[ubuntu-uk] Dell UK now offers netbooks and laptops ...

[Bruno Girin]

On Wed, 2010-06-16 at 10:38 +0100, Liam Proven wrote:
> On Wed, Jun 16, 2010 at 9:47 AM, Bruno Girin <brunogirin at gmail.com> wrote:
> > On Wed, 2010-06-16 at 08:53 +0100, Barry Drake wrote:
> >> Hi there ...
> >>
> >> Just checked out the Dell UK site.  A search for Ubuntu now throws up
> >> two netbooks and three laptops that actually are available with Ubuntu
> >> and if you follow the customization through, it says they come with
> >> 10.04.  The site still shows the Mini 10 as an Ubuntu machine, but
> >> that's obviously a mistake.  Pity they've dropped the Mini 10v.
> >> Barry Drake.
> >
> > Well, I've just tried most laptop models that the search returns and the
> > only ones I manage to configure with Ubuntu are the Latitude 2100 and
> > 2110 but they only come with 9.10, not 10.04. And the funny thing is
> > that there's a big banner in the OS section saying "Don't forget to
> > register for your Windows 7 upgrade after your purchase".
> >
> > That doesn't sound very committed to Ubuntu to me.
> >
> > Shame because I would be on the market for a top of the range Vostro
> > 3300 if the specs that say it comes with Ubuntu were actually true. It's
> > doubly frustrating because Dell seem to be one of the few vendors who
> > have a 13" laptop with decent specs (the other one I know of being Sony
> > but I have no hope in hell of running Ubuntu on a Sony, let alone
> > getting it Windows free).
> 
> You don't?
> 
> I ask merely because I've run Ubuntu on both Dells and Sonys - and
> IBMs and Toshibas - without any problems at all.

Maybe it's worth a try then. But in that case, I'm back to the original
problem discussed in this thread: I don't think I have any hope of
getting a Sony without Windows pre-installed.

> 
> A friend of mine spent /two days/ trying to upgrade Vista on a Sony to
> Windows 7, because he'd been misinformed about it being a special Sony
> edition of some kind and that normal Windows wouldn't work.
> 
> I've been wiping Sonys and putting standard Windows & Linux installs
> on them for years. Sure, sometimes you have to hunt down some drivers,
> but you get that on all makes and models of PC. I've never had an
> insoluble problem.

Oh I'm sure there are no insoluble problems, it's just that I don't
really feel like spending an inordinate amount of time getting it to
work. If I am to buy a £1000+ laptop (top of the range as I said), I
don't particularly want to find myself with a doorstop until I hunt down
all the right drivers. Maybe a way to resolve that issue is to go to the
Sony shop on Tottenham Court Road armed with a LiveCD and see what it
says :-)

> 
> I think that the hype over the intractability of Sonys is mostly FUD.

Possibly.

Bruno