I would like to build a list of Laptop brands/manufacturers shipping their pieces without MS OS. However, eliminate Mac from the list. They may be either shipping a Linux distro or no OS. In short, those Laptop manufacturers who do not pay MS tax.
I will post it at some of the sites I have access to. I think, we should display such a list at openSUSE site too.
This may be of interest
Linux on Laptops
and of course
HCL/Laptops - openSUSE
I spotted this earlier in the forum
Blending Business Chic with Affordability, HP Unveils HP ProBook Notebook PC Line
I am aware of these lists. It lists all the brands and describe how we can install Linux after paying tax to Micro$oft. I don’t want to list them unless I have the option of buying them with Linux or without any OS. Also, I don’t want to consider if the following are true:
(1) You have to pay Micro$oft tax and claim that amount later.
(2) It is possible to get a machine with Linux installed or with no OS, but you can not select such an option from their web site when you do online purchase.
HP belongs to (2). Just try buying the models advertised to ship with Linux or FreeDOS.
You mean like
The Dell Online Store: Build Your System
Yes, Dell allows us to configure what we want, including the OS or no OS.
HP claims that they ship with Linux OS. I checked with one of their stores and they don’t have any idea! I tried their online purchase site and it says that we can buy with Widnows/Linux/FreeDOS. But, when I tried, it was allowing me only with Windows OS.
It’s not easy with Dell either. My guess is that’s deliberate.
I had bought Dell without OS from their web site in the past. They were rack mountable servers not laptops.
I think, as you said, it could be deliberate that HP allows you to select only Windo$. However, I appreciate HP for the support of Linux for their peripherals (with few exceptions).
> do not pay MS tax.
i guess you know (don’t you) that often the “MS tax” does not work in
our favor…that is, a laptop (or desktop) without M$ is likely to
cost MORE than one with…
because while Redmond might charge the maker (say) $35 for a numbered
certificate, that maker turns around and charges (say) anti-virus
makers a fee to load their try-before-buy-ware…and, they do that
often enough to earn money greater than the cost of the OS…
so, a bare machine cost them more to produce than one loaded with
try/crapware…
–
heartless_bot
Yes, we need to put an end to all these things or at least we should try.
I think what you said is absolutely right. Once I ordered desktops without M$ OS and the vendor delivered it without OS after they realized that I will not purchase from them otherwise. I insisted on reducing the price by the amount they paid to MicroSoft and that they did. They delivered it without any OS but the “Designed for Microsoft Windows…” logo was still there on those machines.
We had to peel out those stickers and I found them later in the toilets. Some of my staff members stuck them to the toilet bowls.
>> do not pay MS tax.
>
> i guess you know (don’t you) that often the “MS tax” does not work in
> our favor…that is, a laptop (or desktop) without M$ is likely to
> cost MORE than one with…
>
> because while Redmond might charge the maker (say) $35 for a numbered
> certificate, that maker turns around and charges (say) anti-virus
> makers a fee to load their try-before-buy-ware…and, they do that
> often enough to earn money greater than the cost of the OS…
>
> so, a bare machine cost them more to produce than one loaded with
> try/crapware…
Which brings us to the question of how can we get more vendors to sell
software for Linux which can then be ‘preloaded’ and offset the ‘loss’
of revenue generation for the hardware vendor? Ironically what we need is
Linux try/crapware. 
I recently purchased a a laptop from system76 and am very pleased so far. They offer several model is laptops, as well as desktops and servers. They ship with ubunutu, however ive installed opensuse and arch on it with few problems. I just put kubuntu on it last night though (ubuntu 9.04 is shipping with a newer version of the kernel than opensuse 11.1–I need some of the features in the new kernel but do not want to go through the process on suse. ill be putting 11.2 on it when that is relased)
below is a link
i guess you know (don’t you) that often the “MS tax” does not work in
our favor…that is, a laptop (or desktop) without M$ is likely to
cost MORE than one with…because while Redmond might charge the maker (say) $35 for a numbered
certificate, that maker turns around and charges (say) anti-virus
makers a fee to load their try-before-buy-ware…and, they do that
often enough to earn money greater than the cost of the OS…so, a bare machine cost them more to produce than one loaded with
try/crapware…
one should also keep in mind that the large vendors (HP, dell, gateway, etc) build many more thousands of machines than smaller linux-only vendors. They more than likely get a better rate on parts (i.e. a “bulk” price). That too, contributes to their lower prices.
On Wed, 2009-04-29 at 06:56 +0000, syampillai wrote:
…
> HP claims that they ship with Linux OS. I checked with one of their
> stores and they don’t have any idea! I tried their online purchase site
> and it says that we can buy with Widnows/Linux/FreeDOS. But, when I
> tried, it was allowing me only with Windows OS.
Should work… usually have to select the Configurable tab on
a laptop selection… then you’ll see the FreeDOS/etc. version.
Hit Customize… behold NO OS…
HP does support Linux on SOME laptops… but not all, because not
all hw is completely Linux friendly (in truth MOST ARE NOT)
that is even though YOU and I might be able to configure Linux
correctly for the laptop, the fact is that many things rely
on firmwares and procedures that are not something that
“grandma and grandpa” could figure out, thus… not wise to
push (HP doesn’t want to see a mess load of returns).
No, I am not able to select anything other than Windo$ OS from those options. Also, HP has something called “Laptop Finder” a nice screen at their site that allows you to select various options like CPU, screen size, memory, hard disk, OS etc. but the Linux OS is grayed out there too!
I agree with you on the headaches of getting Linux running on Laptops due to various issues. However, once set up, you don’t need to further waste your time (Windo$ does not run reliably for longer periods. And then, viruses, worms, slowdowns, patches…).
I sent an email regarding this to HP and I received a BLANK auto-reply!!
You didn’t actually mention ‘Linux’ did you?
…That explains it…
Do that in in any PC Store and that’s what you’ll get too - BLANK:?
I know of a company called EmperorLinux that sells laptops with your preferred linux distro installed. They offer a variety of well known brands as well.
Today i saw in a site selling lappies a few PackardBell laptops with openSUSE and SUSE (it doesn’t say if it’s SLED, SLES or regular openSUSE, just SUSE linux). But the official site doesn’t say anything about giving linux.:
Here are the laptops.
PACARD BELL EasyNote MZ36 T2130 -F0336-U-112
Packard-Bell EASYNOTE MX52 TK57 Advance
PACARD BELL EASYNOTE ME35-T2390
EasyNote MX37 T7250-F0237-T-009
EasyNote MB66 T7250 F0666-P-011
EasyNote F0685-P-034
Siminin wrote:
> Today i saw in a site selling lappies a few PackardBell
ymmv, but my experience with Packard Bell is to NOT buy anything with
that name…
ymmv!!
–
somebody_else
I don’t know how good or bad they are. Never used one and maybe never willlol!