Key Features to select the best laptop for distribution

1.      Operating System

Ø  First thing we must now which distribution of Linux we want to use (to buy it preinstalled or to install by you).

Ø  Choosing a distribution (distro)is something that will depend on interest, level of expertise and so forth. The best distros for laptops include Ubuntu, openSUSE, Linux Mint and Fedora but also smaller-footprint ones such as Puppy Linux and Damn Small Linux (DSL) for low-resources machines.

2.      Processor

Ø  Among the most commonly found CPUs today are the Intel Atom N450; the Intel T4300, Core 2 Duo, Core i3, Core i5 and quad-core Core i7; and the AMD Athlon 64 Mobile and Turion 64 X2.

Ø  The more cores in our computer, more calculation it can handle at once. That can make for better response times when you’re running multiple applications. Dual core is good for most purpose today because, processor speeds, meanwhile typically range 1.8GHz to 3GHz or more.

3.      System Memory

Ø  RAM is particularly important if you plan to use memory-intensive apps like virtualization, photo editing or video editing, or if you plan to dual-boot.

Ø  64-bit Linux distro or dual boot it is good idea to go for 4GB of RAM for maximum flexibility. Other hand, 32-bit distros alone don’t typically need more the 3 GB.

4.      Graphics

Ø  Fully supported low-end video cards for Linux include the Intel GMA 4500MHD, 945GM, 950 GMA, and X3100 GMA as well as Nvidia's Quadro NVS 160M.

Ø  On the higher end targeting video editing and 3D games there's the Nvidia Quadro FX 880M, FX 2800M, NVS 3100M, GeForce 9300M GS and GeForce 9300M, as well as the Intel GMA X4500 HD, ATI FirePro M7740, ATI Radeon HD 3650 and ATI Mobility Radeon HD4650, to name a few. 

5. Other specification

Ø  Wireless

·         Linux distros is fully support many common Broadcom wireless chips. Meanwhile Atheros and Intel are the two wireless will chips brand best known for their Linux compatibility.

Ø  Sound

·         Most on-board sound cards should work just fine with Linux, enabling users to play MP3, WAV, and OGG files as well as ripping audio CDs and more.

Ø  Optical Disk

·         Linux does not support DVDs and other optical format, if we want to play Blu-ray movies, we need to get Blu-ray optical driver that can read and write DVDs.

Ø  Screen, Hard Drive, Battery , and Keyboards.

Considerations on these should be much the same as for non-Linux laptops:

Portable Koala The world's smallest dual-core Linux laptop, the Dell-based Koala E6220weighs 3 pounds and packs in a 12.5" HD LCD,EVDO, 256GB Solid State Drive, and 8GB RAM. Also check out the Raven X220 Tablet, with handwriting recognition.

Versatile Toucan For the power of a large system (Core i7, 8GB, 7200rpm drives) without sacrificing portability, the ThinkPad-based Toucan T520 and W520 Linux laptops are hard to beat.

Powerful Rhino Our Dell-based Rhino M4600 system is the fastest, highest resolution Linux laptop available. It pairs high performance 3-D with 1920x1080 Full-HD LCDs, and 16GB RAM. TheRhino M6600, with 32GB RAM, Quad-core CPU, dual 750GB drives, a 17.3" FHD LED screen, and nVidia 4000M (320 Cuda cores) is also available.

created by : MUHD ASYRAF BIN KHAIRUDDIN (4073001501)