Re: a question regarding which laptop for around $1000 that I might install Ubuntu on?

Quoting Steve Litt ([email protected]):

> I hypothesize the most likely differentiation between the machines is
> that the desktop mounts / (and therefore /usr/bin and /usr/local/bin
> and /opt) on an SSD, whereas the laptop mounts everything on a 5400 RPM
> spinning disk. When my laptop's warranty runs out, I might swap in an
> SSD to test that hypothesis.

I'm pretty sure you'll be delighted with the improvement.  Going from
spinning-rust with slow seek operations to electronic storage with no
seeking required inherently makes a huge difference.

> One responsive suggestion I can give you is that if you want your
> $1000 high performance computer to perform like a $1000 high
> performance computer, instead of installing Ubuntu, install Lubuntu,
> which is Ubuntu using the lightweight LXDE wm/de.  Install dmenu and
> run your apps from there.

Strongly concur.  Heavyweight DEs are a much bigger performance hog than
newcomers are aware of -- thus the odd conviction in many of them that
they need formidable hardware just to run a basic work environment.