College Laptop with Linux

[cyber_punk]

1) What is your budget?
$400 or more depending on cost vs benefit

2) What size notebook would you prefer?

Open to any of these:
a. Netbook; 10” screen or less
b. Ultraportable; 11" - 12” screen
c. Thin and Light; 13" - 14" screen

3) Where will you buying this notebook? You can select the flag of your country as an indicator.
USA

4) Are there any brands that you prefer or any you really don't like?

a. Like: Well known brands, such as IBM. Prefer American made
b. Dislike: Asus, purchasing from newegg

5) Would you consider laptops that are refurbished/redistrubited?
No, I ordered a refurb Asus EEE and it was DOA

6) What are the primary tasks will you be performing with this notebook?
Word processing, web browsing, e-mail, C#

7) Will you be taking the notebook with you to different places, leaving it on your desk or both?
Will be carried with me all over the place

8) Will you be playing games on it; if so, which games or types of games?
None, I have a desktop for that

9) How many hours of battery life do you need?
At least 4 while running all the programs

10) Would you prefer to see the notebooks you're considering before purchasing it or buying a notebook on-line without seeing it is OK?
Buying online if it's cheaper

11) What OS do you prefer? Windows (XP or Vista), Mac OS, Linux, etc.
Fedora...open to any distro. Not entirely fond of ubuntu, xubuntu fit my tastes more.

Screen Specifics

12) From the choices below, what screen resolutions would you prefer?

a. WXGA – 1280x800 or occasionally 1280x768; For people who like big text and icons that are easy to read. Less stuff fits on the screen, which translates into more scrolling.
b. WXGA+ – 1440x900; A modest bump over WXGA. Text and icons are a bit smaller. A little more stuff fits on the screen.
c. WSXGA+ – 1680x1050; The middle ground. Again, text and icons are smaller than WXGA+, and more stuff fits onto the screen. Good for having applications open side by side, like a web browser while playing a video.

Any of these 3-I multitask ALOT

13) Do you want a glossy/reflective screen or a matte/non-glossy screen?
No gloss so I can see in natural light.

Build Quality and Design

14) Are the notebook's looks and stylishness important to you?
No

15) When are you buying this laptop and how long do you want this laptop to last?
Need it ASAP, will use until I get sick of it or technology improves.
Notebook Components

16) How much hard drive space do you need; 80GB to 500GB? Do you want a SSD drive?
5400rpm hdd's are out of the question. Can live with a 16GB SSD.

17) Do you need an optical drive? If yes, a CDRW/DVD-ROM, DVD Burner or Blu-Ray drive?
I don't need one but I certainly would want one if it did not effect the price much.

[ZaZ]

R series from the Lenovo Outlet might be worth a look.

[coldmack]

HP Mini 100 and 300 are also worth a look. I had the older 1000 model and it came with HP's version of Ubuntu.

I have heard that the Acer 1410 and the upcoming(in the states at least) 1810(dual core model) should do linux well because of the intel gpu. From what I hear intel gpu is more linux friendly than what ATI and Nvidia offer.

[cyber_punk]

Acer 1410 seems great, it's a shame there's no options for a solid state drive though.

[icon007]

look into ebay