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On 11/08/07, Mary Hawking <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > I need a new laptop: if these Dell ones with Linux are not too heavy, > would they be worth considering? So far Dell have made just one laptop available with Linux pre-loaded. It looks OK. You are getting two things. Firstly you are *not* buying a Windows licence, which saves you about £40. Secondly, you know that all the hardware in the laptop will work with Linux. In particular, it can be tricky to get WiFi set up on laptops using Linux. You know that you won't have this problem with the Dell machine. So, if you want to buy a Linux laptop it is a good idea to go for the Dell one. The question is, do you want a Linux laptop? > What are the pros and cons of having Linux and are the office > applications compatible with both MS and Mac? Linux is not Windows. It is at least as reliable as Windows and is more resistant to attack from viruses and other malware. Windows software will not run directly on Linux. There are good alternatives to much Windows software. Specifically, OpenOffice.org has most of the features of MS Word and Excel and is very good (but not perfect) at reading and writing DOC and XLS files. If there is Windows software that you must run under Linux you have two choices. Crossover Linux will allow you to run many Windows programs directly under Linux (including several versions of MS Office). Alternatively you can set up a "virtual machine" to install a real copy of Windows which will run under Linux. For this you need a Windows licence and a reasonable amount of memory (more than the base 500Mb option). Will you want to connect a PDA to the laptop? Palm machines will usually synchronise alright, I believe that Pocket Windows machines do as well but I don't know anything about it. Personally I use Linux 99% of the time at home. The only Windows software I use regularly is Quicken, which runs under Crossover Linux. I have a Palm PDA which syncs nicely with JPilot. www.dell.co.uk/ubuntu -- Michael Leuty Nottingham, UK