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219 Comments
- opiestana, on 10/11/2007, -45/+184You're right, Macs aren't overpriced all.
/obvious sarcasm - YokoZar, on 10/11/2007, -3/+127Canonical will only support Ubuntu Feisty for 18 months on all platforms, including Dells. Extending the warranty beyond that period, even for extra cash, is simply not an option for Dell.
Now, when the next Long Term Support (LTS) release of Ubuntu comes out, expect the extended warranty to become available again. - estvir, on 10/11/2007, -8/+65Wait, they're shipping Windows manuals with PCs with Ubuntu pre-installed ? Hahah, that made my day.
- roosterjm2k2, on 10/11/2007, -10/+60Samus...
The "stupidity" of ubuntu users? Does generalizing a whole group of people and propping yourself up as better than them really make you feel that much better about yourself or something?
Say what you want about ubuntu, but it's done in a matter of 2 years what no other linux distro has been able to do over the past 15. It's taken linux out of the closet and into the limelight. Its brought not only a larger user-base, but a larger developer crowd as well. Instead of being the typical "ATI is TeH EVAL!!" linux nerd, the ubuntu groups, as well as the core of its users, have worked hard at educating companies and improving support for linux overall. Instead of treating users like ***** an breaking out "RTFM" every time someone asks a question, its built a strong, helpful community. Look at all the wikis for ubuntu alone. Sure, some others are coming around now, mainly SUSE and Fedora, but it was the ubuntu crowd that started the trend and proved that a strong community of USERS really does work, and that you dont have to be a server admin to make a nice desktop OS work for you.
Maybe 5 years ago ... being smart enough to use linux the hard way made you cool ... now it makes you pompous and arrogant. Luckily though, with so many new people coming on board, the loudmouth hardcore geeknerds are going the way of the dinosaur...
*before you make moronic judgments: I've been a long-time linux user and supporter. I started on slackware back on a PII. I'm not the most hardcore of linux nerds, i simple setup the machine to work as I like, and thats it. I -could do things the hard way if i wanted, i just chose to take the option that works ... ubuntu. - inactive, on 10/11/2007, -1/+47Wait, you actually _want_ the extended warranty?
What kind of sucker are you? - fkr3, on 10/11/2007, -24/+68I think it was a failed attempt to please a community that never had any intention of even buying the machines, let alone paying for extended warranties on them. Why would they want to commit themselves to supporting these machines for years if they're not even making enough sales to release PR crap hyping up the community about how it was a great idea/success/etc?
- aarongough, on 10/11/2007, -3/+46dude. Ubuntu comes with synaptic pre-installed:
step one: System-> Administration-> Synaptic
step two: choose the software you want
step three: have a pint
:-D - theantix, on 10/11/2007, -2/+43@YokoZar: The software support is already separated from the warranty, if you go through the purchase they clearly delineate that Dell is providing Hardware support but Canonical the software support. They are pulling Dell hardware support from this offering, hence my complaint that they are not truly interested in providing a legitimate Ubuntu platform offering.
- staplez, on 10/11/2007, -14/+52How is this a PR stunt? most people who would buy a system with Linux pre-installed are administrators or atleast very wise to how to use a computer. We aren't the kind who need support. Thus we won't buy support. I think this is smart on Dell's part to cut down on fat.
- cynicist, on 10/11/2007, -4/+38First we get windows manuals with the computers, and now this? What the ***** are these guys doing?
- noahhoward, on 10/11/2007, -2/+34"Well, when you can find a light, cheap, and bound Ubuntu manual... LET ME KNOW!"
And in the mean time you'll use the Windows manual to troubleshoot Ubuntu? - PleaseJustDie, on 10/11/2007, -3/+34@samus
Just to see what all the hype is about, over the weekend I backed up my SuSE Linux data and put Ubuntu Linux on the computer, this being my first experience with a Debian based Linux distro, I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. The installation was rather ingenious, the live CD with a quick and easy install function, though the advanced partitioning options leave a bit to be desired. Wasn't quite as intuitive as SuSE's manual partitioning configuration and on my main drive I set the mount point to / but when I hit ok, it didn't save that so had to do it again. Only other problem I had during the install was that I had to manually put a couple of options in xorg.conf file so compiz didn't process windows without displaying the side bars and the caption bar and when you disable compiz through Feisty Fawn's graphical enabler/disabler it resets the cube plugin options to only have 1 side on the cube so the next time you start it cube is broken until you figure out how to change it manually.
But this is also my first experience using apt-get and I have to say I'm rather impressed, it blows away RPMs and overall I'm rather pleased. I definitely like it more than SuSE, all the functionality of any version of Linux and much much more of it just worked right than any other distro I've installed. Also the repository for easy to follow instructions on anything Ubuntu based really surprised me, with so many Ubuntu oriented wiki's on the web, a google search with "Ubuntu (program)" got an ubuntu wiki with very easy to follow instructions. I could get similar results with "Linux (program)" but most of the results were harder to follow forums and more generic for all Linux Distros when the Ubuntu specific ones tended to be easier to follow and able to use programs that only ship with Ubuntu to eliminate the need for digging through endless .conf files.
So, first impressions is that I'm impressed, it works great is easy to configure and I'm pretty pleased with the results. I'm not a fanatic about it, if another distro comes out and is better I'll switch to it, but at least now I can understand why so many people are fanatical about it. It really is the best distro I've used and I've used quite a few. - linuxwarz, on 10/11/2007, -3/+34@staplez
I agree with some of that, but there are still new users who may want to try Ubuntu but might not have the technical know-how to repair a computer. - pandaro, on 10/11/2007, -4/+31@duhstupid -
You have me completely convinced...
'Berkley'
hah. - rderveloy, on 10/11/2007, -0/+23Has anyone just tried calling dell and ordering an Ubuntu computer over the phone? This may simply be glitch on their website.
- Phocion55, on 10/11/2007, -8/+31Actually, the Ubuntu community is quite friendly.
But, by all means, please comment on things you never had experience with. - IHaveIssues, on 10/11/2007, -10/+33swarq,
but blocking you makes you flaccid forever. - saferwaters, on 10/11/2007, -3/+24@duhstupid
Is this the "Berkley" you graduated from: "Earn your college degree online at the University of Berkley."? It's a little hard convincing people you graduated from UC Berkeley when you can't even spell it, and don't know the difference between "your" and "you're". - plnegative1, on 10/11/2007, -1/+21TechDoctor and stupid: no one cares about where you went to college and what your major is.
- Balanced, on 10/11/2007, -3/+23Well, yeah. They still have to pay to support all those Windows machines.
- linuxwarz, on 10/11/2007, -5/+23@Bowl
Digg you down? You are blocked until you can learn how to submit comments that contribute to stories. - Matt2k, on 10/11/2007, -4/+21Michael Dell has been kidnapped by ninjas! Are you bad enough dude to save him?
- thcobbs, on 10/11/2007, -2/+19Could it be that they haven't done their long term testing on the effects Ubuntu has on their laptops and they are just hedging their bets untill they get more field failure data?
Different OS's tax the hardware in different ways... and these are their pilot machines. Once they get more data and can do their MTBF calculations more accurately, expect the warranties to come back.... I'd wager withing the next 5 years. - Novagenesis, on 10/11/2007, -4/+20Precisely; that's why they offer Linux now.
See, it's not hard to be stupid and one-sided about a complicated situation. - weaksnyc, on 08/14/2009, -3/+19edit: enough people already made fun of 'duhstupid'...
- thcobbs, on 10/11/2007, -2/+17Oh, you mean a company wanting to make money is a reason not to buy their product?? HA!
As I said below, this was likely just a business decision because they don't want to deal with long-term support of an UNSUPPORTED OS. If you want long term support of your software, call up Ubuntu... they do sell it. - chrisc262, on 10/11/2007, -2/+16ok just a quick statistical analysis of an extended warranty:
1 out of 10 computers "break" during the ext warranty period
it costs an average of $1000 to "fix" the computer
so, sell an extended warranty for $125
then 10 comps x $125 = $1250
fix the one for $1000
$250 profit
conclusion : extended warranty = money maker for manufacturer
ps this is exactly the same way insurance works ( in a very simplified way ) - inactive, on 10/11/2007, -6/+20people who use ubuntu do not fall for the "extended warranty" BS, sales = almost 0 so why keep it.
- thcobbs, on 10/11/2007, -2/+15chris...
You obviously aren't in the business of selling electronics from the standpoint of Dell (high-volume OEM). Different OSes stress hardware in different ways. Dell does a battery of tests on it's machines that last years on initial product launches. Honestly, they aren't sure how many of these things are gonna break. And they need that data before they can offer extended warranties. Otherwise, they could sink the company in warranty repair costs because they hadn't done their due diligence. - fkr3, on 10/11/2007, -9/+22@ duh - it's hardware support, but by proxy that includes some level of operating system support to help diagnose whether there's a hardware fault and what particularly is broken.
- abhiroop, on 10/11/2007, -2/+14I really like the title. They QUIETLY dropped support, instead of screaming it out loud!
- schestowitz, on 10/11/2007, -16/+28There's no conspiracy, but re: "Dell serious about supporting Linux or was this all just a PR stunt?"
Well, they signed a deal with Microvell around the same time, so there's more going on behind the scenes. I firmly believe that they try to extend "innovation tax" from vendors to OEMs, starting with Dell. Worry not, however, because GPLv3 resolves this 'problem'. - mushroom, on 10/11/2007, -7/+19Whats this "innovation tax" you speak of
- NikoKun, on 10/11/2007, -2/+13I think the Ubuntu linux offer was a bit too successful... lol and must have peaked Microsofts interest... So now Microsoft pays off Dell, to slowly fade out the Ubuntu machines, with things like no warrentys and such... Eventually they'll just stop selling Dells with Ubuntu... sadly...
Don't let it happen Digg! XD - Exile29, on 10/11/2007, -0/+11I'd be humiliated if I had to ask Dell for OS support of any kind.
- chrisc262, on 10/11/2007, -0/+11that makes the most sense so far
dell is in it for the money, so if the extended warranty doesnt sell enough to cover its own costs, just drop it - happyhappyhappy, on 10/11/2007, -0/+11If you step back for a minute, it becomes obvious why they are dropping support. It was a mistake that they offered it in the first place. What does support mean? It means that there is a phone number you can call to reach a TRAINED person on the other end who can help you. The simple answer is that Dell probably doesn't have the trained staff right now to be able to provide support.
- PleaseJustDie, on 10/11/2007, -1/+11@duhstupid
From my recent experience with Ubuntu I can guarantee its not glitch free. The average user wouldn't have a clue how to get the NVIDIA drivers installed, but there's easy to follow wiki with that information, though the wiki is slightly outdated and some of the information on it needs to be updated or modified for your individual version of the kernel etc (the wiki said I needed GCC 3.4 and had me download that version through apt-get) but in reality I had to use the 4.1 that came with the distro.
Also there was a problem with network sharing drives when I first installed ubuntu, it told me I had to install samba and nfs services and gave me a button to install now, that didn't work until I ran an update and installed about 50 updates.
And then there was the problems with the compiz I mentioned in the previous post. And I've been using Linux for about 6 years now, mostly red hat and SuSE distros and Ubuntu still had fewer problems than either of those getting the same services runnning. - stmiller, on 10/11/2007, -0/+10They still come with a one year warranty, like any new computer you buy from Bestbuy, Apple, wherever. So they are not 'dropping' hardware support. Just odd that the 'extended' options are not there anymore.
- inactive, on 10/11/2007, -2/+11Try reading through the posts on the Ubuntu forums, they are not elitist at all. http://ubuntuforums.org/
The Absolute Beginner Talk section is the most newb friendly. - jellystones, on 10/11/2007, -0/+9RTFA: Its a hardware warranty.
- returnofajedi, on 10/11/2007, -1/+10@tlarkin
Have you actually checked that or is this just out of your ass??? Any PC comparable to any Mac is cheaper by far.
From the Apple Online Store, Newegg.com, and Dell.com:
iMac 20" for $1500 = custom built PC with 20" monitor on Newegg for $800 = comparable Dell PC with 20" monitor for $1000.
Check your facts before you claim to know something. - thcobbs, on 10/11/2007, -1/+9Duh, I think I predicted this on another thread somewhere.
Dell is going to minimally support Ubuntu. That's it... That's where you're going to get your price differences. As a Engineering VP once told me, you can put any warranty you want on a piece of equipment, you just have up bump the price till it all equals out and you still make a profit.
The really time (and therefore money) consuming part of supporting an alternative OS is that you have to train all your people that will be supporting it. Have a dedicated staff for a small part subset of your whole user base... and that staff usually gets very little work. Have to support bugs in an OS that has contributers from literally around the world. It's just a nightmare.... So, they decided just not to support it past the hardware warranty THEY get on their parts. Seems fair to me.
Also, there is no way that Dell is going to spend the time and money that Ubuntu is costing them just for a PR stunt. They are serious about it and will stay so as long as they see a decent profit margin. - mobilehavoc, on 10/11/2007, -3/+10I love how people bitch about them not offering the extended warranty but yet won't buy a system with or without it. I guess some people just like to whine and complain like little bitches.
- inactive, on 10/11/2007, -1/+8Ever heard of "Ubuntu Bible"?
- abhiroop, on 10/11/2007, -1/+8WHAT? features that come standard, is the same price???!!!! Errr Ok lets compare
My Laptop:
HP Pavillion dv5242ea
1.6ghz core duo
1024mb ram
100gb hard drive
256mb nvidia 7400
windows xp home
DVD Double Layer Super multi drive (reader/writer)
I paid $1150 for this about 10 months back.
If I were to look at macbook NOW with similar specs:
for $1100 the cheapest macbook:
2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
1GB 667 DDR2 SDRAM - 2x512
80GB Serial ATA @ 5400 rpm
Combo Drive (DVD-ROM/CD-RW)
The only thing better than my laptop is that it has a far better processor. But considering I bought mine a year ago, its safe to say that mac's are far more expensive. And pray tell what OTHER features you are getting by buying a mac. The only thing I can think of is iLife, which on a windows: there is picasa (or with HP you get their photo software), itunes, two programs I really need, both of which are free. After buying my laptop I haven't paid a cent, everything I have is either open source or freeware. Macs are known to be more expensive, there is NO WAY they are cheaper. - sabrebutt, on 10/11/2007, -0/+7I'm sorry, I love ubuntu as much as the next guy, but really, how many of you even upgrade your warrenty or accidental damage services when you purchase machines? These are usually a rip off anyways. I used to sell these services for a major computer manufacturer and people rarely if ever need them or use them. The only time I could ever see needing to buy it is if it was for a business. Otherwise, please just repair it yourself or take it to a technician, I promise it's much cheaper.
- thcobbs, on 10/11/2007, -5/+12Well, when you can find a light, cheap, and bound Ubuntu manual... LET ME KNOW!
- SnowBladerX, on 10/11/2007, -0/+7So quietly they forgot to remove this from the "Protect My Investment" tab
http://i.dell.com/images/global/configurator/banners/warranty.jpg
A graphic indicating you can get a 4 year warranty but the only option is 1 year mail in - Klowner, on 10/11/2007, -0/+7About a month ago I received a call from a dell saleswoman trying very very hard to sell me an extended warranty on my 1 year old laptop, I said "no thanks" at least 4 times, and then she began attempting to sell me some sort of "home support plan" for $260 which would provide phone support for ALL my computers if I had problems installing software or need help removing a virus. I chuckled lightly and explained to her that my laptop has been running Ubuntu literally minutes after I pulled it out of the box a year ago, and that my household is almost exclusively Linux only. I then went on to ask if her phone support provides Linux support, to which she said "Yes, any brand of computer, it does not have to be a dell". I had a good chuckle and declined a few more times and then she abruptly blurts out "Thank you sir even though you didn't choose to buy anything" and hangs up.
So yeah.. I'm not paying $150 for a hardware warranty. If 1 or 2 year old system goes poof, just buy a new one from someone other than dell, because that'd be some crappy equipment to go dead that quick, and after a couple years you could buy a similar system for the amount you wasted on an extended warranty.
That aside, I'm happy with my laptop. I'm just sick of the phone calls and emails telling me I need more warranties. Heck, I just got a "Birthday Card" email for my 1-year-old laptop today, that's a little ridiculous. -
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