Comments on: Dell Ubuntu Customization/Selection = HORRIBLE!

By: TK

TK — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 16:56:26 +0000

I was looking over their site for my brother and they have Open Source linked at the bottom-left of the search pages I saw. They appear to slowly be bringing Linux forward.

By: PeterKraus

PeterKraus — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 10:57:06 +0000

Just two small sidenotes:

1) Take care of your warranty. Dell, in Britain, is the only one OEM, which allows you the operating system on your hard drive without losing hardware warranty. If you, for example, install Windows XP on Windows Vista machine from Acer, you broke the warranty. That’s just nuts.

2) I would like to advocate even a bit more for Dell. I work in a small shop, we sell laptops, and we used to give 5% discount off Dell Online prices. The problem was, several times it happened to me, that the price of the unit changed in the process of specifying the system - Dell’s pricing is REALLY dynamic, and it’s pain in the arse to keep track. So, maybe, you just hit the page in the process of updating of their page…
Anyway, I would like to see GNU/Linux more visible on Dell page. I tried to search for it yesterday, and I work with dell.co.uk almost daily, but, I was unable to find the section in less than 5 minutes…

By: IdeaStormer Jorge

IdeaStormer Jorge — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 19:06:27 +0000

Hey don’t worry, who cares if Dell is missing the boat, there’s a few companies still sailing your way:

ASUS C90
http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?modelmenu=2&model=1641&l1=5&l2=141&l3=536&l4=0

Buy it here (if you want)
http://1toppc.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Product_Code=C90S&Screen=PROD

or
http://www.directron.com/laptopbarebone.html

If a company won’t sell you want you want, go to another company, let youre $$ do the talkin!

By: Alex Chekholko

Alex Chekholko — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 20:05:57 +0000

I’m not sure what country you’re in, but I see three different laptop models at http://dell.com/open -> Ubuntu

The desktop selection is not good, but the E2160 CPU is no slouch.

By: Arp

Arp — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 18:22:34 +0000

Dell’s Ubuntu offerings are disappointing, but it seems they are trying to limit their support to specific hardware offerings. It’s better to scope out the hardware, buy one of their Windows offerings and install Ubuntu yourself.

By: Incognito

Incognito — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 17:16:35 +0000

I see this is true of the USA site but check out whats available from the Canadian site
http://www1.ca.dell.com/content/topics/segtopic.aspx/linux_3x?c=ca&cs=cadhs1&l=en&s=dhs
Three laptops and one desktop with lots more options available. Dell what gives with the no USA love?

By: Cat Moon

Cat Moon — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 12:33:27 +0000

I, too, agree with your assessment and compared their Linux and Microsoft systems at

http://theprofessorpod.blogspot.com/2008/01/is-dell-serious-about-linux.html

Are they simply using Linux as an advertisement relationship with the open-source and Linux community, I wonder.

Cataract Moon

By: James

James — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 10:00:42 +0000

I had to purchase a few PC’s a little while ago and I had all the intention to buy a Linux PC from Dell but the models available left me going elsewhere, I did find the model that would suite our needs on dell’s site but that came with Vista and had no option of removing it.

In the end I went to another U.K online retailer and bought a couple of acer desktops at a good price. They then had vista stripped out as soon as they arrived. It is just a shame that the money that went on those Vista Licences could not be redirected to the open source community which is now powering the machines.

By: daz

daz — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 09:29:40 +0000

its stupid to buy a dell ubuntu notebook. and its even more stupid to buy a zareason / system76 notebook - way too expensive (after all seems a downstream product). get your favorite hardware with whatever it comes - example i got a dell vostro 1400 and its the best and cheap, and put whatever os you want. rememeber that oem windows is virtually free. all that microsoft tax crap is for gossip.

ps : this assumes one doesn’t want warranty and support and can install ubuntu. if one can’t, linux is not for them :D.

By: spo0ner

spo0ner — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 08:36:31 +0000

I completely agree with this. I have been looking to purchase a Quad Core system for sometime now but it’s near impossible to get one from any of the major vendors (Dell, Gateway, Lenevo) without it being pre-loaded with Vista or being extremely limited in selection. Best bet is to just roll your own or get a barebone system from TigerDirect or Newegg.