One of the first things you'll need to think about is which distribution of Linux you want to use, and whether you want to buy it preinstalled on a laptop or to install it yourself on top of a (presumably) Windows-based laptop. You'll also need to decide if you want to keep Windows on your machine as well, known as a "dual boot" scenario.

On the first of those questions, choosing a distribution--or "distro"--is something that will depend on your interests, level of expertise, and so forth. Check out our guides to and to for more on that. In general, the best distros for laptops include Ubuntu, openSUSE, and Fedora, but there are also smaller-footprint ones such as Puppy Linux and Damn Small Linux (DSL) for low-resources machines. Once you pick a distro, check its Web site for hardware recommendations, even though most will be far exceeded by today's laptop offerings.

As far as getting the distro , many vendors out there sell laptops with Linux (usually Ubuntu) preinstalled, so that's certainly a safe option. The added advantage of taking that route is that such preinstalled offerings typically come with key Linux drivers (more on that below) installed as well, making it easier to start up and go.

Of course, installing Linux yourself is by no means difficult, and it can be handy to have a dual-boot setup in case you ever need Windows for something specific. Doing it this way also gives you a wider range of hardware to choose from.

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