Will you buy preinstalled (K/X)Ubuntu PC/Laptop if Canonical plan to sell one?

[cyberkoa]

I was frustrated after hearing the news that Dell are still playing hide-n-seek with the customer in the request for a pre-installed Linux PC/Laptop.

I have tried to search Internet, I can find some companies are selling preinstalled PC/Laptop but the price is not cheap as what we expected.

Since those "big" company does not want to sell pre-installed Linux PC/Laptop , and keep trying to use some ridiculous excuse (I think they are afraid the evil empire) , why not Canonical Ltd do that ?

Joining force with a Asian vendor such as Lenova or Twinhead , take their component and Canonical just do the assembly (the initial stage) and sell it as a new brand, I believe there will be a business model for Canonical to start earning money which I think they are deserved.

Besides, they can provide the optional service/support contract to end user , maybe free for the first year, a fee for the later years.

If HP can earn so much from supporting Debian , I believe Canonical Ltd will have a chance .

To gain more support from customer, Canonical Ltd may also mentioned that , a certain % of the income will be allocated to the fund for continuing the development of Ubuntu so that it can remained free forever.

If those "BIG" companies do not want to do , Canonical Ltd, you do it.

Note : I forget to mention, the poll options is assuming you are in the plan to buy a PC/Laptop
The 2nd option should read as "Yes, even if the price is a bit higher than price offered by those "BIG" companies"

[yabbadabbadont]

You left out the "other" option on your poll.

If I ever decide to buy a laptop, and if it is affordable, and if it is sold directly in the US, then I would consider it.

[cyberkoa]

You left out the "other" option on your poll.

If I ever decide to buy a laptop, and if it is affordable, and if it is sold directly in the US, then I would consider it.

O .. seems like cannot modify the options in the poll after posted.

[FaceLeg]

I don't think the fact that version X of linux being pre-installed would stop me from immediately re-installing my preferred OS post-purchase.

I just wouldn't trust that company X would give me what I want - a clean, fresh install of the latest stable Ubuntu.

Re-installing is the only way to be sure, so I would do it regardless of the OS pre-installed.

I do not doubt that many others think the same.

I think that Dell selling blank lap-tops is about as good as it gets.

[RandomJoe]

No, I doubt I would buy one. Loading Linux on a machine is pretty darn easy to me, and I tend to customize the heck out of mine anyway so having it preloaded wouldn't save me much. I also doubt they would be able to have a sufficiently diverse line of machines to suitably fill the need/application I have at the time I buy. (Primarily thinking of desktop machines here - I like building my own.)

Now, in the case of laptops, if they were to partner with someone such that they work together to determine a Linux-friendly hardware set and verify it works well with Ubuntu then I would rate that laptop much higher than another machine that I don't necessarily know all the gory details of hardware-wise. (Provided I've heard of the vendor, or at least can find other info that gives me a good feeling about the build quality.)

The software load isn't a big deal to me, but I can certainly see where it might help less experienced / first-timers to have it ready to go when they pull it out of the box. (Heck, exploring a new system to figure out the hardware is one of my pleasures! Nothing like scrolling thru 'dmesg' to see what was found after the first boot on a new machine!)

[alanjackson]

Last two desktops I bought came preinstalled with Redhat. I had them partition the disk with four root partitions, and I immediately loaded my favorite distro, but kept the original redhat as a failsafe booting partition. The other two partitions are for upgrades and playing. I figure it is the best way to insure that I get Linux compatible hardware, though that is less an issue than it used to be.

[Nils Olav]

It never ceases to amaze me how so many linux users enjoy doing menial tasks.

[cyberkoa]

One of my hope is, Canonical manage to open the market, they will have the negotiation capital to deal with the hardware manufacturer and persuade them to provide the drivers, they can actually let the Linux Kernel team to do that now.

In fact Dell has been offering N-series for quite a long time , however, Dell homepage does not mention it at all. Moreover, those N-series are mostly model targetted for business use such as Latitute. If Dell can offer preinstalled Mandriva PC/Laptop in France , why not in US or Canada ? Maybe they cannot earn money from the OS if preinstall Ubuntu, they can still go for Novell Suse or Mandriva as an extra option.

[yabbadabbadont]

It never ceases to amaze me how so many linux users enjoy doing menial tasks.

I think the more likely answer is that most linux users are control freaks. If I didn't do it, how do I know it was done right?

[Nils Olav]

I think the more likely answer is that most linux users are control freaks. If I didn't do it, how do I know it was done right?

That too, but some of us are just down right impractical about this.