Pre-installed Linux Notebooks
An overview of notebooks available in the US with Linux pre-installed.
Dell
Dell has been selling consumer notebooks pre-installed with Ubuntu Linux since May of 2007. They started selling the notebooks as a direct result of customer demand on their IdeaStorm site. Since the initial launch, Dell has sold several notebook models with Ubuntu and they continue to expand their offering. Currently they ship the following notebooks with Ubuntu 8.04 and full (legal) DVD playback support. All of Dell’s Ubuntu offerings are available at Dell’s Ubuntu site.
Inspiron Mini 9
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Dell’s entry into the netbook market. It looks very promising and features a special version of Ubuntu that Dell calls “Mini OS”. Starting Price: $349 Buy from Dell |
Inspiron 1525N
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This entry-level notebook features a 15.4″ display. You can customize this notebook with a variety of upgrades. Starting Price: $599 Buy from Dell |
Studio 15
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This is the first Dell Studio series notebook available with Ubuntu. It features a 15.4″ display, stylish design and high-end components. Starting Price: $769 Buy from Dell |
XPS M1330
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One of Dell’s most popular XPS notebooks now comes with Ubuntu Linux! This high-end notebook is both stylish and highly customizable. Starting Price: $1.399 Buy from Dell |
XPS M1530
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This is the XPS M1330’s bigger brother. While not as light as the M1330, it is cheaper and sports a larger screen. Starting Price: $1,269 Buy from Dell |
Asus
Asus made a big splash in the notebook market in 2007 when it started shipping its Eee series of netbook computers pre-installed with a customized version Xandros Linux. The combination of small, low-cost notebooks and a simple to use interface made the Eee a huge success. There are now Eee clones from a variety of manufactures (see below).
Eee PC 1000
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The Eee PC 1000 features a 10″ display, Intel Atom N270 processor, 802.11n wireless, bluetooth, 1GB RAM, 40GB solid-state drive, and a camera. List Price: $699.99 Asus product page Buy at Amazon (Black) Buy at Amazon (White) |
Eee PC 901
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The Eee PC 901 features a 8.9″ display, Intel Atom N270 processor, 802.11n wireless, bluetooth, 1GB RAM, 20GB solid-state drive, and a camera. List Price: $599.99 Asus product page Buy at Amazon |
Eee PC 900
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The Eee PC 900 features a 8.9″ display, Intel Celeron M 353 processor, 802.11b/g wireless, 1GB RAM, 16GB solid-state drive, and a camera. List Price: $399.99 Asus product page Buy at Amazon (black) Buy at Amazon (white) |
Eee PC 4G
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The Eee PC 4G features a 7″ display, Intel Celeron M processor, 802.11b/g wireless, 512MB RAM, 4GB solid-state drive, and a camera. List Price: $399.99 Asus product page Buy at Amazon (black) Buy at Amazon (white) |
Eee PC 4G Surf
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The Eee PC 4G Surf features a 7″ display, Intel Celeron M processor, 802.11b/g wireless, 512MB RAM, and a 4GB solid-state drive. List Price: $349.99 Asus product page Buy at Amazon (black) Buy at Amazon (white) |
Eee PC 2G Surf
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The Eee PC 2G Surf features a 7″ display, Intel Celeron M processor, 802.11b/g wireless, 512MB RAM, and a 2GB solid-state drive. List Price: $299.99 Asus product page Buy at Amazon (black) Buy at Amazon (white) Buy at Amazon (green) Buy at Amazon (blue) |
* The Asus site shows other Eee models that seem to be unavailable in the US at this time. Check this full comparison list for details.
HP
HP 2133 Mini-Note
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The HP 2133 Mini-Note is available with SuSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10. It features a 8.9″ screen, a VIA processor, 512MB to 1GB of RAM, and either a 4GB solid-state drive or 120GB hard drive. List Price: $513-579 HP product page Buy at Amazon (4GB model) Buy at Amazon (120GB model) |
Acer
Aspire One
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The Acer Aspire One features a 1.6Ghz Intel Atom processor, 512MB of RAM, and an 8 GB solid-state drive. The Aspire One comes pre-installed with a customized version of Linpus Linux Lite. List Price: $399 Acer product page Buy at Amazon |
System 76
System 76 offerers a full line of notebooks and desktops that come pre-installed with the latest version of Ubuntu Linux. Visit System 76 to view their full lineup of computers.
Darter Ultra
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The Darter Ultra is a lightweight notebook featuring a 12.1″ screen, the latest Intel Core 2 Duo processors, a fingerprint scanner, and built-in webcam. Starting Price: $995 System 76 Product Page |
Pangolin Performance
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The Pangolin Performance is a desktop replacement notebook featuring a 15.4″ screen, the latest Intel Core 2 Duo processors, wifi, bluetooth, and built-in webcam. Starting Price: $869 System 76 Product Page |
Serval Performance
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The Serval Performance is a desktop replacement notebook featuring a 15.4″ screen, the latest Intel Core 2 Duo processors, an nVidia 512 MB GeForce 8600M GT video card, a 3 in 1 memory card reader, and a built-in webcam. Starting Price: $999 System 76 Product Page |
Lenovo
ThinkPad R61
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Lenovo has announced that they will begin shipping select notebooks with SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10. Their first offering is the ThinkPad R61 which features a 14.1″ widescreen display, Intel Core 2 Duo processor, integrated Intel graphics, and DVD burner. Starting Price: $866 Buy from Lenovo |
Everex
CloudBook
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One of the first companies to get into the netbook market, Everex offers this tiny machine pre-installed with the gOS Rocket operating system (an Ubuntu derivative). The CloudBook features a 7″ screen, VIA processor, 512MB of RAM, 30GB hard drive, and webcam. The Cloudbook is available at WalMart and New Egg. Price: $299 Cloudbook Product Page Buy at Walmart.com Buy at Newegg.com |
gBook
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The Everex gBook is a full-sized notebook that features the gOS operating system (an Ubuntu derivative). It comes with a 15.4″ screen, VIA processor, 512MB of RAM, 60GB hard drive, wireless, and DVD burner. Price: $399 gBook Product Page |
CTL
CTL 2goPC
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The CTL 2goPC is based off of Intel’s Classmate PC specification. It comes pre-loaded with Edubuntu, the version of Ubuntu focused on the education market. It features a 900 MHz Intel Celeron processor, 512MB of RAM, and a 40GB hard drive. Price: $399 CTL Product Page Buy at Amazon |
MSI
MSI Wind
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The MSI Wind is one of the more talked about Linux based netbooks. Unfortunately, the Linux versions of the Wind do not appear to be in stock in the US at this time. |
August 25th, 2008 at 9:50 pm
Where’s Lenovo?
http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/controller/e/web/LenovoPortal/en_US/special-offers.workflow:ShowPromo?LandingPage=/All/US/Landing_pages/Info/08/Linux
August 25th, 2008 at 10:43 pm
Thanks for the tip kbob!
August 25th, 2008 at 11:43 pm
Why not just point to http://linuxpreloaded.com ?
August 25th, 2008 at 11:46 pm
Gustavo – thanks for the link. Looks like a great resource for European readers.
August 26th, 2008 at 12:26 am
There is also ZaReason
http://www.zareason.com
August 26th, 2008 at 1:17 am
You left out the Mandriva Linux http://www.mandriva.com/ equiped GDium http://www.gdium.com/ notebook.
August 26th, 2008 at 1:21 am
None of the Linux equipped Linux machines mentioned here are available in Australia. Dell won’t tell me why, perhaps someone else would like to find out why Dell will only sell Windows equipped machines in Australia.
If Dell were to sell the XPS machines, I’d buy one and replace Ubuntu with Mandriva Linux
August 26th, 2008 at 5:39 am
I own the MSI Wind u100 (windows version).
With regards to your MSI Wind blurb. 1) you can wipe Windows XP off the drive and put Linux on the currently available Winds 2) the Linux version of the Wind will come with 512Mb of memory *soldered* onboard — the WinXP version comes with 1Gb onboard, this is something to consider if you want to maximize the hardware in the system.
August 27th, 2008 at 12:26 am
http://www.shoprcubed.com/products.asp?cat=15
and what of R3 laptops? They come let you choose from several different distros there.
August 27th, 2008 at 1:31 pm
great news. what about kubuntu? i know they’re pretty much the same, but would love to see this as a variation.