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I noticed this:

Favorite Portable Workstation: QLI 15" AMD NOTEBOOKS

Since AMD laptops seem few and far between, I looked for some more info. It seems that QLI doesn't offer a 15" AMD option among the laptops they offer. The only AMD laptop they offer is 14.1", and if this is the one they meant, I have no idea why it would win. Other than the linux preinstall, it's totally undistinguished. The screen is 1024x768, has shared graphics memory, and the main memory runs at only 133MHz -- hardly a "workstation".

Is this a mistake, or did they used to offer an awesome computer?

I noticed this:

Favorite Portable Workstation: QLI 15" AMD NOTEBOOKS

Since AMD laptops seem few and far between, I looked for some more info. It seems that QLI doesn't offer a 15" AMD option among the laptops they offer. The only AMD laptop they offer is 14.1", and if this is the one they meant, I have no idea why it would win. Other than the linux preinstall, it's totally undistinguished. The screen is 1024x768, has shared graphics memory, and the main memory runs at only 133MHz -- hardly a "workstation".

Is this a mistake, or did they used to offer an awesome computer?

It's not that you can't do it; it's that most people won't do it that is the problem.

Umm, but aren't we paying the Mandrake tax?

This is why I build my computers. I pay no OS tax. I go to a friends house and burn myself Gentoo, and I'm set.

But QLI Linux doesn't charge any less to have Gentoo preinstalled (where Gentoo costs $5 to buy, unless you burn it yourself) than to have Mandrake preinstalled (which costs $40).

Wish I could build my own laptop. Time to break out the camcorder. Record myself opening the box, doing 5 lowlevel formats, and installing Gentoo. Maybe I can get a Windows Refund!

if you don't want the one bargain desktop, or want a laptop, you're still SOL.

I just talked to HP a week or two ago about purchasing a laptop with Linux. No go; they only sell MS Windows. How about sans OS? No go; Microsoft forbids that.

Vote with your wallet--visit Qli and buy a PC. You can buy Linux laptops, including one with a 17" screen(!) coming out soon, or a desktop or workstation system, a pre-modded workstation system, servers, rackmounts, the works, and you can get dual-booting systems! Their sales staff was phenomenal; I'll tell you about the laptop when I purchase it.

If you don't want to buy Qli, try Emperor or the others listed at www.linux.org in the vendors page. The prices can be comparable to the offerings of major vendors; they just don't have nearly the advertising budget. You can't tell the major vendors you want Linux on the desktop by settling for the Microsoft Tax.

Buy only Linux systems, help the little guys out, and then turn around and tell Dell, Gateway, HP, etc. exactly why they lost a sale (preferably with a formal snailmail letter, to add the extra oomph). They'll listen to a lost sale a lot more than someone who might have bought another system from them, and the Linux vendors, being small guys, will definitely appreciate the sale.

will customize it, a bit.

don't know about form factor.

they built 'the ultimate linux pc' a year or so ago. Your choice of distro. good stuff.

also: qli.

Qli sells new laptops with Linux preinstalled. Their prices range from one thousand to over two, for a fully loaded machine. They don't sell any that are tiny, like the Vaio, but there are other companies that do sell refurbished laptops and small form factor laptops with no Windows tax. I chose Qli because I was looking for a particular feature set, and because one of their installation options is Gentoo, which is my current favorite distribution.

I got an 1800MHz, 512MB (2GB max), 15.1" LCD, 20Gb, DVD/CDRW laptop for a shade over $1800. It has onboard ethernet, three USB (one of which is USB 2.0), onboard firewire, and a single CardBus slot. It was, practically, the perfect configuration I was looking for; the price was reasonable, and (as I said) they offered Gentoo as an install option.

My experience with Qli has been good. I agreed that they would install Gentoo 1.4, which is technically still beta, and this was Qli's first 1.4 laptop, so I had to do some work after the machine arrived to get it fully configured. I would expect that if you chose Gentoo 1.2, Mandrake, or Redhat, it would arrive fully configured. Qli provides a large number of installation options, and money you pay for the distribution of your choice (which varies) goes to the distribution.

The best thing about Qli, IME, was the customer service. The staff are extremely knowledgable and helpful, and are good about responding to support requests. They have a good understanding of kernel configurations, from which kernel modules are required to support which features to various configuration options.

I'm also very happy with the hardware. Although it isn't yet supported by Linux, I was pleasantly surprised that the laptop came with an unadvertised MMC/SD slot.

There are a couple of hangups with my particular hardware, but none of it is Qli's fault. The laptop is entirely ACPI, and ACPI support in Linux is immature. Consequently, I can't suspend the laptop (!) -- yet. OpenGL is proved to be a bear to get working, but this is due to my choice of distributions; apparently, Redhat on this laptop has full accellerated GL support out of the box. There is an onboard WinModem, but we know about those.

In summary, I can recommend Qli. You need to evaluate your own requirements, and then send them an email before you buy. They'll give you status reports on various configurations and recommend a system for you.

[Disclaimer] I do not work for Qli, and I don't receive any compensation for recommending them. My only relationship with Qli is that I've recently purchased a laptop from them.

You might contact a Micron PC sales rep and see if they'll provide a laptop with a version of Linux installed. If I remember correctly, I was able to arrange such a deal for a client... I don't see any option on their website so I might just be crazy :)

You might also take a look at Los Alamos Computers. They aren't as light as you want, but they might be an option.

QLI is also an option, but weight is an issue again.

Finally, Emperor Linux has some very light looking machines :) They are as light as 2 lbs, but you'll have to sacrifice a little speed. (2lbs is around 1 kg..)

Good luck.. I don't have any experience with any of these companies except for Micron PC.. You might do a quick search on google next time...

Have you looked at Qli Linux Laptops?