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Dell PCs with Ubuntu Are A Little Less Expensive

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the penguin-pass dept.

Chandon Seldon writes "Contrary to many earlier reports, it turns out that Dell's prices for its Ubuntu PCs are cheaper than similar Windows Vista PCs for all three Models. Ars Technica reports: 'So it turns out that not including Windows saves the consumer $50 from the regular list price. This amount is not too far off from what a large OEM like Dell would pay for a volume discount for Windows Vista Home Basic (the regular OEM price is about $95). Many value PC sellers try to make up for the cost of a Windows license by bundling demo and trial versions of software such as AOL (affectionately known as "crapware"), for which they receive money from software companies looking to increase their distribution levels. Dell is no exception to this practice, although on their web site it allows customers to select the option of not including various applications.' For direct comparisons, Nat Tuck of Umass-Lowell has put together a simple page showing prices for Ubuntu and Windows-based PCs."

10 of 388 comments (clear)

  1. Re:oh goody... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    What if MS just offered their OS for free.

    I bet the women around here would still whine.

  2. Re:No modem, no driver problem by glwtta · · Score: 4, Funny

    As far as I can see, there's no way to configure a modem into the non-laptop models.

    A what?

    --
    sic transit gloria mundi
  3. Re:No modem, no driver problem by Teddy+Beartuzzi · · Score: 2, Funny

    Modulator-demodulator.

    It's a fancy sound card, it makes all sorts of cool tones and whistles.

  4. Piracy by ThJ · · Score: 4, Funny

    I think what's going to happen is that Windows geeks will buy a Dell machine with Ubuntu installed, wipe the drive, and install a pirated copy of Windows.

    1. Re:Piracy by donaldm · · Score: 3, Funny

      I am waiting for my new HP laptop which will come with MS Vista Ultimate (I get a very good discount). Since I work with Linux and Unix machines I am going to make a recovery DVD set for MS Vista and then proceed to pirate a copy of Fedora 7 and put it on the machine (no dual booting), then using Xen I will proceed to install pirated copies of selected distributions of Linux including a pirated copy of Open Solaris.

      My reason for making a recovery set is so when I sell my PC in a years time the buyer has the option of a legitimate copy of MS Vista or they can have my pirated but updated copies of Linux. I wonder what the buyer will pick?

      --
      There ain't no such thing as proprietary standards only proprietary formats. Standards are by definition open.
  5. Re:Can you geeks make up your minds? by f00man · · Score: 2, Funny

    Make up OUR minds? The only thing we slashbots agree on is that free beer is good.... unless it's that watered down American swill. In that case, we'll brew our own, thank you.

  6. Re:Who... fscking... cares by mhall119 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Will this machine be more likely to be usable until she is no longer physically capable of using a computer? That is more likely to be true with Linux than Windows while keeping the OS up-to-date.
    Heh, kind of puts "free upgrades for life" into a whole new perspective, doesn't it?

    Tagline could be "Ubuntu: you'll die before it does."
    --
    http://www.mhall119.com
  7. Re:Well, people, time to cough up the dough by illumin8 · · Score: 5, Funny

    I'm not buying a laptop until quad-core units roll out.
    Yeah because I would feel like my penis size was really inadequate if I only had a dual core...
    --
    "When the president does it, that means it's not illegal." - Richard M. Nixon
  8. Re:Well, people, time to cough up the dough by muszek · · Score: 2, Funny

    and Frozen Bubble

  9. Re:FYI: Ubuntu Promo not on win32 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    I'm pretty sure yuo're retarded.

    Mmm-hmm...