One Third of Dell Inspiron Mini 9s Sold Run Linux

Quoting:“A third of our Mini 9 mix is Linux, which is well above the standard attach rate for other systems that offer Linux.

because to buy a "regular" computer with Ubuntu on it you have to know where to look, where as the Ubuntu Mini 9s are listed right along with the Windows ones?

> ...where as the Ubuntu Mini 9s are listed right along with the Windows ones?

And deliberately marketed as the cheap (and therefore, in many peoples minds, inferior) option, to be fair. But yes, having the Linux option on the same page has to help sales. It would be even better to simply offer the same machines with either OS, but that probably asking too much from Dell at this time.

Linux entered the server market place in much the same way.

It was used as a print or file server. Sometimes as a firewall or intelligent router on cast-off equipment running in a closet or on the floor under the printer.

Why waste a precious Novell Netware license on so trivial a task? Just use Linux or BSD. It wasn't long before Linux (thanks to the 'killer app' combo of the lamp stack) started seeing serious use as a web server. Soon after that Linux was accepted in the corporate data center and came to dominate the top 500 super computer list.

So what if the retail computer industry see Linux as only worthy of the bottom rung? That is how the server market place first saw Linux. Once they started using it, they realized its true value.

If there is one thing you can count on in retail, it is razor thin profit margins. Microsoft's 83% profits for a boxed software retailer are not maintainable over time. IMHO, Linux and free software were made for the retail market place.

>> And deliberately marketed as the cheap (and therefore, in many peoples minds, inferior) option, to be fair.

Eh. If they were the same price someone would be complaining because they weren't priced less than the MS option.

As usual, they're DELLed if they do, and DELLed if they don't.

>As usual, they're DELLed if they do, and DELLed if they don't.

That is simply unfair and untrue.

The Dell with you , I say.

In Norway you can't buy either the Mini 9 or any other Dell laptop with Linux, so here I guess it's 0%.

> If they were the same price someone would be complaining because they weren't priced less than the MS option.

I didn't say that the Linux models were cheaper. I said the cheaper models were the ones marketed with Linux. There's a difference.

Go to http://www.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/lap... and http://www.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/lap... and see for yourself. In each case, only the lowest spec'ed unit is offered with Linux. Yes, you can upgrade them to the same specs as the XP machines, but the marketing effect is deliberate. Linux is deliberately marketed as the low cost and inferior option.

I saw a Dell Mini 9 running Ubuntu at SCALE (at the SFVLUG booth), and that is the best netbook I've seen thus far. Everything worked great, it didn't run hot, and the keyboard was even usable. I'd love to get one.

@jd the nice thing is though, when I did it, after I spec'd it out, the ubuntu version still came in cheaper. I havent decided to get one or not though.

I think you can choose Ubuntu for the "mid level" Mini 9, even though XP is the default.

I also saw a Mini 10 on Dell's Web site, but there was no way to order it.

> ...when I did it, after I spec'd it out, the ubuntu version still came in cheaper.

Yes, Dell's making a good unit, and pricing it reasonably. The marketing group is the one dropping the ball, and I have little doubt as to the reasons thereof. Let's just say Microsoft's influence with Dell is still a factor. :(

The greatest advantage Dell has with the Mini 9/12 is that they come with Ubuntu, which offers far better support and repositories than the alternatives (Xandros for Asus and Linpus for the Aspire, from memory). That's worth paying a somewhat higher price. Yes, you can always reload the others with your distribution of choice, but who wants to bother?

Apparently the return rate for the Windows and Linux ones are comparable, which suggests to me that either virtually nobody actually has a problem with the system being Linux, or if they do, they are more than made up for by a higher rate of "holy crap, Windows doesn't work worth $#!+ on this thing!" returns...

The article also mentions that the return rates of XP netbooks are low, so Ubuntu netbook returns are really low as well. By extension it's quite easy to see that the high return rates for MSI netbooks have little to do with people preferring XP but are probably caused by MSI's crappy implementation of Linux on their netbooks. Something I have been saying for some time now.