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Re: [LUG] Levono Smartbook

 

Quoting Rhia Knowles <rhiadratech@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>:

Hey while we're on the subject of Lenovo/IBM, any tips on Thinkpads to
avoid, either for reliability or not Linux compatible? I'm not having a lot
of luck with my usual tactics for obtaining an ebay bargain (2 laptops sent
back to the seller DOA so far) so Im now focusing on a brand known for
reliability.

IBM ThinkPad R50e.  My wifey has one (in fact she's had it for about 3  
years now), and my Dad has just sold his old one on.
Works fine with Ubuntu, IIRC the wireless card is an Intel chipset  
anyway (54G) and the onboard graphics is Intel too.
My wife's R50e came with 256MB Ram and a Celeron M 1.4GHz CPU, 40GB  
IDE hard drive and DVD-RW/RAM drive however I have since upgraded her  
CPU to a Pentium M 1.7GHz, her memory to 1GB (DDR1 3200) and the hard  
drive to a 100GB drive.  She runs XP Home on her laptop, but my Dad  
did run Ubuntu 7.10 for a while on his old R50e.
I'd have thought you should be able to pick one of these up for around  
the £150 ish mark now.  Luckily Pentium M CPU's are cheap as 'chips'  
(excuse the pun).
It's a Socket 479 chip, I believe it will only take the 400MHz FSB  
CPUs (Celeron M, Pentium M) but if you drop in 1GB Ram and a 1.7GHz  
CPU it certainly runs well.  I know it won't work with the newer  
Core/Core 2/Pentium Dual Core/etc chips which I believe are Socket M  
(physically the same sockets but not electrically compatible).
Hope this helps.

Rob





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