Ubuntu Dell $50 Cheaper Than Vista Dell

rhinokitty writes "Dell recently announced that their Ubuntu systems will be $50 cheaper than similar systems running Vista (Home Basic Edition). This will be a good fork in the road for those people who need a little extra push to take hold of their dreams and run Linux."

Comments

Re:but...

[Anonymous Coward]

http://wiki.osx86project.org/wiki/index.php/Main_P age There you go

Re:Nice gesture

[fonik]

I hate to say this because I'm a huge *buntu fanboy. I recently bought a Dell 1501 with much better specs than the 1505n for $300 less off of dell business via slickdeals.net. The buttons on the front of the laptop are the only major difference.

The Ubuntu ones may be cheaper, but the Dell Business ones go on sale very often and the hardware is just as linux friendly.

Re:Is Ubuntu good?

[grcumb]

Is Ubuntu a good distro in this case, given as it's already installed? I mean, from the standpoint of a non-geeky computer user.

I've installed Ubuntu on computers used by well over a thousand new computer users. Common tasks were picked up with as much ease as I've witnessed with first-time Windows users.

A few things that new users tend to find useful:

• The system menus are way easier to find your way around. Software is located in the Applications menu, and it's organised by purpose rather than brand name. Links to your hard drive, USB disk and CD ROM are in the Places menu. System-related tasks are in the System menu. You get the idea.
• USB disks, CDs and other removable media pop open folders when inserted, much as they do in Windows.
• The default interface is much cleaner and simpler than in Windows. Folders are simpler - which is not to say easier - to navigate. (This is useful for non-geeks, but can prove frustrating for power-users.)
• Automatic updates are just as easy as - if not easier then - Windows, and all of your software is covered.
• Upgrades are free. 8^)

Those are just the first few things that spring to mind. I'm sure others can add to this list.

Those who are accustomed to Windows will be accustomed to certain conventions, and this will rankle a little bit at first. But once you get used to the fact that, for example, the Start button is on the top of the screen rather than the bottom, you quickly find a lot to like.

Re:I hate Vista but for $50....

[Anonymous Coward]

Except the hardware won't work. Most Dell other than their Linux machines use ATI and Broadcom, which are a HORRIBLE combination.

Re:Is Ubuntu good?

[Anonymous Coward]

No, because I installed Ubuntu for a friend. The first thing they did was download and attempt to install Windows Messenger (duh). I explained that you can't use "Windows programs" and pointed them to gaim but that wasn't good enough for whatever reason- so we went to the next bit of Windows software they wanted to use but couldn't. So then they tried to go to a dodgy IE only "social" website but couldn't so they weren't happy for long.

Sure that stuff is crap and probably opening them up to god knows what but that's what they want to use their PCs for. These are the people Windows has locked in and unfortunately it's the majority of PC users at home.

Re:I'll take Vista thanks :-)

[suv4x4]

you just have time to cancel or allow?

Yawn. Now that this has been repeated to death, let's face it: all other OS have similar elevation dialogs. OSX has it, and other flavors of BSD, Linux has it.

It's part of life when you don't run as root all the time.

The fact you may get too many of them on Vista usually signifies improperly setup account, or poorly written software. In my experience, the elevation dialog only pops up rarely and when you'd really expect it to.

Ubuntu Inspiron DESKTOP $150 cheaper than Vista?

[MojoStan]

TFA refers to $50 savings for an Ubuntu Inspiron notebook over a Vista Home Basic notebook.

However, I just did a quick comparison of Ubuntu vs Vista Home Basic on Dell's new Inspiron desktops (Ubuntu 530N vs Vista 530), configuring them as closely as possible, and the Ubuntu desktop was $150 cheaper. Did I miss something in the configuration? Here's what I configured (copied/pasted from the last page before adding to the shopping cart):

• Inspiron 530 with Vista Home Basic ($479)
  Intel®Pentium® dual-core processor E2140 (1MB L2,1.60GHz,800 FSB)
  Genuine Windows Vista Home Basic
  No Monitor
  512MB Single Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz - 1DIMM
  160GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache
  48X CDRW/DVD Combo Drive
  256MB NVIDIA Geforce 7300LE TurboCache
  Integrated 7.1 Channel Audio
  Dell USB Keyboard and Dell Optical USB Mouse
  56K PCI Data Fax Modem
  Microsoft Works 8. DOES NOT INCLUDE MS WORD
  1 Yr In-Home Service, Parts + Labor - Next Business Day
  Free 3GB DataSafe Online Backup for 1Year
  Adobe Software Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 7.0
  Integrated 10/100 Ethernet
  
• Inspiron 530N with Ubuntu ($329)
  Intel®Pentium® dual-core processor E2140 (1MB L2,1.60GHz,800 FSB)
  Ubuntu Desktop Edition version 7.04
  No Monitor
  512MB Single Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz - 1DIMM
  160GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache
  48X CD-RW/ DVD Combo Drive
  256MB NVIDIA Geforce 7300LE TurboCache
  Integrated 7.1 Channel Audio
  Dell USB Keyboard and Dell Optical USB Mouse
  1 Yr In-Home Service, Parts + Labor - Next Business Day
  No Modem Option
  Integrated 10/100 Ethernet
  No Productivity software pre-installed

Notes: Integrated Intel GMA 3100 and free 56K modem were available options for Windows but not Ubuntu (I'm assuming it's a driver issue for Ubuntu). For some strange reason, the Ubuntu system is configured with an optional $170 LCD (I removed it for the comparison). The warranty/support for the Ubuntu system covers hardware only and software support can be purchased from Canonical (or you can use their forums for free). The Vista system's warranty includes some software support, of course.

Re:Ubuntu Inspiron DESKTOP $150 cheaper than Vista

[Anonymous Coward]

The Ubuntu system seems to qualify for a $100 discount for some reason, and would normally be priced at $429, for another $50 difference. That's a nice little computer for $329.

Re:$50? No way

[LingNoi]

Say an SMB buys 10 computers..
$50x10 = $500 savings

Say an Enterprise begins its upgrade/replace rollout of 10,000 computers..
$50x10,000 = $500,000 Savings

It might not seem a lot to a 1 purchase user but that money adds up. In my university they didn't spend $20 extra dollars per Dell for an optic mouse because of the costs.

Re:Is Ubuntu good?

[TaintedTux]

Solution the the above users issues that "Ubuntu/Kubuntu and most distros don't have support for Quicktime, Real Player, MP3's, ATI drivers, NVidia drivers, etc. Often these aren't hard to install, but they can't be bundled with the original installer" Absolutely agreed...however you can install Linux Mint which is Ubuntu with the codecs already installed. Im using GNOME but I know there is a KDE version and I believe an Xfce version as well. Personally Im generally an Arch Linux user which is not newb friendly but can be learned...because Arch was the first distro I ever ran from Linux. Anywho I tried Linux Mint just to see how it worked out because of the ever growing popularity of Ubuntu and wanting to know if the codecs would actually work right after install. I have to say I AM impressed Linux Mint has been quite nice, but Im ready to get back to my Arch box ;-)

Re:HP has been doing something simila for a while

[Anonymous Coward]

The trouble with that is, with FreeDos there is no guarantee that any of the hardware is Linux compatible. Onthe other hand, with the Dell boxes, you know that all the hardware can work with Linux, even if you intend to wipe Ubuntu and replace it with some other distro. I don't think HP are going to shift many boxes to Linux users until their buyers can be assured in some way that the damn things will work after the software installation.

Re:I'll take Vista thanks :-)

[shutdown -p now]

The dialog is not normally annoying, but at times it can be. For example, try copying an executable file from an SMB share to your "Program Files" folder. It goes like this:

• Are you sure you want to copy an executable from a shared folder? Yes
• Are you sure you want to write something to a system folder? Yes!
• Sorry, Dave, I can't do that. Copying .exe files from the network into "Program Files" is disabled for security reasons. WTF???

Which is obviously an idiocy, and one I haven't seen elsewhere (in Ubuntu, anyway; haven't had a chance to play with Mac OS).

My mother

[deblau]

I helped my mother price a Dell Ubuntu against Vista, and we came out $200 less. She's probably going to go Linux.

Do your own homework.

Re:I took Vista

[camperdave]

The point is that it is not just the Vista partition that won't boot. The restore disks (both the restore partition on the drive, and the restore DVDs) do not work. The shrink wrapped Vista Update disk doesn't work. They all hang. Now, I suppose it is possible that I fouled up when making the restore DVDs, but there's no way that the shrink wrapped, factory pressed update disk should fail.

I would welcome any practical solution.