As I have written about before, I recently purchased an XPS M1530 from Dell, pre-installed with Ubuntu, of course. It has now been quite a while since I got the machine, but I am glad I waited to review it.

In this review I am going to focus mostly on the software, since other posts have already covered the hardware. Before I begin on the software, though, I would like to mention a few things about the hardware. First, there is a Windows key. Enough said. Second, There is a special media key next to the power button. As far as I can tell it does nothing but display a splash screen and then boot Ubuntu. Likewise, the WiFi identification button on the side also appears to do nothing. Third, one of the things I was surprised by is how much the material on the back of the computer picks up fingerprints. Luckily, it is also very easy to clean.

As far as the software goes, I would love to be able to say everything works perfectly out of the box, but, unfortunately, it does not work that way. Out of the box, I had the following problems:

• The built-in microphone did not work.
• The eject button only worked after unmounting the CD/DVD manually.
• Accidentally hitting the touchpad while typing kept moving the mouse around.
• The second headphone jack did not work.

While all of these problems (except for the second headphone port not working, which I have still not fixed) were easy to resolve with the help of this page, they should have been solved before the computer left the factory. Really, that just about sums up the software. Other than these issues, it is just basically Ubuntu.

I have been very happy with my M1530, but I am still a little disappointed in Dell for not offering a better out-of-the-box experience. Still, it is hard to fault them for being the only one even trying.

If you have ever bought a machine pre-installed with Linux (either from Dell or another smaller vendor), what has your experience been?

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