I am looking at getting a new laptop. I made the switch to linux a little less than a year ago and i'm not going back. As of now I only have an old Sony desktop running Fedora 9.

I'm looking for a laptop that is going to last me a good 5 years or so. I don't do any gaming or other visually intensive applications. I do require decent computing power to run computational simulations though.

Right now I'm looking at two options mainly. Because I want something that will last I'm considering the new Macbook or MBPro, I find it hard to beat the aluminum unibody. However, I will need to install linux, most likely fedora. I am not apposed to having to do some work to get it to run properly, but i still want everything to work, I dont want to pay $2000+ for only a partially functional laptop.

The other option is a Dell. I've looked at both the XPS M1530, convenitely it comes with ubuntu, or the Latitude E6400/6500. I am leaning towards the Latitude series due to the available options and I prefer the styling a little more. And for the price they are both much more powerful than the Mac(s).

My questions, I guess, is are there any suggestions. Like I said I can live with it not working out of the box if necessary, I just want to to be a solid stable laptop for years to come. I would rather go for the affordability of the Dells, i am just a little concerned about their construction and reliability.

Any help is greatly appreciated. I am also open to other laptop suggestions.

Thanks for your help.

Bearman