Mike Rooney

programming and philosophy

All Dell Minis Available With Ubuntu!

I just checked out the Dell website (US) and noticed that all the Dell Inspiron Minis can now be configured with Ubuntu, and for $40 cheaper than the same Windows setup! Previously you could take the base Ubuntu system and increase the specs to match the other Windows configurations, but you would miss out on the “Instant Savings”, which could save you up to $40. Now you can not only get the Instant Savings, but you save another $40 just for choosing Ubuntu.


This is just another demonstration of Dell’s commitment to open source. If anyone is reading this outside of the US, let us know in the comments if you have similar options. Also, I’d love to hear from anyone who has one of these Minis, or any other Dell with pre-installed Ubuntu for that matter. What do you think?

UPDATE: From what I am reading in the comments, it sounds like the US is the only place (currently) where the Ubuntu Minis are $40 cheaper than an identical Windows XP configuration. Perhaps other places will follow soon.

Also, I didn’t notice before but the second model in the picture is only $10 more than the base one after the Ubuntu discount, which means you can double your 4GB SSD to 8GB for only 10 bucks! It is hard to imagine anyone buying the base model in the US, unless someone simply doesn’t notice.

Finally, if you are going to snatch one, don’t forget to log in through http://www.dell.com/eppbuy if you are a student or otherwise qualify, to get 2% off. In the aforementioned middle $359 setup, this knocks a few bucks off the total bringing it to $351.82 for the 8GB setup.

Comments

yokozar
My girlfriend wanted a new laptop for school, so we were about to buy a new Inspiron mini with Ubuntu.

…except it wouldn’t ship till late October.

She now has an EeePC with Ubuntu-eee installed. Turned out to be larger in size, more SSD space, and about the same price as the Dell equivalent.
Anonymous
You can get another 6% off if you are AAA member at http://www.aaa.com/dell
Anonymous
Ubuntu is not available on the mini in Ireland, only windows XP
Alistair McKinlay
Yeah, I just looked on dell and the UK ones you get it for £30 cheaper with a small SSD and a smaller resolution in the webcam…hmmmm still good however…
Michael
“40 dollars rebate, this is hilarious, They sell you vista for 150 dollars minimum, meaning they give you a bargain to install Ubuntu for 110 bucks, wow thank you mister Dell, so generous.”

James, the Minis come with Windows XP, not Vista, and Dell buys the licenses at a steep discount in bulk. I would be really surprised if Dell actually paid even $40 for an XP license, so I think this is quite a reasonable deal.
Max
In Canada, Mini 9 with same specs is 379$ with Ubuntu and 439$ with XP ! Pretty nice.
romeo
Unfortunately Dell don’t offer Ubuntu installed on any laptops in Switzerland… no Ubuntu no Dell here.
Anonymous
In France, Dell sells pre-installed-Ubuntu Mini 9 for 319 EUR. It looks like it's cheaper than the one with XP (369 EUR) but if you look at it more carefully, you see that the Ubuntu one has 8 GB disk space, while the XP is 16 GB. Hence, we don't precisely know whether the price difference comes from the disk or the cost of the license.

http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/laptop-inspiron-9?c=fr&cs=frdhs1&l=fr&s=dhs
Anonymous
Not available in Finland either. In fact, Dell absolutely sucks in Finland, they never offer any of the worthwhile models around here. Dell has nearly no market share around here, perhaps for that reason…
Anonymous
Ubuntu Dells are still not available in Australia. I will not buy a Windows Dell and then put Ubuntu on it even if both are the same price. What is the point of that when you are still giving money to Microsoft? I don’t mind if they sell both the Ubuntu’s and Windows Dells the same price, as long as no money is given to Microsoft.
amd-linux
See the situation Germany yourself - we also have the Ubuntu option for 50 euros less than the Windows version, but also with only a 8 GB SSD ionstead of 16 GB SSD. This is obviously to prevent competitors to find out the real license cost that Dell pays for Windows. MS obviously does not want to make it too obvious that they now have to give away Windows basically away for free in order to compete.

http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/laptop-inspiron-9?c=de&cs=dedhs1&l=de&s=dhs

The best: "Microsoft-Betriebssystem
Ubuntu 8.04"

–> that shows how MS cewntric they have been - their database only allows other OSes to be version of Windows :-)
MarkC
Oli’s right about the SSD size in the UK, but it’s even worse than that: the Windows version has a 1.3MP webcam, but the Ubuntu version is only 0.3MP.
Flavio
Here in Italy, you can only get Ubuntu with the Mini9. It is the very first preinstalled Ubuntu in Italy.
Oli
Here in the UK it’s still better to buy one with Windows and install Ubuntu yourself.

The price difference is £30 (about $55) but you get twice the SSD for that on the Windows one.

Screenshot
James Dupin
Dell is not commited to open source, it is only commited to make as much as they can in dollars, euros.. you name it.
They could be afraid of missing the train as well and prefer to “open” a little but their door before it’s shut for good (system76 and others will grow)

Daengbo got it right in his comment above about Korea. Why Dell would give opensource if not needed…They make more money with windows

inspiron mini with OS Ubuntu: may delay your inspiron ship date (sic): so funny

40 dollars rebate, this is hilarious, They sell you vista for 150 dollars minimum, meaning they give you a bargain to install Ubuntu for 110 bucks, wow thank you mister Dell, so generous.

In France, at least 14 people are going to sue Dell because they don’t want to reimburse Windows as per the Windows EULA (tying the vendor/distributor to their customers).
hads
Unfortunately Dell don’t offer Ubuntu installed on any laptops in New Zealand (and Australia and a lot of countries outside the US I believe).

I’d buy Dell if I didn’t have to buy Windows.
Anonymous
Yay, now it costs less to install Debian!
Daengbo
As far as I can tell, Dell doesn’t offer any Ubuntu computers in Korea. In Dell’s defense, I’m sure they wouldn’t sell even if offered. I’ve never seen a more Windows-centric society.

Heck, the government MANDATES an ActiveX plug-in for on-line banking.
The Mini in Korea has only one configuration.

Sorry for the bad URL before.
Derek Buranen
Thanks for the update! I ranted about this a few weeks back. http://buranen.info/?p=270

Guess it’s time to order.