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.