Posted on Monday 13th of August 2007 at 15:34 in Linux

Dells are this much cheaper with Ubuntu rather than Windows

I've been toying with the Dell site tonight investigating the potential savings that can be made by purchasing their new Ubuntu only machines (which were recently released in the UK). Here I look at two laptops (from their Inspiron range) and see what the price difference is.

I decided to look at the Inspiron 6400 range of laptops that they have recently brought Ubuntu to; a nice model with some nice spec options available. So I set about pricing up my Ubuntu machine:



The Ubuntu laptop
I decided to upgrade the processor to the more reasonable 1.74ghz dual core Intel chip from the rather dull 1.6 that was offered as default. This was at an extra cost of ?23.50 but I felt it a necessary add-on.

In addition the default amount of memory offered is a rather disappointing 512mb which I chose to upgrade to the full 1024mb at a further cost of ?29.37. While some may argue that Linux doesn't need as much memory as a Windows machine, I couldn't imagine running a machine with less than 1gb of memory.

Again, the hard drive was disappointing also; a rather dated 60gb 5400rpm hard drive which I felt would need to be upgraded to 7200rpm at an extra cost of ?47.00; I feel hard drives that are less than 7200rpm belong in the dark ages. I added no other extras and was left with a final spec of:

1.73ghz dual core Intel CPU
1024mb of memory
60gb 7200rpm hard drive
256mb of shared Intel Media Accelerator graphics
Final price of ?428.87



The Windows Laptop
The default CPU for the XP laptop was the improved 1.73ghz that I opted for as an extra on the Ubuntu version. The memory was also standard at 1024mb and the integrated graphics remains the same. The hard drive was also upgraded to 7200rpm at the same extra cost of ?47.00 and every other item remained the same.

The same laptop was priced, same CPU, same memory, same graphics, same hard drive, same everything. Except price. The final price was ?445.99



WOAH! Ubuntu laptop is ?17.12 cheaper!
Indeed. So you get the exact same laptop for ?17.12 cheaper through Dell purely for the pleasure of having Ubuntu installed on it. So that's all the difference? All the extra PR and hassle to offer this in the UK and the real saving you find on this specific product is a whopping ?17.12.

What can I do with my ?17.12 saving?
Well, there's a lot you can do but my personal recommendation would be Greenstreet Professor Teachers "Windows Vista Home Premium" available from Ebuyer. This has 10 blistering chapters covering all aspects of MS Vista Ultimate. What better could you do with your hard-saved ?17?

So after months of waiting for Dell to release Ubuntu machines in the UK it appears that they are only a "smidge" cheaper. Well, on the bright side they *are* cheaper but the new Ubuntu Dell machines are only good at face value - inheriting their cheapness from rubbish parts. Once you spec them up to the same level as a Windows machine they cost about the same. Still, ?20 can be used to great effect.

 

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