1. To "show" that you can nicely run Linux on their hardware.
2. Have a better position wrt. deals with Microsoft. As they always could start promoting Linux on their systems much more widely.
3. Good publicity.
Ironically all of this can be archived with "selling" the product officially but then not putting much work/care into the actual sells. ;=)
Just hope this gets better.
Even though I would just reformat and install my preferred distro right away, it's nice to have something to boot into within a few seconds to double check my new laptop is functional.
Are there so many people buying laptops with Linux as a “requirement” that this is a thing?
Iirc, Sputh Korea dumped government use of Windows, so I could see a reason for a mfg to support Linux like that but in terms of just “publicity”?
That's an interesting question. Linux laptops are a small segment of the market. But if you openly support it, you stand to capture a lot of that segment. 1 to 2 percent of the entire laptop market is a big beal to a company that only has say 10 percent of the laptop market. Just example numbers I have no idea that the real numbers are.
For a car example I use the PT Cruiser from Chrysler. I didnt like it, not my thing. But I loved that they made it. It had some very retro design element that were nothing like any other vehicle on the market. I'm sure they grabbed 100 percent of the buyers who were into that look.
On the PT, I was at Chrysler before the launch of that thing (visiting). It was originally marketed to teens exclusively. It was supposed to replace Neon that was directed at teens but was moving to lower income adults. It failed specularly at teens. But became super popular with older drivers. A success, but completely wrong initial target. The Chevy HHR later looks nearly identical and in fact is designed by the same guy.
https://www.autoevolution.com/news/scion-xb-built-for-teens-...