[svlug] Light AMD laptop for linux?

[Daniel Gimpelevich]

On Wed, 14 Feb 2007 00:36:15 -0800, David Ljung Madison wrote:

> Any suggestions for a superlight laptop that's linux-happy?
> 
> Requirements:
>   Under 4 pounds
>   - but still a decent sized screen (14" or more?)
>   AMD only  (Intel blows!)
> 
> Niceities:
>   DVD reader (maybe even writer)
>   Decent battery life
> 
> I'd actually prefer a laptop that's a couple of years old.
> 
> I don't really need a new, superduperfast CPU.  A 1-2GHz will
> probably suit my needs, I don't even know how fast CPUs
> are these days and don't really care.
> 
> Any thoughts?

That's a very tall order indeed. It's a bit ironic that the FSF calls for
a boycott of Intel in favor of AMD, since AMD-based systems tend to be far
more Linux-hostile than Intel-based ones. Only four chipmakers in recent
memory have made motherboard chipsets for AMD CPUs: VIA, nVidia, ATI, and
SiS. All of those except VIA absolutely require the use of drivers that
are not open-source to get reasonable use out of the hardware. Like nVidia
motherboard chipsets, VIA stuff causes no end of hardware problems and is
to be avoided. In contrast to the hardware hell of both VIA and nVidia,
both SiS and ATI will plunge you into software hell. However, there is a
light at the end of the tunnel: AMD has promised to rewrite all of ATI's
drivers from scratch, and make the Linux ones open-source. If you get any
AMD-based system, make damn sure the motherboard chipset is ATI-based.

If Linux-happy hardware trumps freeness for you, Intel's
latest-and-greatest CPU is the Core2Duo, and laptops based on it start at
$700. If you go with an Intel CPU and motherboard chipset, _do not_ get
any CPU older than the Core2Duo. Your only reasonable choice would be
Core2Duo or, again, AMD.

For an example of the tall order you have placed, I just checked Best
Buy's website, and _all_ of their AMD-based laptops have nVidia
motherboard chipsets (6100 or 6150 video are a dead giveaway of that),
with one exception, the Gateway MT6451:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?type=product&id=1166840116923

Since you won't be shopping at Best Buy or any other place that only sells
brand-new stuff, the above is only intended to give you an idea of what's
out there.