khkachn

Hi,

I was pricing laptops at Dell and did not find any OS options except Windows. A site search for Linux returned just 2 Mini notebooks (I see now that I missed the Open Source link on the second page).

I went into chat with a sales rep and asked about linux. They sent me a link to a Linux Inspiron 1500.

Only problem was the price for this laptop was $30 higher then the exact same laptop with Vista installed!

I found a different link on this forum and now the price is $25 cheaper then the same model with Vista installed.

I guess my question is WTF? Am I missing something or is Dell playing silly games?

It makes sense to me to order the Vista system and get Vista (just in case) for $25. I was sort of planning to install Fedora on the laptop anyway since that is what I am used to and I think it runs a little faster once you get it configured.


Ken

bigtomrodney

Well there may be slight differences in hardware, for example an Intel wifi card versus a Broadcom one which regardless of OS is €30-€40 in the difference. The specifications on these laptops vary widely as Dell customise them per user and even advertise different configurations in different places.

A theory I've heard but I can't confirm is that when you buy a Windows laptop it's full of sponsored software such as trial antivirus etc. The theory anyway says that these companies pay to have the software installed and because it isn't needed (or even workable) on Linux that the consumer has to take up that cost.

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