Purchasing a new Ubuntu laptop

David A. Samuel · 08-03-2008, 05:19 PM

Hi Everyone,

I'm looking to purchase a laptop that's pre-loaded with Ubuntu 8.04. I'm looking at a Dell 1525N or a System76 machine. Does anyone out there have any info or first hand knowledge about these products. Cheers, David

amani · 08-03-2008, 05:46 PM

There are many: try google.... DELL, some HCL, ACER brands, lots more

But it is always better to get a laptop with no OS and then install Ubuntu or any other Linux. Search earlier posts on the topic in this forum

jiml8 · 08-03-2008, 05:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by amani

But it is always better to get a laptop with no OS and then install Ubuntu or any other Linux. Search earlier posts on the topic in this forum

It is? Why?

Purchasing a machine preloaded means you turn it on, and it works. It just works. Someone else has dealt with the tweaks and the issues.

Buy it bare, and you have to make it work. That will take hours at least - and that is if all you have to do is install the OS and magically it all works. More likely is that you'll have to fix things, and configure things, and tweak things until it works.

IndyGunFreak · 08-03-2008, 06:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jiml8

It is? Why?

Purchasing a machine preloaded means you turn it on, and it works. It just works. Someone else has dealt with the tweaks and the issues.

Buy it bare, and you have to make it work. That will take hours at least - and that is if all you have to do is install the OS and magically it all works. More likely is that you'll have to fix things, and configure things, and tweak things until it works.

Have to agree with this... If you have a lot of Linux knowledge, it might be easier to buy one w/o an OS. I've done this, and it worked out fine for me. The laptop I'm on now, I bought, booted the Live CD before ever booting Vista. Tested that I could at least get Ethernet working, and it did. I then nuked the whole drive and installed Ubuntu. All in all, it wasn't to bad. Gutsy had some problems w/ Wireless and Sound. All of that has been cleared up in Hardy. Sound works great, and Wireless sets up in about 2min w/ Madwifi.

Acer 5315-2153

IGF

jiml8 · 08-03-2008, 08:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by IndyGunFreak

Have to agree with this... If you have a lot of Linux knowledge, it might be easier to buy one w/o an OS. I've done this, and it worked out fine for me. The laptop I'm on now, I bought, booted the Live CD before ever booting Vista. Tested that I could at least get Ethernet working, and it did. I then nuked the whole drive and installed Ubuntu. All in all, it wasn't to bad. Gutsy had some problems w/ Wireless and Sound. All of that has been cleared up in Hardy. Sound works great, and Wireless sets up in about 2min w/ Madwifi.

Acer 5315-2153

IGF

Even if you have a lot of linux knowledge, it is still easier to buy one preloaded.

I don't think I have ever had a Linux installation that I haven't had to tweak, except for some server setups - and, when you get down to it, servers are easy to set up compared to desktops and workstations. My initial Kubuntu installation on my laptop was pretty smooth but not perfect.

Right now I am having a good ol' time getting Debian running properly on a Powerbook G3...and I picked Debian because I thought it would be easy to get running on the PPC system.