Introduction
LinuxCertified LC2464 laptop
Price: US$1,479 + US$99 for built-in wireless
Processor: AMD Athlon64 Mobile 2800+
Operating System: Gentoo Linux for AMD64
It doesn't take a crystal ball to figure out that 64-bit processors are the future. The latest 64-bit offerings from Intel and AMD are compelling and reasonably priced. 64-bit technology may soon dominate the desktop, but is it ready for the laptop market? A quality mobile computer needs to balance performance and power consumption in a way that will maximize user productivity and mobility. Are mobile 64-bit processors up to the task? I decided to review an AMD Athlon 64-bit laptop in order to find out. For this review, I have selected the LinuxCertified LC2464.
Tech specs
- CPU: AMD Athlon64 Mobile 2800+ 1MB of L2 Cache, 800MHz FSB
- Display: 15.4" WXGA TFA 1280x800
- Video: ATI Radeon 9700 (128MB)
- Hard drive: 40GB (5400rpm)
- OS: Gentoo Linux for AMD64
- RAM: 412MB
- Optical drive: DVD/CD-RW Combo drive
- Networking: 10/100 BaseT Ethernet, 802.11g mini-PCI wireless
The operating system
Software selection always necessitates a compromise. On my desktop system, I prefer Linux for a wide variety of reasons. Software availability and the flexibility implied by the open source development model are the principal benefits of Linux. Quality noncommercial Linux distributions feature elaborate package management systems that facilitate automatic acquisition and installation of virtually every piece of popular software available for the platform. Not only does Linux provide most of what you need right out of the box, it also provides users with the resources they require to build additional tools and utilities that further augment productivity.
I chose Gentoo Linux because I like the fact that it automatically compiles software packages as they are installed, allowing the user to fully manage optimization and linking. The result is a system with strong performance, fine-tuned for your hardware and optimized exactly the way you want. The sophistication of Gentoo makes it a poor choice for new Linux users, but it is a favorite distribution among many developers and system administrators. The LC2464 is also available with SuSE 9.3 AMD64 or Fedora Core 3 AMD64, which are both excellent choices.
The efficacy and low cost of Linux make it an excellent choice for a wide variety of users, but is hardly an infallible panacea as many would have you believe. One of the biggest problems with Linux is hardware support. It runs magnificently on relatively average hardware, but unique or cutting edge hardware is a different story entirely.
Support for wireless networking is extremely poor. Insidiously bad WiFi support causes my desktop system to crash regularly, and I often read other wireless networking horror stories like this one. High performance video cards are also problematic, as they require proprietary drivers that are always a step behind everything else. Educated Linux users compensate for these difficulties by purchasing hardware known to work well with Linux. Laptops pose a number of particularly grave challenges. The developers all admit that Linux power management sucks. Laptop input and display drivers also often a source of problems.
There are many resources available for Linux users researching prospective laptop purchases. One of the most prominent is Linux on Laptops, a community-operated web site that publishes user commentary about Linux performance on specific mobile systems. In many cases, manual installation of Linux on a laptop requires a bit of extra effort and some previous experience. Linux pre-installation is really the best way to ensure that your new hardware is fully compatible with Linux, and it saves you the trouble of manual system configuration. Most mainstream computer vendors add the cost of Windows to your total. Linux preinstallation eliminates the cost of Windows and saves you money.
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