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Dell, Lenovo sell Windows-free laptops for Linux customers (LinuxWorld)
LinuxWorld looks
at where to get laptops without Windows. "Two leading hardware
vendors, Dell and Lenovo, are quietly selling laptops without preloaded
Microsoft Windows to Linux customers who know where to look, says Lincoln
Durey, CEO of EmperorLinux, an Atlanta reseller that customizes, installs
and supports Linux on the major-brand laptops it sells."
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Summary Posted Mar 1, 2007 21:30 UTC (Thu) by TRauMa (guest, #16483) [Link] You can order (some) Dell laptops without Windows, but won't save money; you may even pay more because of special offers for the model with Windows.
You can order Levono laptops without Windows and save USD 40, but you'll have to go through resellers which will do a special order for you.
Durey claims a "reasonable amount of customers" orders without Windows just to make a point.
Summary Posted Mar 2, 2007 14:23 UTC (Fri) by rknop (guest, #66) [Link] That may make sense for Lenovo.
The Dell case suggests to me that the old practice of paying Microsoft per system shipped may still be going on. The only difference is that you don't get Windows loaded; Microsoft may still be paid.
That's the worst possible scenario, of course, because you're not making much of a point...!
I'd like to know if Dell reports to Microsoft an OSless system as a system sold that M$ gets paid for or not.
Summary Posted Mar 2, 2007 15:51 UTC (Fri) by madscientist (subscriber, #16861) [Link] >The Dell case suggests to me that the old practice of paying Microsoft per>system shipped may still be going on.
It shouldn't be. As I recall, this practice was explicitly called out as illegal in the Microsoft anti-trust trial, and they aren't allowed to do it. Of course that doesn't mean they haven't found some loophole.
Summary Posted Mar 2, 2007 20:44 UTC (Fri) by khim (subscriber, #9252) [Link] They did. Very fast in fact. They now give the producer an option to sell different model without Windows preinstalled. It can include the same hardware but it must be named differently. Some producers already offer submodel numbers (Windows XP Home Edition vs Windows XP Pro) so adding another one without any OS is simple, but in other cases it's big deterrent. I do not know details of Dell's case.
Other explanations Posted Mar 2, 2007 21:43 UTC (Fri) by dthurston (subscriber, #4603) [Link] There are other reasons why laptops may be more expensive without Windows: frequently Dell and other companies have special deals on laptops with particular configurations, while you can also configure the system for yourself; custom configurations are generally somewhat more expensive, but the pre-configured ones invariably include Windows.
Let me note that HP/Compaq also sells many models of their business laptops practically OSless.
Other explanations Posted Mar 3, 2007 11:10 UTC (Sat) by khim (subscriber, #9252) [Link] Dell let you change the configuration even for special deals: you can replace Windows XP Home Edition with Windows XP Professional (for XX$). Why you can not remove Windows altogether (for YY$) is good question...
Other explanations Posted Mar 11, 2007 20:01 UTC (Sun) by ekj (guest, #1524) [Link] This is very much true. I strongly suspect that the real price of Windows is negative for some large vendors. The price paid for the tons of crap that comes included may very very well be higher than the OEM-price paid for a basic version of Windows. Take the el-cheapo Vaio of my wife that I type this message on as an example:
Lots more, it *literally* took like 4 hours of work to get the laptop to the point where it would just fucking shut up and let us use it. Offcourse a plain reinstall of windows would've been quicker, except there's no option for that -- only a "recovery partition" that will helpfully, if utilized, also "recover" the complete set of crapware. Given all this, a completely empty disk really probably are better value, if you could get it for the same price. In the real world it's probably more like $699 included Windows and crap -- $749 with a clean naked disc. Sad but true.
It's all the crapware... Posted Mar 3, 2007 6:58 UTC (Sat) by pflugstad (subscriber, #224) [Link] I don't think it's so much Microsoft as it is that Dell has sold "placement" on Windows to a bunch of others - free offers from AOL, 6 months free of Norton AV, etc, etc, etc, out the wazoo. When you get a laptop from Dell, it's got so much of this crap on it, that you spend the next week cleaning it all off and putting decent stuff on it.
But the end result is that this stuff lowers the cost of the laptop - so if you get a version without Windows, then you don't get all this stuff, so you don't get all price break. This offsets the price break you (might) get from not paying the Windows tax - instead, you pay the crapware tax.
<http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070111-8598.html>
There's even a utility to remove it all:
<http://www.yorkspace.com/pc-de-crapifier/>
Pete
Dell, Lenovo sell Windows-free laptops for Linux customers (LinuxWorld) Posted Mar 2, 2007 10:53 UTC (Fri) by drag (subscriber, #31333) [Link] How about publishing more usefull information like:
Were to get Linux laptops from companies that are willing to properly support them?
Like:
Dell, Lenovo sell Windows-free laptops for Linux customers (LinuxWorld) Posted Mar 2, 2007 13:09 UTC (Fri) by Stephen_Riley (guest, #43827) [Link] In the UK you can get OS free laptops, cheaper than with Windows from ;
www.novatech.co.uk
I'm not part of the company but have used them for a number of years & their prices are good as well.
Dell, Lenovo sell Windows-free laptops for Linux customers (LinuxWorld) Posted Mar 3, 2007 8:08 UTC (Sat) by csawtell (subscriber, #986) [Link] Note that System76 will not supply their machines outside the USA.
We even offered to arrange a door-to-door courier, but the answer was still a Nyet! I wonder why? Don't they know that there is world out there?
Dell, Lenovo sell Windows-free laptops for Linux customers (LinuxWorld) Posted Mar 3, 2007 20:29 UTC (Sat) by drag (subscriber, #31333) [Link] They are a very small company.
I wouldn't be suprised if they find shipping overseas to expesive or difficult. Also there is issues with dealing with credit card places and that sort of thing.
Maybe they figure they are just not prepared to support world-wide distribution.
Don't realy know how all that works personally.
White-box laptops Posted Mar 3, 2007 0:18 UTC (Sat) by ldo (subscriber, #40946) [Link] You know what the problem is? The fact that it's so hard to put together a "white-box" laptop from your choice of components. With desktops it's easy, because of standardized parts. So you can have your choice of cases, motherboards, CPUs, drives, and other bits and pieces, all of which you can buy without being forced to take a copy of Dimdows as well, and be assured they will actually work together. Then you are free to put whatever operating system you like on top of that. With laptops, there is no such choice. So you have to take the limited bundles that are offered, or do without.
White-box laptops Posted Mar 3, 2007 20:37 UTC (Sat) by drag (subscriber, #31333) [Link] Well actually that's not entirely true.
First off, I don't know how widely known it is yet, IBM/Apple/Dell/HP etc don't actually produce their own laptops anymore.
In this context they are called 'OEM's were they install the ram, the harddrive, and install the OS.
Now the people that actually make and assemble the laptops are called 'ODM's. There are a few of them.
That is how System76 can 'produce' the laptop even though they are very small. They purchase the laptops from ODMs just like Dell, Leveno, or HP does. They are made on the same assembly lines with the same parts and everything.
I know that at least ASUS sells 'barebone' laptops. If you google around you can find them very easily. Trouble is that it's difficult to determine part compatability.
White-box laptops Posted Mar 5, 2007 8:26 UTC (Mon) by MKesper (guest, #38539) [Link] Yes, but although firms are claiming to support Linux on Laptops since as early as 2000 (!) (Dell), it's still not possible to buy a high-quality notebook with all parts working with GNU/Linux and no Windows at a reasonable prize (less than with Windows). See Werner Heuser's (TuxMobil) summary about this: http://tuxmobil.org/linux_laptop_manufacturer_blurb.html.
White-box laptops Posted Mar 5, 2007 10:16 UTC (Mon) by drag (subscriber, #31333) [Link] There are plenty of places to purchase Linux laptops.
Just not from Dell or other similar very large PC vendors.
If your waiting for companies that make their money based on the environment Microsoft has provided for them to turn around and all of a sudden start supporting something that would shake up the market, then your going to wait a VERY VERY long time. (as in: "not in the next 20 years")
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