Stay away from Samsung if you're planning on using Linux [1]. There's a new BIOS "feature" called "Secure boot" which will affect Linux on Windows 8 machines.

Stay away from Samsung if you're planning on using Linux [1]. There's a new BIOS "feature" called "Secure boot" which will affect Linux on Windows 8 machines. There's been a lot of discussion of this here and among distros. Everyone says that everything will work out, but it's still a new thing, so the road may be a little bumpy. You may want to stick with Windows 7 for now. You can often improve your experience cheaply by upgrading your RAM. You can put 8 GB in most laptops for a cost of $100 or less. This is particularly important if you use large numbers of browser tabs, or virtual machine software like Virtualbox (an easy way to get started with Linux). As for getting a Mac -- Don't. [1] http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=MTI4ODQ http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=MTI4O...