Dell's Ubuntu-based 'Sputnik' XPS ultrabook is now available to buy in the UK, nearly nine months after the pilot project for the device was first officially announced in July 2012 and nearly six months after it first went on sale in the US.
The laptop is one of the few to ship running the Linux Ubuntu operating system (version 12.04 LTS) as standard and is the result of a project to provide a developer-focused device that would allow users to easily test their work as they progress on "micro-clouds" hosted on the laptop.
This approach allows developers to test software deployments at-scale and then easily deploy them to the cloud. The device, which has been on sale in the US for several months already, has been given a minor spec upgrade for its UK release.
Key hardware details include a Intel Core i7-3537U processor, 256GB solid state drive (SSD) for storage and a 13.3-inch 1080P display.
As a result of the combination of the SSD for storage, Intel i7 processor and 8GB RAM, Dell claims the Sputnik can boot from cold in less than 12 seconds, or resume from sleep in around three seconds.
The device actually went on sale in the US at the end of 2012 but only reached UK retailers' shelves at the end of February. Dell did not explain the delay in bringing the device to Europe but said that the decision to do so was "thanks to the amazing feedback and support we received", according to a Dell spokeswoman.
The laptop is available to buy now directly from Dell as the devices are primarily aimed at business buyers, and are priced at £899 excluding VAT.
The device is now also available to buy in a number of European countries outside the UK: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Spain and Sweden. It will soon also be available in Norway, Dell said.
Additionally, the company is "trying to work out a strategy to support" Israel, Morocco, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, UAE in the near future, too.