Dell UK dances with Linux

Open source touches down

By James Sherwood, 8th August 2007

Dell has taken its first major step into the open source world beyond the good ol' US of A. The PC assembler is to begin shipping the Ubuntu 7.04 Linux operating system on two of its Inspiron brand PCs.

The company said that because there are no software licence costs associated with Ubuntu, it is able to offer the Inspiron 6400n laptop and 530n desktop machines at a “competitive” price. It also said the move was based on customer feedback from its IdeaStorm website, which is a designated customer feedback site.

The machines will be available in the UK, France and Germany from tomorrow. The 6400n will retail for £329 and the 530n will cost £399.

Dell’s announcement comes just days after Lenovo announced that it would be shipping its ThinkPad laptop series with the option of the SuSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 OS.

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Posted Tuesday 14th August 2007 17:35 GMT

Robert E A Harvey

Comparative pricing

I also spec'd up similar windows and linux verisons - same cpu, same ram, same optical drive, year's support on both - and they were within 2 quid of each other.

What is more, a higher spec laptop in the USA was about 30% cheaper until they dropped the 6400 altogether.

Posted Friday 10th August 2007 11:06 GMT

Anonymous Coward

only for novices? HUMBUG!

I put Ubuntu on my mum and dad's PC because I was tired of cleaning off viruses.

they seem able to use it for what they want,

solitaire games, email, web,

and they haven't a clue on windows or linux.

Posted Thursday 9th August 2007 15:10 GMT

Jim Hughes

Pay more for Linux?

Curiously, if you spec up the Ubuntu equipped Inspiron 6400 to the same spec as that offered for XP or Vista, the price for the Ubuntu laptop is higher (405.37 vs 398.99).

The basic spec Ubuntu laptop is cheaper (at 329), but adding a comparable processor (dual core), memory (from 512 to 1024), and optical drive (DVD/CDRW to DVD+/-RW) makes the Linux lappy more expensive.

With pricing like this, smart Linux users will buy the Windows lappy, and install Linux themselves, whilst Dell will drop the Linux option due to lack of demand...