Dell's Ubuntu Ultrabook Now Available, Costs $250 More than Windows 8 Model | Hacker News Reader

Dell's Ubuntu Ultrabook Now Available, Costs $250 More than Windows 8 Model

maximumpc.com

8 pointsMadMaxx8 comments

Don't get me wrong, I dislike Dell's hardware and sales tactics. I do however understand why the new Ubuntu laptop would cost more. Dell has affiliates that get to install their software on your new pretty machine, and they pay for that advantage. Dell is most likely making money on their Windows machines because of the 3rd software they can peddle on those machines. It did not look to me like they have taken this approach with Project Sputnik. I would gladly pay extra to not have to deal with spamware. On top of that, Dell spent a large amount of time and resources to not only be the first OEM to provide such an offering but also to provide two new solutions to developers that use their laptop. Their new Cloud launcher and Profile tool seem worthy to spend a little extra cash for as well.

To make remarks about how Dell should have the Linux laptop cheaper because the OS is free is somewhat asinine. You must try to put on your "business hat" when you think about such things.

I'd go that it's even more straightforward than that. Linux on what is essentially a consumer laptop - i.e. one that is being marketed to individuals rather than enterprise - will entail much higher support costs.

While Microsoft has a huge free support infrastructure accessible to end users and top quality onboard help, for most lay people Linux support is inadequate.

Dell will in many cases be taking on support for ideologically motivated non-hackers who don't know root. The higher price also weeds out the worst kind of customer, the person who just wants Linux because it's free.

This article is ... problematic;

The author apparently made no attempt to do an apples to apples comparison and drew a hasty conclusion. After realizing the error the only change to the article is a small update at the end saying everything he said before was wrong. This is diggbait at its worst.

Too expensive for an ultrabook.

Ridiculous. Dell is trying to overcharge people for wanting a free OS. It should be the other way around. It should be $100-$150 cheaper because they don't have to pay for the Windows license.

Windows 8 Pro is currently $39 retail. I suspect Dell gets it for less.

Dell is not a charity. It is a business. One driven by profit, not FOSS ideology.

That's an upgrade. The lowest "non-upgrade" version I can find right now is $79. But your point stands.

It's not an upgrade. You can install it clean, or over the top of Windows 7/Vista as an upgrade. Microsoft got rid of upgrades this time around.

The first time I installed it clean on it's own partition. Then I started thinking about all the tedious work it was going to entail.

So I deleted the partition and installed it over the top of Windows 7. With a two exceptions - failing to install .NET 3.5 required by Zune to sync with my phone and blowing away XP mode and my processors not supporting SLAT for Hyper-V - I've got no complaints.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com