What is Digg?146 Comments
- deadbaby, on 10/11/2007, -6/+86To be fair, you really have to compare Ubuntu (or any Linux distro) to Windows Ultimate or even Windows Server in some cases. Comparing it to a mid-range copy of Windows is not taking into account the simple fact that Linux distros don't put any usage restrictions on you. Want to run a mail server? Sure. Want to have remote access to your desktop? No problem. It's all one version and one price ($0)
- podgey22, on 10/11/2007, -10/+62Comment hijacking in progress!
The author keeps mentioning Ubuntu 7.10... That's not right, is it? - Chandon, on 10/11/2007, -12/+62The price differences are surprisingly high. Dell may be giving a discount on the Ubuntu boxes to promote the release.
In any case, the differences are larger than I'd expect Dell's cost for an OEM Windows license to be in all three cases: $140 less for the Dimension E520n, $80 less for the Inspiron E1505n (and you can save another $50 by sticking with 512 megs of RAM), and $50 less for the Dimension XPS410n. - barius, on 10/11/2007, -4/+42No crapware AND cheaper!? I'll take one!
- Chandon, on 10/11/2007, -3/+41Dell allows you to upgrade from Home Basic to Home Premium for $29.
I'd love to be able to say that Windows Vista costs like $250 more than Ubuntu, but on an OEM system it's simply not true. Even if you're building your own system, you can get "System Builder's Home Premium" for like $110.
Luckily, what the price difference is exactly doesn't matter. As long as a system with Ubuntu doesn't cost *more* than the equivalent system with Vista, people won't feel that they're getting a "Better Deal" by buying the Windows version and reformatting. - HotGore, on 10/11/2007, -3/+30Now for super cheap laptops!
- aaronm67, on 10/11/2007, -3/+25@Pic0
This is surprising because all of those crappy programs that come on Dell computers when you buy them actually make them substantially cheaper. I thought they made quite a bit more off of those programs then they paid for the Windows licenses. Obviously I thought wrong, unless these computers come with similar programs. - martalli, on 10/11/2007, -1/+20I hate to mention that a lot of those Korean cars come with tons of features at the "stock" levels.
- ShadowKlown, on 10/11/2007, -7/+24Lol, I haven't had problems playing any of my games on vista x64 as of yet... Including bf1942, bf2, bf2142 demo, CoH, CoV, and even tried the WoW trial but wasn't impressed with the game. None have had problems so far
- kholburn, on 10/11/2007, -1/+17Good point, he should compare ubuntu with vista + office at least. That's what most people buy don't they?
- infiniphunk, on 10/11/2007, -1/+17"configuration problems during the eventual reinstall"
And why should that be? Installing ubuntu on hardware with good linux support goes off without a hitch. I've installed Windows a lot in my day, and I can tell you that it takes a LOT longer to install than linux. Lets not forget all the rebooting once you run updates, install drivers, and all-important virus protection. Who's time is worth $0.00 now? - drag, on 10/11/2007, -1/+16Yawn. The 1990's called. They want your Microsoft FUD back.
(going from: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116202 )
Windows Vista OEM Home Premium only costs $111.99 if your time is worth exactly $0.00 - Chandon, on 10/11/2007, -0/+15For Ubuntu, the Intel GMA 950 is actually *better* than the ATI Radeon X1400. It'll be a little bit slower on the three 3D games that work on Linux, but things like 2D acceleration and 3D acceleration for a second user actually work. As for the newer Intel chip on the E520 - my guess is that Dell stuck with the GMA 950 because the drivers are more mature.
In any case, if you're not gaming the GMA 950 is perfect (stable, well supported, and reasonably good performance). If you are gaming, none of these cards are what you want - you'd be better off dropping in an Nvidia GeForce 7600 or better. - nomechingues, on 10/11/2007, -10/+24and lets remember ubuntu comes loaded with lots of software that a lot of people would end up buying in windows
- abhiroop, on 10/11/2007, -3/+16Keep in mind that if you compare Ubuntu and say Vista Ultimate, you'll need a much more powerful system to run Vista smoothly. So in effect you could easily get a less powerful system.
- Nysul, on 10/11/2007, -2/+14To be fair, only one of those systems is comparable, the Dimension XPS410n vs. XPS410. The other ubuntu systems come with horrible graphics cards compared to the vista counterpart.One could argue the $100+ difference with the E520n is worth it, but I havn't seen any benchmarks.
- hambend, on 10/11/2007, -4/+16@maddendude
*sigh*
I'm just gonna go back to playing Half-Life 2 on Slackware now... - nsjoker, on 10/11/2007, -4/+16Oh well, it's a start.
- ShadowKlown, on 10/11/2007, -8/+19I don't understand how someone bashing vista's compatibility with games gets dug up, and people saying that they haven't had any problems and listing specific games that they've had experience with, get dug down?
Digging everyone down that goes against the vista=bad montra just defeats the purpose of a comments system.. - okpgreg, on 10/11/2007, -4/+15Yes, most of it IS cross platform, but most of the typical Windows users do not realize their free choices. The typical user would spend much more(as in $0 versus $AL.OT) on equivalent software packages of Ubuntu/Linux and Microsoft software.
- bchow, on 10/11/2007, -1/+10"forgive me if i'm wrong, but doesn't it seem that anyone who wanted Linux on a dell already have Linux on their PC? "
Actually, no. While Ubuntu works great out of the box, it's challenging to get it to run if some hardware you want to use doesn't have proper drivers.
So what Dell offers here is a machine they promise to work with Ubuntu completely. That's the added value and yes - I think it would pay off even if Dell didn't sell many. It's really good for their image to offer this choice and look at all the free publicity they get. - barius, on 10/11/2007, -5/+14Most of it is cross platform so they're really just saving you the download time.
- darkhero, on 10/11/2007, -3/+11I miss looking at this text pages. It is a nice change to css, javascript, and images.
- MikeWanDo, on 10/11/2007, -0/+8I might actually have to get a dell ubuntu laptop. I mean 600 bucks for laptop with specs like that isn't bad.
- kazamx, on 10/11/2007, -0/+8Ubuntu's parent company is doing the software support. The Hardware support will still come from Dell
- venom8599, on 10/11/2007, -0/+8An XP preinstall would be cheaper than buying XP after the fact and slapping it in. Unless you aren't paying for XP. ;.;
- adam.skinner, on 10/11/2007, -0/+8Consider that on the Vista laptop he (needlessly) upgraded the wireless chipset to maintain parity with Ubuntu. I suppose it's only fair though, since he also upgraded the RAM on Ubuntu to keep parity with the Vista Aero requirements.
I'm very pleased that Ubuntu isn't in the situation that was speculated about yesterday, where the addition of crapware on the Vista machine brought the price down enough to essentially make Vista free for the consumer.
Who knows? Maybe they'll even load crapware onto the Ubuntu machine =p I wouldn't mind seeing a free trial of Crossover Office & Moneydance on those machines... - mikelieman, on 10/11/2007, -1/+8That's pretty much how drug-dealers work, too.
- tuartboy, on 10/11/2007, -8/+15@nreisan
You play all those games? I almost feel bad for you... - robdazomba, on 10/11/2007, -0/+7> For the Dimension E520 N, I see a price tag of $599... Where did "$409" come from
That threw me off a bit too. In the screens where you're configuring the system, select "none" for the monitor. The person doing the comparison is comparing only the base costs of the machines, not including accessories and displays.
I'm happy to say that my assumptions were completely wrong. I thought Dell wouldn't sell the Linux boxes for cheaper as it seemed likely to annoy MS. Kudos to Dell for doing it right! - pixelmixer, on 10/11/2007, -2/+9Saving the download time, assuming the user was aware that the free alternative existed. Lots of windows users dont know that something other than MS Office exists.
- underthelinux, on 10/11/2007, -2/+9Here's a thought: The more people that use linux and want to play games on it; the more games will support linux. The more people stick with windows exclusively, the less games will be cross-platform.
Its a simple case of supply and demand, and if you don't attempt to change the demand, nothing will happen. You want windows, go ahead. I like linux. CASE CLOSED. - drlog, on 10/11/2007, -3/+9Its going to be really interesting to see how many people DO buy one. I hope they sell but only time will tell.
I wont be buying one because I already have a computer running Gentoo and a macbook with OSX. - priegog, on 10/11/2007, -2/+8Now, if only dell would advertise these options somewhere in the main page (kind of like how they advertise the "looking for Win XP?", maybe some more people would take advantage of it, instead of only ubuntuforums and digg users. Because really, I would SO buy one of those if I was in the market for a new laptop... But I won't be for at least a year, and by that time, if these haven't sold well enough the offerings will more than likely have disappeared. People who go to dell.com, on the other hand, have a very high likelihood of being in the market for a new lap, and that may include a lot of linux users (of other distros) who won't know they can get such a system, and even semi-geeks who would be tempted to look more into "this ubuntu thingy" that comes instead of windows and makes laptops cheaper..
Just my 2 cents. - EnderTheThird, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5"Consider that on the Vista laptop he (needlessly) upgraded the wireless chipset to maintain parity with Ubuntu."
Not quite needlessly. The default wireless card with the Vista laptop only does 802.11b/g while the Intel card that comes with Ubuntu (and was used in the upgraded Vista laptop) does 802.11a/b/g (b isn't listed, but all g devices can work with b). The upgrade does increase the functionality of the laptop, not just improve compatibility with Linux and increase the Vista price by $29. - Technopundit, on 10/11/2007, -4/+9Don't call after 9PM. The support tech's mom will pick up the upstairs extension and yell at you.
- cesclaveria, on 10/11/2007, -1/+6http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130014 a $51 256MB graphics card.
- zmigliozzi, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5correct podgey 7.10 doesnt come out until october.
Ya I'd think Dell since they buy so many licenses ubuntu would have only showed like a $50 difference, but hey, I won't be complaining. - slave25637, on 10/11/2007, -11/+15This wont win me any popularity contests around here, but I paid for a retail copy of windows vista, and I find it hard to live without.
- acitta, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4It seems that these models are only available in the US. I checked the Dell Canada website and couldn't find them.
- fd9z0r, on 10/11/2007, -2/+6You're really not getting any deal for the E1505 machines, they come out to be pretty much the same if you consider the graphics card. Not to mention that the windows machine has free shipping...
- specv, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4the upgrade from the intel 950 to the x1400 only costs ~ $50 so the authors figures seem fairly resonable
- morriscat, on 10/11/2007, -1/+5Funny, you must not remember what a POS win98 was.
I knew people who had to reinstall daily! I felt lucky only having to reinstall once a week or so.
You picked the wrong place to be a m$ shill. - jughead, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4Dell selling linux systems might very well backfire, but remember Dell isn't doing this because they think it's a good idea; they are doing this because of IdeaStorm. I doubt they thought that pre-installed linux would be such a widespread request. They were probably hoping for "more cool dell-logo desktop backgrounds" or "Please pre-install more trial software so it will be cheaper!!1"
- gadgetuk, on 10/11/2007, -2/+6@ohgr
I guess we'll have to wait until someone gets hold of one to find out. Not that it would worry me, just download the Ubuntu disks for free - or even ask them to deliver it FoC! https://shipit.ubuntu.com/
Try doing that with Vista ;) - VcTrMASO, on 10/11/2007, -2/+5wrong reply.
- inactive, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3windows 98 was not that bad. it was pretty stable on my dell xps t500.
- nreisan, on 10/11/2007, -6/+9@tuartboy
i don't actually play any of them atm they have just all been installed at somepoint in the last few months, except a bit of zombie master / dod sourcefor HL2 while i wait for crysis to come out. Got uni exams atm so no real time.
My point is, @Celerons post is made with no factual backup. I know plenty of people on vista who have no problems, in fact i dont know anyone who has problems or problems with games/programs.
i like ubuntu what i dont like is blind zeolots. -
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