HP has announced their new ProBook business laptop line. The laptops feature an LED-backlit screen (14″, 15″, or 17″) and a choice of red or black (excuse me, “glossy merlot” or “noir”). More interestingly, though, they also feature the option of SuSe Linux pre-installed for $50 to $100 less than Vista.

The new ProBooks are one of HP’s first experiments with Linux on non-netbook end-user computers. Considering that the original Mini 2133 didn’t prove to be a huge success and they switched to Ubuntu rather than SuSe, it is surprising to me that HP would use SuSe on the new ProBooks. These are business notebooks, though, so it may simply be that most of their customers use SuSe.

HP’s ProBook is already being seen as a more consumer-oriented business laptop, so it will be interesting to see if HP intends to bring Linux to the home laptop line. I wouldn’t bet on it anytime soon, but I’d say there is a decent chance they will eventually bring Ubuntu to some of thier home PCs if the Linux ProBooks sell well.

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