RatCreature (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
ratcreature) wrote2010-12-06 09:29 pm
ratcreature) wrote2010-12-06 09:29 pm
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I bought a new laptop
It is a rather cheap one, having cost €400 (plus a bit over €20 for an extended repair warranty lasting four years which I thought was worth it to reassure me that I'll get use out of my investment for a while), but this was still quite a big expense for me. It's a HP 625, and it came with a SuSE Enterprise Linux trial thing, but I've just installed Ubuntu on it, because from what I understood you have to pay Novell for using the updates or something like that. I suppose I might already have paid with the computer and would have just needed to register, but I couldn't find any sensible instructions, and while I used older SuSE Linux in the past, this one's interface wasn't all that great when I checked it out.
Also the guy in the store where I bought it recommended installing an new Linux anyway, saying that the Linux on it wasn't a regular version, but he had assured me that he had installed Ubuntu without problems on this model. And because I didn't have to pay for a Windows license, I got more memory and a larger hard disk than the version of the laptop that was sold with Windows at this price. So I have 4GB RAM and a 320GB disk.
So far everything works really nicely. The Ubuntu install went okay overall, though my first try, when I choose to download updates right away stalled with a bizarre I/O error at the end right before the restart, and left me with a non-starting system, but my second try to install what was on the CD then download updates later worked out. Unlike with my old laptop (may it RIP) with this one the power management and battery monitor works under linux, and the wireless worked right away, also it can do the better encryption, so now my wlan is safer since I could enable that in my router. Sound, touchpad, graphic acceleration work too. The fan is not too loud, and it doesn't seem to heat up too much either. The keyboard is quite nice too, though I keep thinking the keys ought to be further to the left, because unlike my last one this laptop has the special keys on the left side, but I ought to get used to that soon enough. I haven't yet checked everything, and still have to customize a lot, but it seems really promising.
Also the guy in the store where I bought it recommended installing an new Linux anyway, saying that the Linux on it wasn't a regular version, but he had assured me that he had installed Ubuntu without problems on this model. And because I didn't have to pay for a Windows license, I got more memory and a larger hard disk than the version of the laptop that was sold with Windows at this price. So I have 4GB RAM and a 320GB disk.
So far everything works really nicely. The Ubuntu install went okay overall, though my first try, when I choose to download updates right away stalled with a bizarre I/O error at the end right before the restart, and left me with a non-starting system, but my second try to install what was on the CD then download updates later worked out. Unlike with my old laptop (may it RIP) with this one the power management and battery monitor works under linux, and the wireless worked right away, also it can do the better encryption, so now my wlan is safer since I could enable that in my router. Sound, touchpad, graphic acceleration work too. The fan is not too loud, and it doesn't seem to heat up too much either. The keyboard is quite nice too, though I keep thinking the keys ought to be further to the left, because unlike my last one this laptop has the special keys on the left side, but I ought to get used to that soon enough. I haven't yet checked everything, and still have to customize a lot, but it seems really promising.