Anyone tried Dell Mini

[David Fletcher]

On Wednesday 10 Sep 2008, Joel Oliver wrote:
> Eberhard Roloff wrote:
> Just get the version with XP on it and reformat it and install Ubuntu.  
> Thats what most people do anyway.  It seems like only the crap versions 
> of laptops come with Ubuntu preinstalled and are very expensive (Because 
> of the crapware discounts)
> 

Unless you're buying in loads of units for a business, there's no need to buy 
ready built desktop PCs. I've been building my own for years. I prefer it 
that way - I can specify for myself exactly what goes in, and there's no 
$soft tribute to pay. This one is my best ever, in many ways.

Laptops are more difficult - you can't pick your own case, motherboard, power 
supply etc. and put it together - they come as one unit. But there are 
suppliers out there who sell them without an installed OS. I'm thinking of 
http://www.novatech.co.uk/ in the UK. Hopefully there are similar outlets in 
other countries. You specify a fixed hardware configuration, then at the 
checkout the cheapest price is for the one without an OS, rising in a first 
increment of GBP58 for XP, up to GBP117 extra for Vista Ultimate.




Going back to the original subject of the thread, the great thing about all 
these mini laptops being in the shops, is that it raises public awareness of 
Linux. Everybody who now enquires about one in a shop is exposed to the name, 
and those who take one home will hopefully start thinking "Hey this isn't 
half bad - I wonder how this Linux would run on my old desktop machine?" and 
so on.

I've been saying to my friends and colleagues for years that I reckon Linux 
adoption is an exponential curve. And I think it's getting steeper all the 
time. Mini laptops with Linux can only help.

Dave