Linux - Laptops - Sex

Microsoft has recently decided to extend the life of Windows XP for ultra-low-cost laptops in an attempt to keep market share in a computer category where efficient use of hardware resources counts.

While Windows XP is said to be much less power-hungry than Windows Vista, it is still more so than Linux for quite a few kinds of jobs. For example, compiling multiple thousands of Java class files takes on a medium category laptop about two times longer on Windows XP than on Linux.

So there are legitimate performance reasons why you would prefer running your laptop on Linux instead of Windows. And on this point, you have to be careful and remember that hardware support for Linux is not yet as universal as for Windows XP. While hardware vendors tumble over each other to provide device driver for Windows, they don't do the same for Linux. Wireless adapters, video and even audio adapters often don't perform as well on Linux as on Windows.

My otherwise fairly decent Compaq (HP) nx6325 laptop had the following problems with Linux:

• either the video driver doesn't make use of hardware acceleration or you cannot easily adjust the display brightness when needed
• wireless connection is unreliable, it sometimes works and sometimes it doesn't
• audio adapter uses both the built-in speakers and the plugged in head-phone at the same time after you wake up the laptop from suspension; the microphone is generally unreliable with Skype

Your best chance is to buy Intel. Intel chipsets are fairly well supported on Linux -- guess why? Because Intel basically writes (or actively helps developers write) the necessary drivers for the devices it sells. Actually, Intel is said to be the second largest commercial contributor to the Linux code base after RedHat. (The effects of this are, of course, not limited to laptops. The not Linux-friendly Compaq nx6325 sports an AMD CPU with an ATI chipset, but my desktop with AMD CPU and an nVidia chipset had equally troubles with Linux. Both the 4 and 5 releases of the RedHat-clone CentOS had subtle troubles with the nVidia IO-adapter.)

So I decided to replace my nx6325 with an HP 6720s and I am quite satisfied with the Linux support of the new hardware. The only painful surprise is (and this is not related to Linux at all) that the 6720s is part of HP's more cost effective line. And it is painful, because the keyboard of this line is much less comfortable and I already have started experiencing ominous signs of hand/wrist injuries caused by intensive use of a suboptimal keyboard.