From owner-freebsd-mobile@FreeBSD.ORG Tue Dec 23 10:42:05 2003 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-mobile@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 83A0B16A4CE for ; Tue, 23 Dec 2003 10:42:05 -0800 (PST) Received: from lomond.aae.uiuc.edu (lomond.aae.uiuc.edu [128.174.132.117]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 6860843D31 for ; Tue, 23 Dec 2003 10:42:04 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from dmmcf@uiuc.edu) Received: by lomond.aae.uiuc.edu (Postfix, from userid 1000) id 8E7D218F0D; Tue, 23 Dec 2003 12:42:00 -0600 (CST) To: freebsd-mobile@freebsd.org From: dmmcf@uiuc.edu (D. Michael McFarland) Date: Tue, 23 Dec 2003 12:42:00 -0600 Message-ID: <87zndjidfr.fsf@lomond.aae.uiuc.edu> User-Agent: Gnus/5.1003 (Gnus v5.10.3) Emacs/21.3.50 (gnu/linux) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Subject: Experiences with HP, Compaq? X-BeenThere: freebsd-mobile@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: Mobile computing with FreeBSD List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Tue, 23 Dec 2003 18:42:05 -0000 Hello All, Occasionally I drool over the laptops in places like Best Buy, thinking, "If I had just one more computer, I wouldn't have to wrestle VMware...," etc., etc. Lately, the prices and specs have improved to where I may finally be willing to put my money where my mouth is. It looks like about US$1150 (less rebates if I'm quick about it) would get me either a Compaq Presario 2195US or an HP ze4560us, so I'm here to ask if anyone can support my pipe dream by affirming FreeBSD runs reasonably well on either of these machines. The specs for the two notebooks are nearly identical: AMD Athlon XP-M 2500+, 512 MB RAM, 40 GB HD, ATI Mobility graphics, USB, FireWire, CD-RW/DVD-ROM drive. I don't expect the built-in wireless (11g) will ever work, but I'd like to know 100Base-T does. "16-bit Sound Blaster Pro-compatible audio" could be anything, I suppose. Battery life, noise level, and weight are secondary to performance and reliability to me, unless they're really abysmal. Any opinions will be appreciated (except maybe, "Buy a Thinkpad." Great hardware, but I can't afford it this time). Best regards, Michael -- D. Michael McFarland, Visiting Senior Research Scientist Department of Aerospace Engineering University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign dmmcf@uiuc.edu, www.uiuc.edu/ph/www/dmmcf