maybe?

With a new battery you can get 4-5 hours out of it (or even up to 8-9 with the 9 cell one) and it will be 100% better than any crappy Acer netbook (the Acer support is the worst I ever experienced. In 2 years my Acer Laptop was 16 weeks gone in total because they kept sending it back without fixing it).


EDIT: Also, if that is important for you, there is the thinkpad-acpi kernel module to control/configure the trackpoint, thinklight and so on for linux so the compatibility (and energy consumption) is good on most Thinpads

7bit wrote:What should a full-size laptop be good for?...

Depends on the laptop size. I have a 14" Dell, and it's small and light enough to be carried anywhere, but big enough that I'm not forced to use a 1024x600 or 1366x768 screen, 1440x900 is a noticeable difference. I also have the power of a 2.93 GHz Core 2 Duo instead of an Atom, as well as nVidia graphics, which might actually come in handy with stuff such as WebGL as it gets more demanding, whereas the Intel GMAs are far underpowered in my opinion.

I did notice some Thinkpad T\X 60\61, and I have a feeling most people will find a 12" X61 more useful than a netbook any day, the size difference is maybe 2" (if even that), and they're a LOT faster than the Netbooks. The battery life on the smaller laptops isn't bad either, my 14" gets 3 and a half hours battery, mid screen brightness and backlit keyboard on, and a smaller 12" or so with a new battery will more than likely be longer.

Compgeke wrote:

7bit wrote:What should a full-size laptop be good for?...

Depends on the laptop size. I have a 14" Dell, and it's small and light enough to be carried anywhere, but big enough that I'm not forced to use a 1024x600 or 1366x768 screen, 1440x900 is a noticeable difference.

I did notice some Thinkpad T\X 60\61, and I have a feeling most people will find a 12" X61 more useful than a netbook any day, the size difference is maybe 2" (if even that), and they're a LOT faster than the Netbooks.

Yeah I second that.
My 14.4" T61 + the (REALLY tiny) power supply fit in my shoulder bag (even tho' its not the lightest TP) so I can take it with me to school without needing a backpack. The 12" X series devices are really small and yet sturdy and even with the older dual core CPUs much faster than most current netbooks.

Thanks for all your suggestions so far.

It seems there are a lot of you recommending the X61, but I'm not sure I want to buy used.

Also: It would still not have a perfect keyboard....

Update:
X230 vs. X61.

I think the X230 has got a better display than the E130.

What about the X61's display?

The x230 looks great imho. It's just the Edge series I don't like, but the x230 seems to be an ordinary ThinkPad.

The X61 isn't bad, however the X230 is far newer than an X61 and will be supported a lot longer than any Core 2 Duo.

What do you think about this:
Lenovo Thinkpad T420s

There is one on ebay.de ending in around 1 hour ...