Why Buy Dell Over System 76 Or ZaReason
Those of us in the market today for a Linux laptop, particularly if our distribution of choice is Ubuntu, are really quite lucky to have so many good choices. Dell currently offers a number of laptops (and a desktop) with Ubuntu and there are a number of independent Linux PC sellers such as System 76 and ZaReason. Yesterday, I wrote about my frustration that certain Dell coupon codes worked on Windows models but not Linux models. Commenter Mikey responded, saying that I should:
“Forget Dell and get your laptop from Zareason.”
I though this deserved an answer, so here it is:
There are basically three reasons why I will probably (yes, you may still try and convince me to change my mind 
) choose to buy a Dell laptop over a System 76 or ZaReason laptop.
- Price You just cannot escape the fact that Dell offers better prices. I configured three laptops, one from System 76, one from ZaReason, and one from Dell, as close together as I could (see the bottom of this post for the exact specs) and the Dell turned up $200 cheaper than the System 76 model and $550 less than the ZaReason model.
- Special Options Dell’s laptop have a number of special extras offered. For example, on Studio and XPS 15″ laptops you can get a 1920×1200 (really, really high) resolution screen. The XPS laptops also come with a fingerprint reader and a slot-load DVD drive. The later two are not essential, but they are nice and I do consider the higher resolution to be a major plus.
- Software Modifications Any user’s experience with Linux can be made a lot smoother by installing DVD playback support and media codecs. Dell offers DVD playback standard, but no one else offers anything that I am aware of.
Specification for the three laptops:
System 76 Pangolin Performance (15″ Laptop) – 1280×800 Resolution, Core 2 Due 2.26 GHz, 2GB RAM, 250GB 5400 RPM HDD, Bluetooth
ZaReason MidLap 1512 (15″ Laptop) – 1280×800 Resolution, Core 2 Duo 2.2 GHz, 2GB RAM, 250GB 5400 RPM HDD, Bluetooth, Dedicated Graphics Card
Dell Studio 15 (15″ Laptop) – 1280×800 Resolution, Core 2 Due 2.16 GHz, 2GB RAM, 250GB 5400 RPM HDD, Bluetooth
September 6th, 2008 at 8:54 am
I don’t find comparing just one laptop model to be a justification, sorry.
Here’s why, I’m an owner of the system76 serval, and here’s an article where other system76 laptops are behind by the serval beats out *both* Macbook Pro (in my case, for the same specs, serval was $700 cheaper!) and a Dell XPS M1330: http://www.dawningvalley.com/2008/08/how-dell-and-system76s-ubuntu-machines-stack-up-to-their-mac-counterparts/
The serval vs macbook pro vs m1300 paragraph ends with “All-in-all, the System76 carried this category easily.”
September 6th, 2008 at 5:13 pm
Given that Linux in general seems to recognise hardware that is not cutting edge best, I usually buy something a model or two old on special offer and just install Ubuntu (my distro of choice), full hard drive install, no viral operating systems sharing. Here in the UK, THAT is how to get real value ………………
September 8th, 2008 at 7:39 am
If you like staying current with Ubuntu, you won’t with Dell. There is always a multi-month lag between versions before Dell supports the newest release.
Enjoy your Dell experience.
September 21st, 2008 at 2:55 am
Not really a valid comparison. The Dell includes a slow integrated Intel video chip with shared system memory, whereas the ZaReason and System76 models include discreet Nvidia graphics cards with dedicated video ram.
November 18th, 2008 at 1:33 am
One thing, if you buy a Dell Studio 1535 with Ubuntu preloaded, they’ll ship it to you even though it doesn’t even boot up. Mine booted up to the “White Screen of Death” as it’s come to be called. When they sent me a second one, it did the same thing. I then confirmed with 10 other people who bought them on ubuntuforums.org that Dell is selling them without testing them, and that none of them have worked yet. If you buy the top of the line model then you’ll have better luck. But the model with 1280×800 is a lemon. Save yourself some time and hassles and just don’t buy a Dell at all.
March 2nd, 2009 at 3:01 am
Hi guys,
Every time I have to change my laptop I have hard time to find a good advise on what is out there, so when I run into this website I decided to write few lines on how I reached my decision after a week of googling.
Initially I had set my heart on DELL XPS M1530; I really like the design and it seems I can get the specs I wanted. After talking with a coworker, however, it was mentioned to me that lately DELL had few problems with overheating and that the costumer service has become rather lousy. This needed some investigation, so I checked few review on the M1530 and indeed I found several complaints regarding overheating and the consequent short life of the laptop. Comments regarding the costumer service were not encouraging.
Then I started to look around for other options; I like to support small businesses that offer linux, but some of them sell old hardware for a very high price. Anyway, I finally run into system76 Pangolin performance: the price seems right and I couldnt find bad reviews on the product; moreover, their costumer support seems to be very efficient and knowledgeable, and they have active forums on Ubuntu to help costumers. Well, I am not sure if all of this is true, but this sounds much better to me than what I found about DELL. So, even if I really wanted the XPS I started moving towards the Pangolin, plus I noticed they have a 30 days return policy vs. the 21 days DELL offers.
Ok, now that I have a good feeling towards the company I started to break down the two systems and see what I get for my money:
Pen: 15.4″ WSXGA+ Super Clear Glossy LCD (1680 x 1050)
XPS: High Resolution, glossy widescreen 15.4 inch LCD(1440×900)
Note: the Pengolin seems a little better here.
Pen: Core 2 Duo P9600 2.66 GHz 1066 MHz FSB 6 MB L2 (25 Watt)
XPS: Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T9500 (2.6GHz/800Mhz FSB, 6MB Cache)
Note: 1066 MHz FSB vs. 800Mhz FSB
Note: I believe T9500 is a 35 Watt
Pen: 4 GB – DDR2 800 MHz – 2 DIMMs
XPS: 4GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz (2 Dimms)
Note: 800 MHz vs. 667MHz
Pen: 320 GB 7200 RPM SATA II
XPS: 320GB SATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) with Free Fall Sensor
Note: XPS has the Free Fall Sensor
Pen: CD-RW / DVD-RW
XPS: DVD+/-RW (DVD/CD read/write)
Pen: Intel Wi-Fi Link 5100 – 802.11A/B/G/N Up to 300 Mbps
XPS: Intel® 3945 802.11a/g Mini-card
Note: Pengolin has N
Pen: Bluetooth
XPS: Dell Wireless 355 Bluetooth Internal (2.0+Enhanced Data Rate)
Pen: nVidia GeForce 9300M GS 256MB DDR2
XPS: 256MB NVIDIA® GeForce® 8600M GT
Note: XPS seems to have an edge according to http://service.futuremark.com/hardware/graphics_cards/
Pen: Built-In 2.0 MP Webcam
XPS: 2MP Camera
Pen: Intel High Definition Audio
XPS: High Definition Audio 2.0
Pen: Fingerprint Reader (beta)
XPS: Finger Print Reader XPS M1530
Well, I think this the main stuff… oh, I forgot the price:
Pen: US$ 1264.00
XPS: US$ 1524.00
All in all they are not that different, but I think Pangolin has an edge if I consider my needs. Plus if I put into the equations the reviews, costumer service, return policy and price… well, I think I will go with system76.
If someone thinks I am making a colossal mistake, please let me know before I order the system.