[ubuntu-uk] buying a laptop?

[gazz]

On Mon, 2011-01-17 at 14:51 +0000, Simon Greenwood wrote:

> 
> 
> 
> On 17 January 2011 14:32, Alan Pope <alan at popey.com> wrote:
> 
>         On 17 January 2011 14:23, Barry Drake <bdrake at crosswire.org>
>         wrote:
>         > Just went through the process and looked at the shipping.  A
>         10.1"
>         > Netbook ships to the UK at $130 something - a good
>         percentage of the
>         > cost of the netbook!!!
>         >
>         
>         
>         
>         I didn't say it was value for money :)
>         
>         I have often pondered setting up a cottage business buying
>         naked
>         laptops and ubuntifying them, but can't see there's a huge
>         margin in
>         it, but there's the potential to get sucked into very long
>         protracted
>         support conversations, negating any profit made.
>         
> 
> 
> Likewise. I even contemplated refurbishing old computers with a
> lightweight Ubuntu-based distro but the margin would have to be based
> on providing support, which could be made to work for small companies
> and charities and the like, but was more difficult to do for
> individuals as people won't pay for computer support and the charge
> and value often outweighs the time spent on problems.
> 
> s/
> 
> -- 
> Twitter: @sfgreenwood
> 
> My CV: http://bit.ly/sfgreenwood_cv
> "Is this your sanderling?"
> 

Went through much the same process myself, can't really see a way to
make this viable for individuals - it's hard enough with  charities and
small businesses. 

I did run into someone in Manchester who claimed to be supplying
refurbished PCs with Ubuntu successfully (but as he also claimed to be
working a 70-hour week just to break even, it didn't seem all that
appealing). 

That's why we decided just to run a free workshop every month so people
can do it themselves (and we don't take on any responsibility to be
picking up the phone to them 24/7). 

Paula

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