Ok, so the Linux zealots can stop whining about how they cant buy a laptop with Linux preinstalled.
But do you really think many people will move to this? You can get laptops with Win7 Home for less than $1000 so there really isnt much of a price difference.
If Ubuntu did some marketing and advertising, perhaps they could get some interested in trying it, but until then, there will be little interest.
Readers of my Ed Tech blog will know that System76, an OEM dedicated to selling Ubuntu-powered laptops, desktops, and servers recently sent me a pair of their netbooks to test for use in student computing. While the hardware was stock netbook (Atom processors, Intel graphics, etc.), the computers reminded me how much I liked Ubuntu and offered a glimpse of how easy a transition to Linux could be if it simply came pre-installed on a high quality machine from a reputable manufacturer. After all, no matter how easy Ubuntu is to install, the average consumer (or business, school, or government agency for that matter) simply isn’t going to start downloading ISOs and blowing away pre-installed copies of Windows 7.
The netbooks were perfectly nice,and represented a solid choice for schools because of their abundant free software and competitive prices when compared to other netbooks with similar specs. However, System76 also sent me a high-performance, consumer-oriented laptop to evaluate in the broader context of desktop Linux.
I use Ubuntu regularly, primarily as a server OS, and it’s been my primary desktop OS at various points since version 7. However, being the geeky sort of guy that I am, I don’t hesitate to either fire it up in a virtual machine or just burn a CD and wipe out any of the various computers that tend to float around my house and install the operating system. This is all well and good for geeky sorts of guys (and I mean “guys” in a very gender-neutral sense) or for businesses that either need or want to use Linux.
Most people just go to Dell, HP, or Apple, though, buy a computer, and use whatever OS came with it until it dies. What can System76 offer to make consumers order a $1500 laptop and use Ubuntu on it until it dies?
The computer pictured above is their Pangolin Performance model. A base price of $845 gets you an HD+, 15.6″ LED screen; a Core i5 processor; 2GB of RAM; discrete ATI graphics; a 250GB hard drive; a DVD burner; Bluetooth, 802.11b/g/n wireless; a 6-cell battery; a modem; an integrated webcam; 64-bit Ubuntu 10.10; and plenty of ports (everything from HDMI to eSata). A similarly configured (although lacking the System76’s numeric keypad) HP Dv6t running 64-bit Windows 7 Professional will cost you just under $1000. At the moment, HP is offering a free upgrade to 8GB of RAM and comes standard with a 640GB hard drive, but clearly the prices are competitive.
Pricing stays competitive as you start adding options. My test machine was upgraded with a 1.83GHz Core i7 quad-core processor, 4GB of RAM, and a 40GB solid state drive and rings up at just over $1500. You can’t even get a quad-core MacBook Pro, let alone touch a 15″ MBP for $1500.
This is, in fact, where things start to get interesting, both for geeks like me and for pro-sumers and power users. Long story short, my test laptop screams. It boots in about 15 seconds, applications launch instantly, and even with only 4GB of RAM, I can’t get it to bog down on my usual stack of browser windows and countless tabs. My MacBook Pro? Two different browsers, 3-4 windows each, with 8-10 tabs a piece tend to get it down.
Of course, the higher clock speed on my Mac favors single-threaded applications, but I’m going to miss 4 hyperthreaded cores when I send the Pangolin back. I’m also going to miss the SSD, despite it’s small size.
My point is that for a very reasonable price, demanding consumers can have a rock solid machine that will handle anything they throw at it (at least in terms of performance).
Most folks don't want to know. Linux works fine for dedicated devices like DVRs and the like, but not when you actually have to *use* the OS for other stuff...
