# Best Laptop for FreeBSD 8.0



## psycho (Apr 2, 2010)

Hello.
I have spared some money and planning to buy a laptop.
Can someone recommend what would be the best laptop to run FreeBSD 8.0 
Price: 350 $ - 450 $
what i want is: wireless working, no problems with acpi(optional), sound working, solid graphic card, cd/dvd burner, ram not under 512 Mb, usb and card reader working ...
So please give me the best suggestion, I really want to spend this money for something that it is worth off.


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## vermaden (Apr 2, 2010)

@psycho

Pentium M class (single core), these also have ATI Radeon graphics:
IBM/Lenovo ThinkPad T40/T41/T42/T43 with Atheros AR5212 wireless card or Intel 4965agn.
Dell Latitude D600/D610 with Intel 4965agn (or some Atheros).​
Core Duo/Core 2 Duo class (dual core) they have GMA 950/X3100 or some nVidia Quadro cards:
IBM/Lenovo ThinkPad T60/T61 with Intel 4965agn (or some Atheros).
Dell Latitude D620/D630 with Intel 4965agn (or some Atheros).​
I have run 8.0 on the D630, D600 and T42, now using ThinkPad X300, all of these work like a charm under FreeBSD.


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## oliverh (Apr 2, 2010)

Acer Aspire 5630 (Core2Duo T5500, 2G ram, Intel 3945 Wifi, GMA 950)
Sony Vaio VGN-NS21Z (Core2Duo P8600, 4G ram, Intel 5100 Wifi, Ati Radion 3400)

Both of them run without any problems. You can use the ATI even with 3D (xf86-video-ati/radeonhd/mesa7.6.1). FBSD 7.x/8.0 (stable), Slackware 12/13, OpenBSD 4.6/4.7 current run fine too.


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## psycho (Apr 2, 2010)

thank you!
mmm, this T43 looks good!
And did I mentioned, I need a laptop with really good battery


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## vermaden (Apr 2, 2010)

psycho said:
			
		

> thank you!
> mmm, this T43 looks good!
> And did I mentioned, I need a laptop with really good battery



Both T4x/T6x and Latitude D6xx can be loaded with EXTENDED and ADDITIONAL batteries in multibay/ultrabay/whateverbay.

As I had Dell D630 with 9-cell 7800mHa main extended battery and additional 6-cell 4200mHa battery instead of the DVD-RW drive, I was able to get around 9 hours of work on it.

Same additional battery fits to D610/D600 bay, but there is no extended battery for D610/D600.

There are extended batteries for T6x for sure (along with additional batteries instead of DVD drive), but I do not remember if extended batteries were available to T4x series, but you still can load a T4x with additional battery into whateverbay.

... mine current ThinkPad X300 is also loaded with extended primary battery and with additional battery (what gives me about 6 hours of work on it).


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## everypot (Apr 13, 2010)

For that price, it's hard to get a decent laptop. But you can try dealsea.com, and see if you can get good deals.


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## sossego (Apr 13, 2010)

The card reader may pose a problem on some laptops.
You're better off buying a usb card reader, using the usb mass device driver, and letting hal or gnome_mount do it through the interface.
If you don't mind buying a few parts, get a refurb or a used.
Someone tossed away three m275's and they work except for the card reader.
I have sound, wireless, and 3d acceleration working- had to ask for some help here with the wireless.
 Most of my equipment comes from the trash, followed by Craig's List- 1 G3 and 2 dimension3000 for $80, or as a gift.


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## Anonymous (Apr 14, 2010)

get a thinkpad but whatever you do DON'T get a Compaq


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## khoudali (Apr 15, 2010)

had someone tried to install freebsd on toshiba tecra R10-10K?


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## vermaden (Apr 15, 2010)

@khoudali

Should work without a problem.

BTW, the more Toshiba laptops I see, the more I am convinced that no competent people work there, look at the Tecra R10 keyboard:
http://www.vario.bg/images/product/tecras10(3).jpg

Its 14" laptop, so they were able to put full size keyboard there without any problem, compare that to T400/E6400 kerboards, and what Toshiba team did? They put power button on the left altogether with 12" size laptop squeezed keyboard ... at least its not that shiny as usual. Guess business means something different at Toshiba, then at IBM/Lenovo/Dell


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## psycho (Apr 15, 2010)

Wow, it seems that these Thinkpads from R series are pretty good, and affordable. (R400, R500)
http://shop.lenovo.com/us/notebooks/thinkpad/r-series   |||what do you think?


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## vermaden (Apr 15, 2010)

@psycho

R series is basically T series but with some features cut off, depends what you seek for.

I personaly would get used T series, I was able to get almost new T400 (with 1440x900 screen) for $700 so maybe just try eBay or something like that?

... or if these features are not significant for You, then get R series.

Just be sure to stay away as far as possible from SL series or the new 'ThinkPad' Edge, these are shit and definitely should not been branded as a ThinkPad.


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## khoudali (Apr 15, 2010)

thanks for your answer,i have a toshiba tecra R10-10K and have problem while booting with all version of freebsd and both of the architecture (i386 and amd64), it craches every time i boot with the cd or dvd. it craches before i see the boot menu. if someone had similar problem or had successfully installed it on these laptop without problem. thanks for help


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## vermaden (Apr 15, 2010)

@khoudali

Submit a BUG here: http://freebsd.org/send-pr.html

... and also FW that problem to freebsd-questions [AT] lists.freebsd.org


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## psycho (May 14, 2010)

sorry for bothering but, are these Thinkpads also suitable for OpenBSD??


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## vermaden (May 15, 2010)

@psycho

Yes and NetBSD/OpenSolaris 'compatible' also.


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## semin (May 20, 2010)

mharvey87 said:
			
		

> get a thinkpad but whatever you do DON'T get a Compaq



May I ask what's wrong with Compaq?


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## mlbrichard (Dec 30, 2011)

@vermaden
Just a word of thanks for mentioning Dell 630. Got a fast one from Dell on eBay for under $300, it runs freebsd FreeBSD 8 nicely, and also Win 7 x64, with dual boot. Only downside so far is the graphics adapter in windows, as it does not support Direct3D.


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## vermaden (Jan 1, 2012)

@mlbrichard

Welcome mate.

As for the Windows problem, You just probably need to install drives from http://intel.com and it should work without a problem, at least that worked for me while I also had Windows XP there, if I recall correctly, the chipset is 965GM and the graphics card is Intel GMA X3100.


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## vermaden (Jan 24, 2012)

Just an update, FreeBSD 9.0-STABLE (r230041) does fully working SUSPEND/RESUME on my Dell Latitude E6400 laptop, should also work on 9.0-RELEASE since its only a month difference now, I just need to type sudo zzz ;p


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