[Discuss] Laptop recommendation

[don.silvia at gmail.com (Don Silvia)]

Hi,

I've been tasked with finding a large (17") laptop for my parents.  I 
can't deal with the Windows support burden any more, so on the new 
laptop I'm going to install Linux, probably Mint.  I'm looking for 
recommendations on which brand/model I can get Linux working with the 
least amount of tweaking.  I don't mind a little driver installation or 
modprobe type tweaking if there are clear instructions available but I'm 
not interested in a science project.

The price range is under $1000.  Hardware requirements are pretty basic, 
just a big screen with a built-in web cam.  Any reasonably modern laptop 
should have plenty of CPU and memory for their needs.  The software 
requirements are pretty basic too, besides email and web they need skype 
or something similar, and a personal finance program (MS Money 
replacement) that can do check printing.  A recommendation here would be 
great too.

I've had good luck with Ubuntu on Lenovo laptops (a few Thinkpads and an 
S10) but they really want a 17" screen.  The Lenovo G770 looks pretty 
nice but my web searching isn't giving me a lot of confidence that all 
the hardware will work, especially the internal mic.

Thanks,

-- 
Don