digg

Join DiggAbout

Discover the best of the web!
Learn more about Digg by taking the tour.

Dell Prices - Ubuntu vs. Vista

cs.uml.edu — With Dell's new Ubuntu offerings, everyone had been wondering how much cheaper, if any, an Ubuntu PC would be compared to a PC with Windows Vista on it. Now that Dell has actually posted their Ubuntu offerings, I've configured some similar PCs on their site and compared them. I'm pleasantly surprised - the Ubuntu machines are noticeably cheaper.

Bury
show profanity settings
expand all
  • 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.
    • podgey22, on 10/11/2007, -10/+62Comment hijacking in progress!

      The author keeps mentioning Ubuntu 7.10... That's not right, is it?
    • Pic0, on 10/11/2007, -42/+14why is it surprising?

      take off the price of windowz and you get a price reduction
    • HotGore, on 10/11/2007, -3/+30Now for super cheap laptops!
    • ohgr, on 10/11/2007, -3/+38Here's something I didn't see. If you purchase a Dellbuntu Machine, does it come with a Ubuntu Install Disc, or is it about the same as usual, no disc, and everything on a seperate partition?
    • slythfox, on 10/11/2007, -12/+7For the Dimension E520 N, I see a price tag of $599... Where did "$409" come from?

      http://www.dell.com/content/topics/segtopic.aspx/linux_3x?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs
    • slythfox, on 10/11/2007, -17/+7@myself.

      Nevermind, it's minus $150 if you don't get the monitor.
      Nice cheap prices. I still wouldn't buy unless I could overclock it.
    • 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.
    • 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.
    • Technopundit, on 10/11/2007, -21/+4This is nothing more than a publicity stunt. They won't be available in 10 months.
    • IQ70, on 10/11/2007, -7/+3If chandon added $29 to the Vista laptop for the wireless card, why didnt he add $50 for the graphics card for the Ubuntu laptop?
      Bias?
    • 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.
    • 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 ;)
    • 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!
    • 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...
    • 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.
    • se1zure, on 10/11/2007, -8/+3IMO, a valid vista lisence is worth more than $50. And the EULA on the windows copy says if you disagree with the EULA, you can return windows to Microsoft for a refund of your money. That (in the end) would probably save you more money.
    • se1zure, on 10/11/2007, -9/+4Here is a good comparison:

      Inspiron e1505
      Intel® Pentium® dual-core T2080(1MB Cache/1.73GHz/533MHz FSB
      1gb ram
      80gb HDD
      24x cd burner
      256MB ATI MOBILITY™ RADEON® X1400 HyperMemory™

      Windows: $699
      Ubuntu: $649 w/o video card, or about $720 w/ video card.

      ANd assuming you can sell back windows to microsoft:

      $620 for windows, $720 for ubuntu. Paying more for ubuntu ftw?
    • Homunculiheaded, on 10/11/2007, -3/+3"Just download the Ubuntu disks for free - or even ask them to deliver it FoC! https://shipit.ubuntu.com/
      Try doing that with Vista ;)"

      I did, it works great: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/academic/default.aspx

      I'm not trying to be a vista fanboy, I love ubuntu, I just like free legal software, and anyone whose a CS students should know that they can get tons of useful MS software free, and legal.
      • 10001, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1open source doesn't require student status.. just living status
    • demodawid, on 10/11/2007, -1/+2@Homunculiheaded (#6866709)
      And not just in the US, too. I live in Argentina, and Microsoft came to my university one day to give free vista licenses to every student who wanted one. I have vista on my computer for free and legally.
    • mikelieman, on 10/11/2007, -1/+8That's pretty much how drug-dealers work, too.

    • davin510, on 10/11/2007, -3/+2I personally would pay those higher margins just to make use of the vastly larger program library for windows.
    • wqwert, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1"correct podgey 7.10 doesnt come out until october."
      More generally, the naming convention for ubuntu is year.month. In this case, 2007.October, or 7.10
    • Chandon, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2se1zure -
      That's a really bad deal, because the X1400 works like crap on Ubuntu. If you're legitimately running Ubuntu (or anything that uses the X Window System), then the GMA 950 is a value-adding feature over the ATI card. If it were a GeForce 7300, you'd have a better argument. If it were a GeForce 7600, you'd be right - but, instead it's a really low end ATI card.
    • thisoldmage, on 10/11/2007, -1/+0http://othyr.com/?p=7

      blogspam of me making my argument that infact the opposite is true!
    • sanguinemoon, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2Pic0 got dugg deep for asking why it's surpising that the Ubuntu machines are cheaper. By defending him, I guess I'm taking the "risk" of being dugg down myself. The standard gospel is that crapware makes Windows machines cheaper. That's correct, but not how you think. The crapware probably mostly pays for Windows itself. Even with the OEM discount, Dell (and the other OEMs, of course) still do need to pay for Windows.
      • 10001, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1so install the crapware in a virtual windows machine. the virtual machine is free. then the crapware could offset hardware instead
  • schestowitz, on 10/11/2007, -33/+11"Inspiron E1505n vs. E1505
    Ubuntu 7.10 Price: $649 (After $50 upgrade to 1 gig RAM)
    Windows Vista Home Basic Price: $728 (With ATI Graphics)"

    Add another $200 to the Windows Vista offer because...

    Acer: Vista Home Basic is a lemon

    ,----[ Quote ]
    | Microsoft is effectively smuggling through a price hike for Windows
    | Vista - by making the entry-level version so poor that no-one will
    | want to use it. So says Jim Wong, senior veep at Acer, the world's
    | number four PC maker, who told UK hack Jon Honeyball: "The new
    | [Vista] experience you hear of, if you get Basic, you won't feel
    | it at all. There's no [Aero] graphics, no Media Center, no
    | remote control."
    `----

    http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/10/27/acer_slams_vista_home_basic/

    Not to mention additional software like OpenOffice and GIMP, as well as free repos.
    • 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.
    • justnick, on 10/11/2007, -9/+6that's why they call it basic. You get the security updates to the os but not the eye candy and stuff. It's like buying a stock Kia, you get a car and not much else, but it is cheaper.
    • 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.
    • 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)
    • 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?
  • 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
    • barius, on 10/11/2007, -5/+14Most of it is cross platform so they're really just saving you the download time.
    • 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.
    • 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.
    • robdazomba, on 10/11/2007, -3/+2Ever run some of these free programs on Windows vs running them in their native environment? Very big difference so it's not quite as simple as just downloading the freebies and running them. That's (IMO) one of the biggest hurdles to widespread adoption of things like openoffice.org and other open source software. They need to run on Windows every bit as smoothly as they do on Linux.

      So no, for many people, the cost of Office or other software *is* going to be an issue when using Windows.
  • nsjoker, on 10/11/2007, -4/+16Oh well, it's a start.
    • 10001, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1configurations with FreeDOS are a better bargain than either Vista or Ubuntu

      :)

  • maddendude, on 10/11/2007, -74/+9Enjoy your ubuntu fake games while I play real games on my Vista.
    • Celeron, on 10/11/2007, -39/+31Like you can actually run any compatible games on Vista. It can barely support current programs let alone games.
    • nreisan, on 10/11/2007, -58/+19@celeron

      have you even used vista you ***** reject
      where is your basis for 'barely support current programs let alone games'

      your so full of ***** its not even funny.

      practically all games and programs that people actually use/play work on Windows Vista with no problems.

      HL2, Supreme Commander, Company of Heroes, Eve Online, World of Warcraft, GTR2, Rainbow Six Vegas, Call of duty 2, LOTRO, Diablo 2: LOD, all these games are i have installed and played on my vista home premium with no problems..


      your blind fanaticism towards ubuntu and bashing anything microsoft is what gives your crowd a bad name an little respect.
    • ohgr, on 10/11/2007, -7/+69Fake games? You mean all this time I thought I was playing Quake III Arena, and it's not even real???
      DAMN IT! DUPED AGAIN!
    • 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
    • tuartboy, on 10/11/2007, -8/+15@nreisan

      You play all those games? I almost feel bad for you...
    • 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..
    • hambend, on 10/11/2007, -4/+16@maddendude
      *sigh*

      I'm just gonna go back to playing Half-Life 2 on Slackware now...
    • 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.

    • 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.
    • zetec, on 10/11/2007, -14/+6You kids and your games. One doesn't use Linux so they can OMGROFLWALLHAXHEADSHOT!

      Go back to writing your CS scripts and whatnots.
    • Avalontor, on 10/11/2007, -18/+4hey hambend, very nice for you that you get to play a few games on Linux. but guess what wanker, I get to play all games on my PC not just a few.
      Get it, all games, any game I want when I want. Do you grasp the concept yet. not just Doom3, Half life and Wow but every game ever created for a PC.
    • Belariad, on 10/11/2007, -5/+4@shadowklown

      it looks to me like only ignorant and belligerent posters get dugg down, and for the most part, respectful posters get dugg up. the system seems to be working to me
    • sabrebutt, on 10/11/2007, -3/+4Call me when we can play halo 1 on vista without the installer crashing
    • FLarsen, on 10/11/2007, -1/+3What's your number?
    • 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.
    • BlackAdderIII, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1"""hey hambend, very nice for you that you get to play a few games on Linux. but guess what wanker, I get to play all games on my PC not just a few.
      Get it, all games, any game I want when I want. Do you grasp the concept yet. not just Doom3, Half life and Wow but every game ever created for a PC."""

      Not everyone's computer is a monkeytoy.
  • matdevdug, on 10/11/2007, -3/+5I think its more than the computers are available from Dell than anything else at this point. I am a little surprised that the cost difference isn't higher but you also have to factor in all the crapware they are not loading in the Ubuntu systems. That makes a huge cost difference.
  • darkhero, on 10/11/2007, -3/+11I miss looking at this text pages. It is a nice change to css, javascript, and images.
  • barius, on 10/11/2007, -4/+42No crapware AND cheaper!? I'll take one!
    • 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.
  • 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.
    • 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.
  • BRi7X, on 10/11/2007, -9/+3I say it fails unfortunately because it's only available on the low-end models and not the beefier models.
  • 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.
    • EndersGame, on 10/11/2007, -6/+4I wonder how valid that statement really is. Ubuntu has actually proven a tad bit slower for me than XP on my laptop. I am sure Vista requires more resources, but I don't think it slows down a pc that much. And I am sure there are some flavors of linux that run on minimal resources, but Ubuntu took linux in the opposite direction.
    • venom8599, on 10/11/2007, -2/+2The only more taxing thing that Vista Ultimate has that Home Premium or Business don't have is Dreamscenes as an option for backgrounds. A performance hit is expected there since it's running a video (WMV or MPEG) all the time. By default, Ultimate won't eat up more resources than Home Premium or Business. All of those will use more than Home Basic though, since it doesn't include Aero.
    • VcTrMASO, on 10/11/2007, -2/+5wrong reply.
    • VcTrMASO, on 10/11/2007, -1/+2Yeah but your still getting less hardware that you can easily install ubuntu on and still get vista as well.
    • abhiroop, on 10/11/2007, -2/+1The thing is as far as I can tell you don't really have a need for a really powerful computer if you're using ubuntu. That is, you can't really be a gamer, and perhaps you can encode, videos but thats about it as far as I can see. Are there any other reasons for needing such a powerful computer?
  • wtf00, on 10/11/2007, -2/+2tempting to buy one than slap xp(why not vista? because I don't want it ) ;) I bet a lot going to do this buy this laptop and than change the os because is cheaper without xp/vista preinstall..
    • 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. ;.;
  • ares623, on 10/11/2007, -4/+1EDIT: nvm. dugg.
  • glitchbit, on 10/11/2007, -9/+3As good as Ubuntu may be I find several other distros to be way better.... unbuntu just had better marketing and professionalism in its graphics and site.

    Knoppix is much better and so is PCLinuxOS. But I just flat out dislike Gnome and Kubuntu does not make up for ubuntus down falls imo.
  • 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...
    • Chandon, on 10/11/2007, -2/+5A Radeon X1400 definitely isn't worth $100 more than a Intel GMA 950. The X1400 is really low end for discrete graphics - I really doubt it adds more than $50 or so to the price of the system. For $100 on a laptop, you can generally get a nice mid-range card (i.e. a Radeon X1600 or GeForce 7600).
    • fd9z0r, on 10/11/2007, -4/+2Assuming the graphics card is $50, you end up saving a whopping $30 by purchasing the same laptop with Ubuntu (as mentioned in the article). Minus the cost of shipping = the same price (possibly even more).

      When it's all said and done, you don't save anything for the laptop.
    • Technopundit, on 10/11/2007, -8/+2It's not what you get, it's what you SEE. Ubuntu fans always seem to be seeing things...
  • sinfony, on 10/11/2007, -6/+3" Here, the graphics card difference is much larger, although the X1400 is still in the "Very Low End" range for Graphics - this is worth $50 at most, which is still less than the $80 difference. And, of course, the Intel card is better in that it actually works well on Ubuntu."

    Can't take it seriously after that. Really, a 256 MB mobile video card can only cost $50? Considering that you can't really find a modern 256 MB desktop graphics card that cheap, and that laptop parts tend to be more expensive than desktop parts, I'd say the inclusion of a real graphics card could very well account for most, if not all of the price difference.
  • Slacker1031, on 10/11/2007, -4/+5forgive me if i'm wrong, but doesn't it seem that anyone who wanted Linux on a dell already have Linux on their PC? In which case most of dells sales are going to be people just updating their machine. Kinda seems like they won't really sell that many seeing as if you go to the low/average computer user and ask them if they want Linux, they probably wouldn't even know what you mean. Those are gonna be the people buying the entry level machines and the custom ones right off dell. If they can't get support when they run into trouble on their Linux system, something tells me that this is just gonna backfire in dell's face.
    • 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"

    • BostonLow, on 10/11/2007, -7/+3True enough. I'm guessing none of the people who spammed IdeaStorm with Linux option were actually considering getting a Dell. Who was it all for? Imaginary mass who would be using Linux only if they were given a chance? Those who can't even power on their computers without having to call the tech hotline? It's such a futile and misguided attempt at increasing public awareness about Linux.

      Commendable for offering a choice, but I suspect Dell's main customer base would be a lot happier using Windows and not even knowing there's any alternative.
    • lolgamoff, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1you CAN get support. it gives you an option as you are proceeding through the configuration for up to 4 years of support, if i remember correctly. People will try ubuntu if they are fed up with windows, its costs (license, antivirus, etc.), and the way it performs. they just need to know they have a choice.
  • PueSi, on 10/11/2007, -8/+4So having Linux vs Windows is only a $50 difference? Wow
    Windows for $50 bucks is quite a deal, i rather buy one with Windows Vista and dual boot if i want to use Linux.
  • PRlME, on 10/11/2007, -7/+4Dell Tech Support suck with windows....how are they going to make out with ubuntu lol
    • Technopundit, on 10/11/2007, -9/+4There won't be any.
    • kazamx, on 10/11/2007, -0/+8Ubuntu's parent company is doing the software support. The Hardware support will still come from Dell
    • 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.
    • drag, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1If you act as if your going to buy the machines in the 'OS' portion of the confguration menu they have different options of Ubuntu support.

      For the laptop..
      Starter support is $67, Basic support is $125, and Standard support $275

      The starter support is for 30 days and the other two are for a year. But it doesn't go into details on what they actually mean, so I don't know.

  • Technopundit, on 10/11/2007, -23/+1Considering the time needed for configuration problems during the eventual reinstall, Linux is never "cheaper" unless your time is worth exactly $0.00.
    • 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

    • Technopundit, on 10/11/2007, -19/+1You owe me twenty bucks for the ten minutes I blew trying to understand your post.
    • 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.
    • algo, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3windows 98 was not that bad. it was pretty stable on my dell xps t500.
    • galore, on 10/11/2007, -1/+2LOL!!!

      I can't even recall how many times I re-installed Windows in the past. I jumped ship in the NT times on my home PC (for OSX) but still have it on my work PC, where IT had to install so many annoying background services for "security" and "espionage" that the thing is a total snail.

      My Ubuntu PC at work, however, was installed only once a year ago. Has a phenomenal uptime too, without mysteriously getting slow as molasses, like my Windows XP work PC (also, why is it that a Windows PC becomes unworkable, if the system idle process is less than 85%).

      If you limit yourself to Windows in 2007, you are missing out a lot. In the 90ies, Windows was the way to go for many reasons but the competition has caught up and in some cases surpassed the MS OS.
    • Tearinitup537, on 10/11/2007, -0/+0@morris

      "POS win98" do you remember the state of Linux distro's in 98?

      Thought daily reinstall might be a touch dramatic for functional hardware... I have reinstalled dozens of times on both windows and linux mainly because my time is actually free when Im just playing around.
    • Chandon, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1What configuration problems? The whole point of these systems is that they're pre-installed and pre-configured.
    • BlackAdderIII, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1"""You owe me twenty bucks for the ten minutes I blew trying to understand your post."""

      People don't pay for stupid by the minute, that's not how life works.

      Unless of course you work for Microsoft tech support answering calls, haha. Oh, wait...
  • 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?
    • Technopundit, on 10/11/2007, -14/+3Oh yeh. I forgot. The time it takes to reboot a couple of times so Windows can update itself is murder.
  • mustacheo, on 10/11/2007, -5/+0'Awmygawd', when are they going to give out free PCs??
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • AppleSucks, on 10/11/2007, -7/+3
    I use Ubuntu and Vista. Vista is my main OS and I'm quite happy to pay for Vista. If Linux was as good I'd pay for it too......
    • 10001, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1you like paying to inflict DRM on yourself?
  • lispy, on 10/11/2007, -2/+0Nice to see they are in fact featuring it on the frontpage. About every 5th refresh you see a huge Ubuntu "Due to popular demand" ad....
  • rczeien, on 10/11/2007, -4/+1As far as I can tell you lost the warranty that you get with a windows machine.
  • 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.
  • RadonPL, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1If I buy a Dell with Linux from the US website, can they send it to Poland?
    • specv, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1you cannot export it out of th US, atleast not legally
    • Chandon, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2specv -
      What would be illegal about exporting it from the US? Dell may not *ship* outside the US, but if you buy one and have it shipped to a friend in the US, there's nothing stopping them from shipping it on to you wherever.
  • OmegaX79, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Makes me wonder how much of my hardware cost is really subsidized by putting all the trial-ware on there... I would have bet on the cost being almost identical. Either they're paying more for copies of Windows than I would have guessed, or the trial-ware guys are paying less (or Dell's been pocketing more)...
  • nutcase, on 10/11/2007, -3/+4Just buy buy Vista one, and then install Ubuntu, have both, an easy decision.
    • Chandon, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2Why would you want to have two OS's that bad? Ubuntu does almost everything. Even if you're really obsessed about playing some Windows video games, why not just use your old version of Windows? My one computer that I use for gaming has an old copy of Windows 2000 on it - still works fine.
    • BlackAdderIII, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Or how about *don't* pay more money for something you don't want. Yep, easy decision.

      It's a crazy theory, I know.
  • flamebot, on 10/11/2007, -2/+2ok I have a few legitimate questions:

    1 - Why buy a PC with a free OS? Is it not equivalent to buying a PC with no OS, and the get the Ubuntu cd and install it?
    2 - Why not take advantage of the fact that a new PC comes with Windows pre-installed, then download Ubuntu and dual boot it?

    I don´t get the whole buy a PC with a free OS thing. Support? Isn´t the whole Open Source community there to support the OS? To me it sounds like a better deal having both Ubuntu/Windows since both are free if I´m buying a new machine. A few dollars less simply isn´t enough to get me excited about this... It´s just not a big deal.

    Just an opinion, no flamming intended...

    • Lawbringer, on 10/11/2007, -0/+11. Well i would buy a PC with no operating system if i could, so i could place the operating system I wanted on it. buying a PC without an operating system is not bad despite the fact Microsoft might lead you to think that way. (personally I have a blanket licence to install MS products so why would i want to pay extra to have it pre-installed).

      2. Because not all users want xp/vista on thier machines. for the same reason i don't have (and don't pay for) OSX preinstalled, I have no need for it.
    • Chandon, on 10/11/2007, -1/+3Two reasons:
      - It's pre-installed & pre-configured. That saves a couple hours, and allows people who aren't geeks to order Ubuntu systems that "just work".
      - Hardware support. With these three machines, if there's a driver bug then you can report it to Dell - and they have to care. If you buy a machine without Ubuntu pre-installed from Dell, and install Ubuntu, then Dell no longer has to listen to your support calls.
    • unitedatheism, on 10/11/2007, -1/+1What's the difference between having a free OS and none at all?
      Would you feel better if you know that there was never a ground for an operating system on your computer hard disk? Like some sort of virginity?
    • BlackAdderIII, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2What are you paying for with a pre-built system with a supported OS?

      Not the parts. You're paying for a tested, supported hardware platform for the software you'll run, with a warranty if you want to use it.

      That's got value worth paying for. You know ACPI, hibernate, wireless and everything else are supported fully from day one on your laptop with zero effort. Again worth paying for.
    • 10001, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1"Isn´t the whole Open Source community there to support the OS? "

      no. support isn't free. dell is selling support for a fully functional, OS-plays-well-with-hardware box
  • d00rk, on 10/11/2007, -4/+1The ONLY problem with the Ubuntu system FOR ME is that Netflix "Watch Now" only supports Windows, for now.
    • 10001, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1netflix doesn't give what they advertise so it's no great loss
  • archer75, on 10/11/2007, -1/+3You mean to tell me that the systems that come with the FREE operating system are cheaper? That's shocking!
  • frontporsche, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1For me, it's not about whether the laptop costs a few dollars more or less. It's about not helping bank-roll things like the SCO suit.
  • archer75, on 10/11/2007, -4/+2You know what people are going to do? They will buy these cheaper Dell computers and just install their pirated versions of windows on them and save some money.
  • GrimReeper, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3Some other interesting reading is this article from Ars Technica on the same topic.
    "Dell goes Ubuntu; "Windows tax" is $50 according to pricing"
    http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070525-windows-tax-is-50-according-to-dell-linux-pc-pricing.html

  • airtonix, on 10/11/2007, -1/+0the problem with windows is all the addicts.
    • 10001, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1among other things (like intel's poor plan) is infinite backwards compatibility. let old hardware die. MS doesn't believe in that. mmm bloatware
  • Slacker1031, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Here's issue #1 with all of this:

    If a customer is having trouble connecting to their wireless router with their computer, or connecting at all, who can they call? The only OS support Linux has to offer is online, and i know the dell call centers aren't equipped to handle anything to do with Linux. I had someone over today to fix my machine in the basement, and I asked him if he knew of anyone with problems with the Linux PC's off the line, and he said he wasn't even aware they came with it now. Granted that might just be one instance, but the question still remains, where is the OS support for the average user?
    • Chandon, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2They offer phone support through Canonical (the company that backs Ubuntu) for all of these machines. The support costs money, but it's available if you think you'll need it.
  • airtonix, on 10/11/2007, -1/+1the probkem addicts have is admitting they are addicts.


    ten....and only then can they be helped.
  • thisoldmage, on 10/11/2007, -2/+0http://othyr.com/?p=7

    blogspam of me making my argument that infact the opposite is true!
  • nick34, on 10/11/2007, -1/+1Jeff Atwood does a good post on this in his blog, Coding Horror:
    http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000870.html

    Cheers.
  • LordBen, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Note: Inside joke for UML CS students.
    "You can Digg this if you want. This page is small, I'm sure the University has the bandwidth."

    If mercury goes down i am so blaming you.... good thing all the freshmen are done with Canning's programming programs lol. Oh well Ken ought to be able to handle any problems. :p

    • Chandon, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1I've definitely had to do more abusive things to Mercury for assignments than asking it to serve up a 12k HTML page a couple times a minute. =P
  • flamebot, on 10/11/2007, -4/+1Ubuntu is ok but not as good as XP for a number of reasons the main one being: it copies everything XP does...

    There´s nothing new, nothing exciting, it just tries to do what XP does. It´s free, but so what?? I get all my OS´s free when i buy a PC/Mac!! I never went into a store a bought a copy of XP / Vista /OS X... so why bother?? Is it better? No. Is it more secure? No OS is secure. Is it ground breaking? No. Does it have unique software supporting it? OpenOffice, which is a copy of MS Office 98...

    I´m sorry but I fail to see the originality from the Open Source community, and no I don´t believe they´re all these nice people trying to save the world!! That is BS. Open Source is just another way of making business. And these people are using these fake arguments to convince us that somehow every employee at Redmond/Cupertino are these evil little monsters that are trying to conquer the world...

    GROW UP!... capitalism puts food on the table, if you don´t like it move to China.

    Yes, dig me down, but that does not make you right.
    • BlackAdderIII, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3You know I don't think one thing you said in that comment was true.

      Congratulations.
  • pctsguy, on 10/11/2007, -2/+1May I make a few observations if you please.

    To start off. I do technical support for one of the major computer manufacturers here in the USA. I have been doing Technical support for systems that ship with Windows Pre-installed since windows version 3.11. I originally worked for The company that was the first to ship a computer with a Prue-installed operating system. During a brief move to another part of the country I spent about a year working for one of the major Internet service providers in the country.

    These observations are in no particular order.

    1 - Have you looked at the micrsoft website? Your first 2 tech support calls are free. After that you have to pay for support. And that is only if you purchased it at retail.

    2 - One of the microsoft updates wiped out the the home page of the users of a major Internet service provider. These users were using the main page of the ISP and their home page was the ISP website. The update was for windows XP. The user would log onto the Internet and get a blank blue screen. The USP contacted microsoft with a request for assistance (after all it was a problem with a microsnot update) and the answer they got was "tough sh%$t, fix it on your own." Those were not the words , but that was the answer. When I left the ISP to move back to my home state the issue had still not been resolved.

    3. We get quite a few calls from people who are suffering from the Microsoft Genuine Advantage (MGA). These people have had the misfortune of getting the automatic update for MGA. Once the update completes it scans their system and then tells them that their copy of windows is not genuine and in some cases shuts their system down. Formatting and restoring the system does not fix the problem because as soon as they go on the Internet windows tries to register and the customer ends up with the same problem. If they call microsoft they are told that they have to call their OEM. But we cannot fix it because A) Microsoft controls all the registration information, And B) Microsoft will NOT release the code to us so we can fix it. I bet that the3se people are beginning to wonder where the Genuine advantage is.

    4 - Even if the cost for a Dell were the same whichever OS you choose, you still have to consider the cost of additional software. Have you priced Microsoft office lately? I think that I saw it for about $300 recently? I think I saw it for about $300 at Xmas time. What about Photoshop (not a microsoft product)? A Friend of mine got it recently for about $500 on sale. Yet comparable software to these and many other programs is available for free with Ubuntu/Linux.

    I have recently installed ubunto on 3 systems and it has worked fine. I am never going back to windows, The real Genuine advantage lies in choosing an operating system other than that provided by microsoft. That is My opinion. You may take it with as many grains of salt as you wish,



  • pctsguy, on 10/11/2007, -1/+0:-)
  • hwn67, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0The good news continues! Dell is expanding its linux offerings in the next couple of months:
    http://kevin.vanzonneveld.net/techblog/article/dell_expands_linux_offerings/
  • iamdexter, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Vista Rules. I can't even think of using any other OS. Though I have tried many. All of them sucks

    http://www.naturalizer-shoes.org/
  •  

    Login or register to add a comment

    Create a new account or login to join in the conversation on Digg. You'll also be able to Digg stories to help promote things you like.


© Digg Inc. 2008 — Content posted by Digg users is dedicated to the public domain.
DIGG, DIGG IT, DUGG, DIGG THIS, Digg graphics, logos, designs, page headers, button icons, scripts, and other service names are the trademarks of Digg Inc.