Dell M4600, Fedora or Ubuntu? Best HW-support?

[Askel]

Hello

I'm kind of a beginner at Linux. I've only used Ubuntu so far (from 9.04 and forth).
I'm planning to buy a Dell Precision m4600 and run Ubuntu or Fedora on it. I've read that there are some problems with it using Ubuntu. Has anyone here got it to work well with Ubuntu?

And how is it with the hardwaresupport on Fedora? You can buy it preinstalled with Red Hat Linux. And Dell has drivers for Red Hat on their supportpage. Do those drivers apply to Fedora aswell?

I'm planning to use the computer in my work, but from ideological reasons (and many others) I rather use Linux than Windows. But it is crucial to me that the hardware is wellsupported.

And another question that maybe should be suited better in another section. Is it as easy to install new desktopmanagers (Say Gnome3, XFCE etc) as it is in Ubuntu, ie just install it through the software-center?

//Askel

[jayd512]

Hello and Welcome!

I've looked around a bit, I've found that most folks have few problems running Linux on that hardware. Most of the time, it's minor issues with the touchpad not disabling while you type. Other than that, nothing looks to be an issue.

And how is it with the hardware support on Fedora? You can buy it preinstalled with Red Hat Linux. And Dell has drivers for Red Hat on their support page. Do those drivers apply to Fedora as well?

If it can be ordered with Linux preinstalled, that's always a good sign.
And since Fedora is pretty much a test bed for RHEL, the drivers for RH should work for Fedora.

Is it as easy to install new desktopmanagers (Say Gnome3, XFCE etc) as it is in Ubuntu, ie just install it through the software-center?

It's been a while since I ran Fedora, and I never used any of the GUI software centers. But you can simply use yum to install what you need.

yum install <whatever>

[Askel]

Thanks for the answer. I guess it'll be a Dell M4600 then. (I'll see if I'll run ubuntu or fedora on it though)

//Askel