Somehow I have become tech support

[rhyll]

Two questions:
* Can anyone recommend a half-decent laptop (brand/model) for under AU$1500? Dr. C has agreed to me helping her to purchase a laptop and set it up with Ubuntu (hurrah!) All it really needs to do is word processing, etc, play music, and must be able to burn CDs.
* Does anyone else use Doteasy for their website hosting? I am using their free, training-wheels-on service to lower 'barriers to participation' for the Think Tank. BUT! how do you create a page without it showing up on the sidebar? I would be surprised and delighted if anyone here has come upon the same issue. Seriously, this is driving me crazy. I have had actual dreams about it, which is in a way pleasant because it's displacing the thesis-related-night-terrors.

Comments

[ducts.livejournal.com]

$1500 is quite a generous budget, all netbooks and most home laptops will fit that. Apart from the netbooks, it's still fairly difficult to find one that does not include Windows bundled into the price (though it has happened, for example in http://www.thegoodguys.com.au/ last year, or on Dells sold in the USA).

Intel graphics is still the best choice for a GNU laptop, no need to pay extra for ATI or NVidia graphics. ATI is in the process of becoming a better supported option.

If the laptop is only being sold with 512MB of RAM, an extra gigabyte is $25.
If it has a small hard drive, most of them will take a 320GB or 500GB drive - you could install on that, saving the untouched Windows one for a few weeks in case of warranty claims, then put it in a $20 external USB case for laptop backups.
If a netbook sounds nice but all you need is a DVD burner, a nice small USB-powered one for $115 would do the trick: http://msy.arpatubes.net/display.php?type=product&query=15125

You can take a live Ubuntu CD into the shop and try it out.

[alexmoon.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I think that putting Ubuntu on an external drive might work well, since I'm a little worried about Dr. C as a first-time linux user - she's heading off to Cyprus soon, which will limit my ability to provide support... I imagine once I set everything up and show her how to use the terminal and the forums she'll be fine, but I'd be horrified if it didn't work out and she was left OS-less.