Buying a Linux-ready laptop

Discussion of hardware related issues
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tlmiller
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Re: Buying a Linux-ready laptop

Post by tlmiller »

OH, I know, I'd just really like to see one try it. Regardless of who. Obviously a major OEM would have the financial stability to be more likely to be able to try it with fairly low risk. They could even repurpose existing machines. Like the 3379 I'm getting, that body is the body that was re-used for my Inspiron 7375. So repurpose it again. Already have an AMD board that fits that laptop case. Go with a cheaper TN panel instead of IPS. Put in the Ryzen-3 mobile. IGP is just fine. That board doesn't support NVMe, so go with a 128 GB m.2 SATA SSD.

Given that my 7375 was something just over $600 (with Windows), dropping from a Ryzen-5 to a Ryzen-3, 256 to a 128 SSD, a IPS to TN LCD, and go ahead and drop to an Intel 3165 wireless. That's savings in hardware costs of nearly $150 without compromising the usability. I happen to know all the hardware it has works with Linux just fine, so at that price (lets say $650-$150 = $500), you've got a functional, absolutely "good enough" laptop that would be quite tolerable to use, attractive, linux friendly, and affordable by most folks. And that's the more EXPENSIVE of the solutions I'd like to see!!
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CaptNoize
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Re: Buying a Linux-ready laptop

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But..will ANY of these manufacturers pay attention to this conversation..... I highly doubt it.... :x :x :x :evil:
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crosscourt
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Re: Buying a Linux-ready laptop

Post by crosscourt »

This conversation has actually happened quite a few times on some pretty well known tech sites and developers forums.
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tlmiller
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Re: Buying a Linux-ready laptop

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No doubts. But I think the time is getting to be right for companies to reconsider. Thanks to Windows 10, linux popularity is growing. While it's not a leaps and bounds type growing, it's growing nevertheless.
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crosscourt
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Re: Buying a Linux-ready laptop

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The number of people who have contacted me about moving to Linux has been phenomenal. One local shop in my area has been doing 10 Linux installs for every 2 Win10 installs. A lot of the systems are bought locally with Win10 and they either dual boot or replace Win10 with Linux.
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CaptNoize
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Re: Buying a Linux-ready laptop

Post by CaptNoize »

I certainly don't have access to the amount of customers you 2 have. However, EVERYONE I encounter are always complaining about Win10. I think we will see a major manufacturer try what we've been talking about. Perhaps one of you can forward this to HP,or Dell...it's far too to long that soooo many people have suffered this nonsense from a greedy corporation. Perhaps this conversation might "spearhead" this movement...???
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tlmiller
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Re: Buying a Linux-ready laptop

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I don't know anyone inside HP or Dell anymore (well, other than my sales rep and enterprise rep), but do wish I did still. I really think a company could really make a name for themselves in the FOSS/Linux community if they were to market something like this nowadays. Even if they weren't making HUGE profits, the goodwill from the Linux community of offering an affordable linux-preloaded machine may be worth it.
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crosscourt
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Re: Buying a Linux-ready laptop

Post by crosscourt »

I still have some friends at Dell and a few friends on the outside that work for various OEMS so thats where I get most of the opinions from, on top of tech site owners.
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