
Alienware Evaluating Customers' Interest in Linux - vimes656
http://www.osnews.com/story/24310/Alienware_Evaluating_Customers_Interest_in_Linux
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goombastic
Would have been easier for them to allow people to say no to Windows when they
buy the laptop, rather than do polls and other stuff.

I would be interested in: a) easier windows refunds and b)GNU-Linux compatible
specs.

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trotsky
Gaming is one of the few things I still boot into windows for.

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chris11
I'd chose linux if it was cheaper. MSDNAA is free so there is no reason for me
to pay any money for another copy of windows.

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narrator
If I want a high-powered computer to run desktop Linux I go for HP. They
certify and rigorously test a subset of their desktop systems to fully support
Linux:

[http://h20338.www2.hp.com/enterprise/cache/321143-0-0-0-121....](http://h20338.www2.hp.com/enterprise/cache/321143-0-0-0-121.html)

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sigzero
I had no idea HP did that.

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arespredator
As much as I admire Alienware computers' design, craftsmanship, speed, etc.,
and as much as I appreciate the company's interest in linux, I hardly think
there's any sense in Alienware linux-based computers, since they're designed
for gaming and gaming only.

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burgerbrain
As much as I admire any manufacturers interest in linux, I hardly think
there's any sense in anybody shipping with it. _Few_ people who want to use
linux are incapable of spending the 20 minutes to install it themselves, and
no matter what distro you pick you'll never satisfy a large portion of your
linux using customers.

Just sell me a computer with a blank harddrive. That would be _swell_.

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Dobbs
I want hardware support. I want a set of open specs on a laptop. That way
FreeBSD, Debian, Ubuntu, and Slackware could all possibly run on it. I don't
want to purchase a system in which if you use their preinstalled version of
Ubuntu it works but anything else your hosed.

So when I look at a 'Linux' laptop that is what I'm looking at it for. Can I
run FreeBSD with working sound/sleep/wireless?

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burgerbrain
How common are laptops that don't work well with linux these days? With
graphics you're golden: either it's AMD (uncommon) and it has working FOSS
drivers out of the box, or it's Nvidia where you have working FOSS drivers
sufficient for work needs, and proprietary drivers sufficient for whatever
gaming you could possibly be doing on linux. With wifi, you're almost always
golden these days. Most laptops seem to have intel or atheros chips, but even
the traditionally hellish broadcom cards don't provide much of an issue from
what I understand. If anything else in a laptop could cause you any real
showstopping trouble I'd be very surprised.

Note also that both of these potential hangups are something you can easily
access beforehand. Every site I've used lets you pick your wifi chip from one
of a few choices and will at least tell you what the GPU is.

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Dobbs
This is wonderful in theory but I've purchased laptops pretty recently
(Thinkpad x200e) which I didn't fully vet before I purchased. This laptop had
lots of issues. Non Working Wifi, couldn't sleep correctly and had issues with
sound.

Having everything work out of the box is not guaranteed. Ubuntu is generally
better about it but not all distros have the level of workarounds that Ubuntu
does. As far as ACPI is concerned not even Ubuntu is decent.

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corin_
"Would you be willing to pay extra for a Linux-based Alienware system?"

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boredguy8
I thought one of Alienware's distinction was their support. Presumably they
need to hire support reps for whatever flavor of Linux they support. Also
presumably, this is more costly and intensive than hiring someone with an A+
certification. Obviously this is conjecture, but it would explain the 'charge
more'.

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ZoFreX
If it was reasonably priced and decent, I would actually love support for
Linux on my pc. My next one will probably be an Alienware (the mx11 netbook),
and if they can make things less of a headache, I'm all for it.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a geek, I'm a power user, I can fix my own computer. I
just don't _want_ to. I just installed the latest version of Ubuntu on my
current netbook, and surprise surprise, I need to hack some drivers and
recompile the kernel. It's a chore that I just don't want to deal with any
more.

More economically, if the price of support works out less than the opportunity
cost of doing it myself, then it obviously makes sense to use the support.

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polymind
I love alienware products very much. Their sheer no-compromise attitude to
build the best gaming pc's is known through the world. I personally feel that
they should enter linux market by manufacturing specific products, for ex
something on the lines of google cr-48 chrome notebook. There is lot of scope
in this area and personally as a hacker/programmer I know what kind of hunger
we are in. Also a lot of customizations can be done on linux desktops &
laptops which the traditional companies like sony,lenovo,ibm,apple don't
offer. //(There is lot to talk, but i think i made all my important points)\\\

So I hearty welcome their interest in knowing our interest, but will be
seriously disappointed if they didn't enter this market. :)

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ZoFreX
> Their sheer no-compromise attitude to build the best gaming pc's is known
> through the world

Sorry, but this is fluff. There are many companies that make specialist gaming
PCs, and Alienware aren't number one. Don't get me wrong, they're good (and
the vast majority of pre-made "gaming" PCs I've seen were absolutely
terrible), but they're no Scan for example.

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polymind
>Sorry, but this is fluff. There are many companies that make specialist
gaming PCs, and Alienware aren't number one. Don't get me wrong, they're good
(and the vast majority of pre-made "gaming" PCs I've seen were absolutely
terrible), but they're no Scan for example.

If you got the idea from my post that Alienware are the best manufactures of
'gaming pc', then I am sorry. All I was claiming is that their 'attitude' 'in
building' the best pc's in the world. And for the sake of debate, name any
other company that is as consistent as alienware in offering similar products
across a wide spectrum. Please don't say my 'backyard tony' builds a better
one than them. One company that is accessible to all kind of people.

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hazzen
Their _brand_ is that they manufacture the best gaming PCs in the world. But
if one only pays attention to branding and not realities, you end up thinking
Chevy's are indestructible rocks and that Sprite quenches thirst and gives you
the power to play sports.

And in case you missed it, GP mentioned Scan as an alternative. I'll add
Falcon Northwest.

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freyrs3
If I have $3k to drop and need that much horsepower I'd rather build a small
cluster for the price.

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asdfj843lkdjs
You can do MUCH better building for yourself. Sadly, some of us don't have the
time.

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iwwr
If you're paying $2-3K for an Alienware machine, you might as well fork over
$99 for a Windows OEM.

Edit: A link to the actual survey

[http://www.alienware.com/Surveys/AlienSurvey.aspx?Id=2960712...](http://www.alienware.com/Surveys/AlienSurvey.aspx?Id=29607129825)

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goombastic
Geeks optimize everything. 99$ extra for Win (esp. if you don't use it) is 99$
wasted. Many of us are also finicky about taking a stand. A thousand geeks
saying no to 99$ extra is a lot of money and a community in itself.

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iwwr
What would you use an Alienware Linux machine for?

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__mlm__
There are many companies (and government agencies like NASA) that do a lot of
high-end 3D visualization and processing on linux. Having one of these
desktops would be nice in one of those environments.

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sgt
Sigh, I can't read OSNews anymore. It's got ugly ads plastered all over it.

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wazoox
Funnily, it's one of the very few websites I white-listed in adblock, because
they asked very nicely their readers to do so to support them.

