Re: [tlug] Need laptop vendor recommendation

["Stephen J. Turnbull" <turnbull.stephen.fw@example.com>]

Stuart Luppescu writes:

 > Yeah, I have a Mini-ITX-motherboard-based computer I put together for
 > my personal use. I don't have space for another such machine.

So ditch the tansu and get a rack! ;-)  Yeah, I have sympathy ... my
pain is "all the books in my office that the university doesn't know
about but I'm about to retire and want to keep in my tiny tiny living
space".

 > My own machine runs Gentoo with no systemd, pulseaudio or crap like
 > that.

I've gotten used to systemd.  It has its advantages although it has
taken a lot of getting used to.  It helps to do devopsy on heavily
loaded servers to see the advantages, I'll admit.

 > Unfortunately, I think the lack of "crap" prevents me from
 > connecting to the UofC VPN,

The only lack of "crap" I can think of that has high likelihood of
blocking the VPN is auth stuff.  A VPN is fundamentally just an
authenticated and encrypted channel, like SSL/TLS except maybe it does
a better job of hiding your IP if you trust the provider.

 > Because reasons, I can't do this work remotely anymore, so I need a
 > fast computer to do all the processing I used to do on the UofC
 > server.

OK, I'd still be tempted by a new desktop or deskside box (maybe with
a hotplug USB disk dock for the old disk(s)), but you know your
reasons.

So good luck finding the machine you want at the price point you like!

Steve