cheap Macs?

[cellio]

Dear LJ brain trust,

I'd like to get an inexpensive laptop. It won't be my main machine; it's for travel and other situations where portability is useful. So it doesn't need to be studly; it just needs to be reliable and support basic tools like Firefox, emacs, SSH, FTP, and that sort of thing.

This would be a prime opportunity to explore the Macintosh, which some of my friends rave about, except for one little thing: I can get a (new) Dell laptop for around $400, but Macs start at $1100. Is there some less-expensive option I'm missing?

Comments

[sui66iy.livejournal.com]

I defer to the fellow who has a strong opinion; it's been years since I used Linux as a desktop environment and so my experience is limited to the decidedly un-hip Red Hat. The thing I always hear about Linux on a laptop is that the wireless situation can be a pain (which is sort of a big deal). But that could well be much better now --- I haven't kept track.

[dsrtao]

With a supported card, it's utterly painless. With a non-supported card, ranges from painful to impossible.