Dell Continues Shipping Fresh Linux Laptops

jones_supa writes: In its latest move, Dell will be bringing Ubuntu 14.04 LTS to its top-of-the-line Precision M3800 workstation laptop and the latest model of the Dell XPS 13. Both systems will be running Ubuntu 14.04.1. According to Barton George, Dell's Director of Developer Programs, programmers had been asking for a better, officially-supported Ubuntu developer laptop. This came about from a combination of the efforts of Dell software engineer Jared Dominguez and enthusiastic feedback. Specs of M3800: 15.6" LCD @ 3840x2160, Intel i7 quad core CPU, NVIDIA Quadro GPU, up to 16 GB RAM. The bad news is, as Dominguez explained on his blog, this version of the M3800 doesn't support its built-in Thunderbolt 2 port out of the box. However, thanks to the hardware-enablement stack in Ubuntu, starting with upcoming Ubuntu 14.04.2, you will be able to upgrade your kernel to add some Thunderbolt support.

Comments

Re:Hardware enablement?

[armanox]

Ubuntu, like Red Hat, tries to keep the version of components the same for the life of a (LTS) release as not to risk breaking compatibility and application certification. Fedora's kernel updates can occasionally break things, and not breaking compatibility is very important for a long term release. (Compare Ubuntu LTS to RHEL or SuSE Enterprise)

Re:XPS 13 works great

[hairyfeet]

Of course it is because when you get Windows you don't have a "MSFT tax" you have a "MSFT tax BREAK" that so few FOSS users seem to be able to grasp!

Look its REALLY simple, 1.- Somebody who buys bulk (in the case of MSFT bulk is defined as over 10K licenses) gets Windows MUCH cheaper, last figures I saw was between $0-$50 depending on version and device, 2.- the OEMs then GET PAID to put trial versions (or in the case of Google their toolbars and browser) on the install image, 3.- When combined with the discount this can often make putting Windows on the system a money EARNER instead of a cost,4.- You have the economies of scale on the Windows side which Linux doesn't and finally, 5.- LINUX COSTS MONEY to the OEM because they have to keep their own custom version of a distro (which they have to pay developers to maintain) because otherwise updates can shit all over their drivers. Before any FOSSies poo poos this idea because "Linux doesn't shit on drivers, you're a liar Hairyfeet" I would point out Dell has been having to deal with the piss poor Linux driver model for many years and just as i have seen how badly the driver model really is and therefor has NO choice but to keep their own distro, at a not inconsiderate cost, just to keep users from screaming "update foo broke my drivers!"

So this is why Linux will ALWAYS be more expensive than Windows, because if you look at total cost to the OEM for going with Linux over Windows? Windows is the cheaper alternative. Its less brittle, doesn't require you to have your own fork, the OEM doesn't have to pay a dev team to update its drivers constantly, it can place trialware on the system. Linux is only "free" if your time is worth nothing and for OEMs this is simply not the case.