Dell starts selling Ubuntu Laptops Today

>$75 less

A. Does the ATI actually cost $75 more? I did some quick looking around, but it's hard to get prices on notebook graphics. I saw desktop cards that looked as if they might bracket the X1400 in the $55-90 range. Presumably, the Intel card is not free.

B. There seem to be a few other hardware differences.

C. Hey! They've put together something that works with Linux, and it sounds like they've put a little effort into it. That ain't free, either.

On balance, a Linux box should not cost more than a Windows box. With the exact same hardware and selling at the same volume, it should cost (Windows price - Linux price) less. And no, you don't pencil in $0 for the Linux price just because you can download it and slap it onto your machine for no out-of-pocket money.

Dino,

A. Read my Lenovo configuration link above. The options listed are identical (Intel 950 and ATI X1400) and they are charging $75 more for the ATI card.

B. What other hardware differences? Please explain.....

C. I don't buy it.

> Read my Lenovo configuration link above. The options listed are identical (Intel 950 and ATI X1400) and they are charging $75 more for the ATI card.

A. Got it. Lenovo isn't Dell, but hard to imagine that the economics are radically different.

B. The WIFI card, which you noted.

C. Your problem, not mine. The evidence suggests that Dell actually gave some thought to their offering.

And, my own D: $5 for Windows sounds overpriced to me. What's your beef?

Dino, I agree with D ;-) ;-)

However one could argue that Windows does not cost Dell $5 (True cost $50-$100 ???) so why aren't the savings of not including it not being passed on to us as Linux users?

After all if they were then the low end laptop offering would be maybe $499 instead of $599. Such a differential with windows laptop prices MIGHT JUST encourage consumers to give Linux a proper shot.

>However one could argue that Windows does not cost Dell $5 (True cost $50-$100 ???)

One could argue a lot of things, but only Dell knows the real answer.

The true cost to Dell is the net cost of providing Windows, not the cost of the box/license/whatever the heck they get.

The big cost whittlers I can see are"

1. Fixed costs (testing for compatibility, putting on web-site, hiring flunkies, whatever) are spread out over a lot of units. 2. Lots of companies pay Dell to include crippleware in their products.

If you pay $50 for Windows, but collect $25 in crippleware fees, your net cost is $25.

Don't forget that Dell will probably never sell a copy of MS Office or antivirus software for a Linux desktop.

Dino,

Interesting point about crippleware.

I think however that your OEM pricetag of $50 for Windows is on the low side (actually it is what Ballmer claims). Ars Technica looked into it and came up with numbers ranging from $100-$200 for Vista depending on version:

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070124-8696.html

They note however that Dell pays less than this but state that this price is secret. So my figure of $50-$100 for the low end Windows might be close to the mark.

richo,

I would be astonished if Dell paid more than $20 each for its low end Windows licenses. With all due respect to arstechnica, when you move the quantity that Dell moves you get awesome prices on, well, on just about everything.

It it were me, I would be nattering on how much money you save by not having to purchase:

-firewall -anti-malware, spyware, viruses, all that junk, then getting infected anyway and having to spend time and money recovering -backup software -meelyuns of quality productivity apps, like office suite, graphics, scientific guff, games, you name it -the most super-studliest hardware on the planet just to boot the dommed OS

Then the whole ease-of-use thing, with dead-easy updates and package management, and not worrying about infection, and true multi-user so you can safely share a PC, and all those good things we take for granted.

NoDough, You're talking 80% discount over regular OEM pricing there. I'm pretty skeptical.......But as Dino says we will never know since Dell and M$ don't reveal this info.

TC,

I think their market (they say it is linux enthusiasts) already knows this. My point was that I (as a linux enthusiast) resent paying an indirect Windows tax.

richo -

Yeah. I'll bet the folks at Dell only know after running things through some fairly sophisticated analyses.

Here's the thing that should matter most:

Dell is selling PC's -- including notebooks -- with Linux Preinstalled. They are selling them from their some/small business site and targeting ordinary consumers. They are using components that work well with Linux.

The machines aren't priced any more than the Windows machines that many people considered good enough deals that more than a few computers were bought, stripped of Windows, and turned into Linux boxes.

Yeah, we can gripe about this'n that, but, on balance, the gripes I've seen are mouse nuts.

>My point was that I (as a linux enthusiast) resent paying an indirect Windows tax.

And what, exactly, might that be?

Just finished ordering my daughter's Dell/Linux laptop for college.

And yes, I am smiling. :)

>If you pay $50 for Windows, but collect $25 in crippleware fees, your net cost is $25.

Are you talking about Vista Basic, or the OTHER crippleware?

jrm: LOL

Considering the differences between XP and Vista, is Vista crippleware or malware or both?

Cripplemalspyware

Malware. Not overly bad, but malware nonetheless. It does have crippleware aspects, too.

> with dead-easy updates and package management

I dunno, TC. Poor ol' Adrian found that Ubuntu update thingy way too geeky. Poor guy. I wonder how he managed to write that article?

Well now, Don, that's a good point. OK, I was wrong. I take it all back.

*drool commences*