lost_in_space

I want to buy a new laptop in the next week or so and would like some advice about which laptops are okay with Ubuntu or Linux Mint and which ones I should avoid.

Normally I wouldn't worry too much but recently my company bought me a Dell Vostro 360 all-in-one desktop with Ubuntu 10.10 pre-installed. I couldn't get any newer Linux desktop software to work on it, except 11.10 in simple graphics mode. It had the Intel i3 chip and integrated graphics. Even the IT dept couldn't get it to work, and the main guy is an Ubuntu fan. Since this will be my own money, I want to avoid as many problems as I can. I've been to some websites like the Ubuntu certified page, Ubuntufriendly, and the Ubuntu forum on laptops and hardware. That forum mostly consists of posts saying everything worked out of the box except.......(one or two things).

I have about 15-18,000 to spend and would appreciate any tips you might have.

I want to say something like 'your child is bullying mine at school.' My Thai dictionary comes up with a lot of words and I'm not sure of the differences or nuances. After all, 'bully' can mean 'good for you' and 'good job.' If you have any ideas, may I ask you to write them in Thai as well as in English phonetic script? I want to talk to her teacher as well as the parents and school admin, and some Thai script would help.