Help me choose a laptop! (Dell vs Toshiba vs Dell)

[darkrubysage]

UPDATE - FOUND A TOSHIBA C650D See specs at bottom

Hey, Linux users! I'm buying a laptop soon, but I can only afford about $650. I have 4 laptops in mind right now - A Dell Inspiron 15, a Toshiba Satellite L650-BT2N23, aDell Inspiron M101z, and a Toshiba Satellite C650D-BT2N13. I like the Dell Inspiron 15, because it's cheap and Dell has always been reliable in the past. I also like the Dell M101z, because it's the cheapest I can find, and it has a better hard drive, but I'm not sure about AMD. I'm leaning towards the Toshiba Satellite C650D, partly because it's got an i3 CPU, and also because the laptop itself looks stronger and looks nicer(I know, pathetic), however, I have heard many complaints from the Linux community about various issues with Toshiba laptops. I just found the Toshiba Satellite C650D-BT2N13, and it's the cheapest, with basically the same specs, except for the processor and the graphics(I've been told ATI is better than intel by a few people)
Please help me decide, or if you know a better deal, post it! Specs for all 4 are below -

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Dell Inspiron 15 $793.99 -$219.00 instant savings = $574.99 (custom specs at online store)

Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64bit, English
Jet Black
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T6600 (2.20GHz/800Mhz FSB/2MB cache)
1 Yr Ltd Hardware Warranty, InHome Service after Remote Diagnosis
Microsoft® Office Starter 2010
McAfee SecurityCenter, 15-Months
Bright, glossy widescreen 15.6 WLED display (1366x76
4GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 at 800MHz
Size: 500GB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM)
8X CD/DVD Burner (Dual Layer DVD+/-R Drive)
Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X4500HD
Dell 1397 Wireless-G
High Definition Audio 2.0
No Webcam Option
6-cell battery
My Services & Warranties
Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 9.0
No ISP requested
Integrated 10/100 Network Card
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Toshiba Satellite L650-BT2N23 $814.00 -$95.00 component rebate -$100.00 instant savings = $619.00 (custom specs at online store)

Intel® Core™ i3-370M Processor 2.40 GHz, 3MB Cache
Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium 64-bit
4GB DDR3 1066MHz SDRAM (2048MBx2)
500GB HDD (5400rpm, Serial ATA)
DVD SuperMulti (+/-R double layer) drive
Fusion® Finish in Helios Black with Standard Black keyboard
Lithium-Ion Battery (6-cell, 48Wh)
Realtek® Wireless LAN (802.11b/g/n) OR Broadcom Wireless LAN (802.11b/g/n) and Bluetooth® Version 2.1 +EDR
No Modem
Microsoft® Office 2010 Starter
Norton Internet Security Suite (NIS) 2011 (30-day trial)
1 Year Standard Limited Warranty

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Dell Inspiron M101z $559.99 (custom specs at online store)

Microsoft® Office Starter 2010
1 Yr Ltd Warranty, 1 Yr Mail-in Service, and 1 Yr Tech Support
McAfee SecurityCenter, 30-Day Trial
Clear Black
Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium
AMD Athlon™ II Neo K325 (Dual Core,1.3GHz,2MB Cache)
Inspiron M101z
11.6'' High Definition Truelife™ WLED (1366x786)
4GB DDR3 SoDIMM at 800MHz, 2x2GB DIMM
320GB SATA Hard Drive (7200RPM)
AMD RS880 Integrated Graphics
56WHr Lithium-Ion Battery (6-cell)
Combo 802.11n 1x1 with Bluetooth 3.0 HMC
Integrated 1.3M Pixel Webcam
Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 9.0

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Toshiba Satellite C650D-BT2N13 $674.00 -$40.00 component rebate -$100.00 instant savings = $534.00
AMD Athlon™ II Dual Core Processor P340 (2.2 GHz, 1MB L2 Cache)
Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium 64-bit
4GB DDR3 1066MHz SDRAM (2048MBx2)
500GB HDD (5400rpm, Serial ATA)
ATI® Integrated Graphics
DVD SuperMulti (+/-R double layer) drive
No Integrated Webcam or Microphone
Microsoft® Office 2010 Starter
Norton Internet Security Suite (NIS) 2011 (30-day trial)
1 Year Standard Limited Warranty


Thanks in advance, guys.

[rokytnji]

I like the specs on the Toshiba and Broadcom is releasing (starting to support) new drivers for Wireless support. Realtek already supports Linux.

Broadcom releases open source wireless driver for Linux - The H Open Source: News and Features

The Toshiba is the one I would pick. Just my opinion though.

[PrinceSharma]

Toshiba all the way 'out' of the options you've put

[Rubberman]

Don't trust HP if you are going to run Linux - too much proprietary cruft in them, price notwithstanding. Dell's have not had a good reliability reputation over the past couple of years. My wife has a Toshiba netbook that I got her last were which runs Linux very nicely and works great. I think it has a 250GB hard drive and cost only about $500 USD. Also, of all the ones you mention, the Toshiba will definitely have the best performance.

[jayd512]

Looks like we're all in agreement here...
Of the choices you've got there, Toshiba is looking like the best bet for a Linux box.