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Date: Tue, 6 Jun 95 17:07:12 PDT
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To: freebsd-hardware@FreeBSD.org
Subject: recommended notebook?
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I'm planning to buy a notebook pc on which to run FreeBSD (or perhaps
NetBSD or linux), and I'm looking for advice. The purpose is to do
software development as a hobby, compiling and browsing code; to get
familiar with system code; and also to serve as a remote SLIP
X-terminal to my paying job. A typical load would be 1 user reading
many files in emacs while compiling.

Is it practical to get a laptop for this (costing less than $3000)?

>From news postings and FAQ's, my impresion is that :
- a 486DX-4/100 with at least 12M memory and a large (>500M) disk 
  would be adequate.
- a PCI bus and a SCSI disk would be much better than ISA/IDE.
Plus I would want a CD-ROM drive and a 14.4k modem, and an external
SCSI jack.

This seems easy to find as a desktop system; is it possible as a
laptop? I like portability, but don't want to pay too much more in $
or in speed.

How do the "clones" (Patriot, ChemBook, etc) compare to the "name
brands" (Compaq etc.)?

I appreciate any recommendations, warnings, or tips, as to system
configuration, brand names, or places to buy.