[geeks] FYI - Dell to start accepting orders for Ubuntu laptop/desktops

[Joshua Boyd]

On Thu, May 24, 2007 at 03:06:03PM -0500, Lionel Peterson wrote:
> Hello all,
> 
> Just curious if anyone here has an opinion (Ha!) about Dell actually offering Linux systems for consumers?
> 
> They have two desktops and a laptop, and the systems are middle of the road (AFAIK) - the laptop looks to be about $600 (Inspiron 1505n)[0], desktops are to be priced the same as with Vista/WinXP (Dell effort to config Linux cancelled out savings from MS OS elimination) it seems.

The starting prices for C2E machines is $120 in favor of windows ($479
versus $599).  However, when you actually set the two machines to have
the same configuration (drop the monitor from the E520n, upgrade disk
and optical drive on the plain E520), the prices shifts to favor linux
at $409 for the E520n versus $549 for the regular E520.  That is, when
both have the C2E E4300 CPU, 1 gig of ram, 250 gigs of disk, 48x
cdrw/DVD combo drive, and no display included. 

> I thinkit is interesting, I wonder how well the systems will be
> supported (WiFi, modem, etc. - they said closed source drivers were
> acceptable, and would be used when needed)... 
> 
> They go on sale by 4:00 PM CST today - that's when you can see the
> actual hardware specs... 

Just recently work got an E520.  It was a basic configuration with Intel
graphics, onboard sound, and no wireless.  Everything just worked
correctly using a stock Ubuntu 7.04 CD.