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Dell Selling Dual-Boot Laptops

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the hey-wait-a-minute dept.

rsmiller510 writes "The EE Times reports this week that Dell has released a hybrid laptop running both Linux and Windows clearly aimed at business travelers. Linux for quick tasks and Windows for more intensive ones, but will such a machine really fly in the business world?"

5 of 289 comments (clear)

  1. Will it fly? by erroneus · · Score: 5, Insightful

    NO!

    Rebooting is a chore. Once people start up, they don't want to shut down to start up another application. It's not what they are used to. On the other hand, if this were done as a VM where the Linux machine were to boot and they installed Windows XP in a VirtualBox or some other VM, then that might be acceptable. Then they would have their safer, virus-free environment for email and web browsing and then a VM to host the applications they need to run. This stuff works really well.

    1. Re:Will it fly? by dokebi · · Score: 3, Insightful

      If the ARM side has access to the hard disk and wireless, I'll definitely be running it in ARM mode for 10x the battery life.

      --
      In Soviet Russia, articles before post read *you*!
    2. Re:Will it fly? by morgan_greywolf · · Score: 5, Insightful

      That'll change. 64-bit OSes are now mainstream -- and even VMs are becoming mainstream -- so it's only a matter of time before chipset and mobo manufacturers push the limits of more and more of their consumer-grade commodity stuff beyond the previous '4GB barrier'.

      --
      My blog
  2. Re:I could see this making sense by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Once they innevitably complete botch their windows partition: I could imagine some people trying linux.

  3. Re:Honestly by Falstius · · Score: 3, Insightful

    You can run your installed windows partition under a VM and avoid having to reboot at all.