After Dell broke the ice and started officially shipping Dell Ubuntu Linux laptops, we decided to take a look how they stack up against laptops produced by specialized Ubuntu notebook vendor - System 76.
The conclusion - things does not look too bad for System 76.
So far Dell is selling only one notebook - 15.4″ Dell Inspirion E1505N - with Ubuntu Linux preinstalled. The comparable notebooks from System 76 fall under Pangolin series line.
The comparable specs for both systems were:
- Intel® Core™ 2 Duo processor T5600 (2MB Cache/1.83GHz/667MHz FSB)
- Ubuntu Edition version 7.04 with 1 year Standard Support
- 15.4 inch Wide Screen XGA Display with TrueLife™(glossy)
- 512MB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz, 2 DIMM
- 80GB 5400rpm SATA Hard Drive
- 24X CD Burner/DVD Combo Drive
- Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 950
The cheapest Dell Inspirion E1505N with the configuration above, costs $799. System76 Pangolin series notebook has $1083 price tag. Doesn’t look too good for System 76, at first glance.
However, cheapest Dell Inspirion E1505N comes without any support package at all. Pangolin notebook includes full System 76 Ubuntu support package for a year. And if you add comparable 1 year standard support to Dell Ubuntu notebook, it’s price goes up to $1049.
So, if you are looking for the cheapest preinstalled Ubuntu notebook around, Dell Inspirion E1505N may be the way to go.
But if the continuous software support and timely updates are important to you, I’d opt for System 76.