Skip site navigation (1)Skip section navigation (2)
Date:      Sat, 18 Feb 2017 18:39:19 -0700 (MST)
From:      Warren Block <wblock@wonkity.com>
To:        Sergei Akhmatdinov <sakhmatd@inventati.org>
Cc:        freebsd-questions@freebsd.org, David Christensen <dpchrist@holgerdanske.com>
Subject:   Re: Laptop recommendation
Message-ID:  <alpine.BSF.2.20.1702181830550.79251@wonkity.com>
In-Reply-To: <20170218213408.6ftvgiy7j5gwzxvt@silverbeast>
References:  <CAA3eX7Z4zaEu%2BpAoJSYmCDs-TPSYMasutU6Y0Bk9Wq_gG2zNbA@mail.gmail.com> <140316c2-a061-de66-7e1f-212ac88f235e@holgerdanske.com> <20170218213408.6ftvgiy7j5gwzxvt@silverbeast>

next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
On Sat, 18 Feb 2017, Sergei Akhmatdinov wrote:

>> When I bought my laptop back in 2007, I blew it -- it has a wireless
>> networking card with a Broadcom chipset that is not FOSS-friendly. Debian
>> has a work-around using proprietary firmware, but I would prefer a laptop
>> with 100% FOSS-supported hardware.
>
> Perhaps I am going off on a tangent, but most of the time you can buy
> an Aetheros card online and replace it.

Yes.  I have used replacement Atheros wireless cards in my most recent 
notebooks: Dell Latitude E7240 and E7440, small ultrabooks with Haswell 
processors and graphics.

Some vendors only allow particular wireless cards of their own choosing, 
which makes replacing the stock one with a particular chipset expensive, 
challenging, or impossible.  This includes Lenovo and HP.  If you are 
dead-set on one of those and feel lucky with their security or quality 
issues, it might be easier to use a low-profile USB wireless adapter.


The entry on the wiki for the Dell E7240 has everything I wished I could 
ask before buying it.  The E7440 is essentially the same thing with a 
14-inch screen.  Both can be had with 1920x1080 screens, which I 
strongly recommend because the lower-res screen is not IPS.

https://wiki.freebsd.org/Laptops
https://wiki.freebsd.org/Laptops/Dell_Latitude_E7240_i5-4310U



Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?alpine.BSF.2.20.1702181830550.79251>