Dell re-enters high-end Linux laptop market with Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Summary: UPDATED: Through the years, Dell has had an on-and-off relation with Linux. It looks like they’ve kissed and made up, judging by the pair of new high-end laptops running Red Hat Enterprise that Dell unveiled today. These systems will be available worldwide.
Dell has blown hot and cold on the Linux desktop over the years. Dell was the first major original equipment manufacturer (OEM) to offer consumer Linux desktops in 2007, while Ubuntu Linux-powered laptops have often only been available from Dell by special order, Dell is recommitting itself to desktop Linux. Besides the upcoming 'Sputnik' Ubuntu Linux developer laptop, Dell is now offering two new high-end mobile workstations with Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 6 for Desktops.
Dell claims the two new systems -- the Dell Precision M4700 and M6700 -- are the "world's most powerful 15-inch and 17-inch mobile workstations." Citation needed, perhaps, but on the face of it do have a good aesthetic quality about them.
Both models come with the latest Intel Core i5, i7 and Extreme Edition processors with Turbo Boost Technology, and a range of graphics cards including NVIDIA's Quadro K-series GPUS and AMD FirePro graphics. The top of the line M6700 also offers AMD FirePro M6000 with PCIe x16 Gen 3 for fast data throughput. With any of these you can get up to high-definition 1920x1080-pixel resolution.
You can cram as much as 32GBs of DDR3 SDRAM and up to 16GBs of 1866MHz memory for high performance and fast access to large data sets. For permanent storage, you can get 512GB solid-state drive (SSD), a 256GB SSD, or a 750GB hard drive. You can put up to three storage devices in the M4700 and four in the M6700, meaning for enough money you can have to 1.8TBs in the former and up to 2.8TBs of total storage in the latter. Dell, for one PC maker, clearly still believes in local PC storage instead of cloud computing.
On both systems, the I/O ports include two USB 3.0, two USB 2.0 and one eSATA / USB combo ports and three integrated video ports: VGA, HDMI and DisplayPort 1.2.
What about Ubuntu Linux on Dell? You can still order it in some countries and, of course, Ubuntu 12.04 will be on the Sputnik.
Dell is currently selling Ubuntu powered laptops in China and India retail stores. In the States and most other countries, you'll need to special order Ubuntu laptops. Dell, Lenovo, and HP all have many systems, which have been certified with Ubuntu.
Dell has informed me that the RHEL-powered workstations will be available throughout the world. The audience for these systems will be developers and engineers with the deep pockets needed to spend $1,649 for the Dell Precision M4700, $2,199 for the M6700 and $3,579 for the M6700 with all the trimmings,
Related Stories:
- A first look at Dell's 'Sputnik' Ubuntu Linux developer laptop
- Has Microsoft opened the door to the Linux desktop?
- Shuttleworth talks up Ubuntu 12.10, growing acceptance of Linux on desktop and Ubuntu Unity
- vKernel extends MSSC 2012 to VSphere and Red Hat
- Linux in the Enterprise, Linux on the Desktop
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Talkback
Good thing Dell builds on demand, otherwise there'd be a lot of dust
Dust? Like stardust?
"linux just isn't going to compete on either consumer or lob apps.
These are workstations for scientists, engineers and other specialists who need powerful hardware. And an operating system that doesn't get in the way.
China India....
It seam that it's us WEST that did not waked up to the fast that you can live without MS Win.
And you need to have moneys to earn to spend moenys on training your sale force about Ubuntu+Dell offerings.
baremetal
Dell re-enters high-end Linux laptop market with Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Do you mean Linux failures like:
As to hardware drivers, what are you talking about? Dell wouldn't supply RHEL if it didn't support all the hardware in the systems.
As to skipping sound, maybe you should retire that 8Mhz IBM/AT 286 system you are running Linux on, as my Linux systems playback 2d/3d/1080p video just fine, and my CAD program's 3D rendering is faster than anything anyone has on any other OS. But then again, my Linux systems are running on 3+ year old hardware.
Since when did Google and Redhat start selling their own server hardware?
Is he wrong in stating that earlier Linux based laptops were not a glaring sales success story?
How to spot the terminal cases. Lesson 1.
Why not
lol...
Check again...
Nvidia and AMD both use their on-gpu chpis to accelerate video. Problems with sound sound stranger yet.
Not to mention suggestion that Dell is unable to provide drivers for its own hardware....
And by the way:
I was going to comment
A low end OS on high end hardware
Sad for windows, but true.
It depends
Who is that lurking under the man hole cover?
Hey...
I had a dream...
I awoke to find myself relaxed, comfortable, all surrounded by clouds or fog, something, but it was a nice feeling. After a few minutes the fog or clouds gave way to an awesome scene. In the near distance was a white stage with two huge white ergo type office chairs. Sitting in the chairs were two men dressed in shrouds or robes, something like biblical times. At there sides were white bearded men with laptops taking notes and reading some times. I found myself in a line of other guys. There were two in front and several behind me as we approached the two daunting figures in the chairs.
Come forward jestered the two men in the chairs. It was then that I noticed a large amount of cafeteria type chairs stacked behind one of the two men. I also saw two name plaques above the two men, one on my right read “Linus” and the one on my left read “Steve”, the cafeteria chairs were stacked behind the one named Steve. They both signaled the first man in line to go forward and stand before them while one of the guys with a laptop read something aloud. “You were once a Windows user, were you not?”. The man answered, “Yes but that was a long time ago”. The man reading continued, “Then you tasted the forbidden fruit, Yes?” The man in line answered, “That is true, I am an Apple user now”. At that time the man named Linus looked at Steve and said, “OK, I think we have established that he is to languish in Cupertino for eternity”. Pointing with one hand he said, “Go that way and follow the dotted line. Don't forget to pick up your pad, pod, and what not...” Steve looked at Linus and said as he shrugged his shoulders “Yeah, we loose some that way.”
The man walked away and the next one stepped forward. “You are a good Windows user who likes to play games and spends lots of money on hardware and software, are you not?” the man proudly answered, “Yeah, that's me!”. Speaking again the man with the laptop went on: “In your gaming career you have killed many opponents, have you not?”. The man proudly answered, “Yep!”. At that point Steve turned to Linus and said with a huge smile, “He's mine, all mine!” and at that point two huge doors swung open reveling a reddish glow and terrible screams of agony. The man looked terrified as Steve pointed his finger and said, “You are here by sentenced to eternal upgrades, malware, blue screens, viruses and invasive ULAs until the end of time! Go to the doors and follow the Mr. Clippy to the gates of Redmond, hahh, hahhhh, ha, ha.....”
By now I was getting a bit concerned, as I was next in line. It was Linus who said step forward my son. OK, that seemed nice enough, I thought as I proceeded to step up the the two men. One of the men with a laptop then read aloud, “You were once a Windows user, were you not?”. I nervously replied, “Yes, um yes I was, but that was many years ago. I am a Linux desktop user now”. I was startled as Steve jumped up in a fit of rage, grabbed a chair from the stack behind him and hurled it across the room. This one is your, he said as he turned to Linus”. Then everything got really bright as I woke to find myself reading this blog. “Thank Linus it was only a dream”, I said to myself....
Ummmmm....
And what's so bad about upgrading your computer? A lot of people enjoying upgrading. As a Linux user, you should know better than anyone about upgrades including software updates. Depending on which version of Linux you use, you might even get more updates than Windows. Also, the NT Kernel in Windows is stable enough to the point where Blue Screens are rare and usually only happen in cases of a hardware malfunction or if you corrupted files yourself through negligence. Basically, what it takes to cause a Blue Screen is about the same as what it takes to cause a Kernel Panic in Linux (Black Screen).
Ummm is not up to date ...
"Also, the NT Kernel in Windows is stable enough to the point where Blue Screens are rare" ...
this is not the only available point in the game - not everything is related to stability
in Linux - I can take a deep look into my new kernel if I really need ( as a 3d software developer ...)
this is not available under the magnifficent Windows environment and will never be ...
unfortunatelly ...this is crucial for developers in order to optimize their work - noone need to guess, waiting on the very end of MSDN documentation
The LHC is ran by a Linux server farm...