cross-posted from: https://rss.ponder.cat/post/165736
At least in the U.S. and Canada, that is.
This was brought to my attention thanks to a Reddit post where a user (presumably a resident of Canada), had posted how Lenovo was shipping laptops with Fedora and Ubuntu at a cheaper price compared to their Windows-equipped counterparts.
Others then chimed in, saying that Lenovo has been doing this since at least 2020 and that the big price difference shows how ridiculous Windows’ pricing is.
Cutting the Windows Tax
When I dug in further, I found out that the US and Canadian websites for Lenovo offered U.S. $140 and CAD $211 off on the same ThinkPad X1 Carbon model when choosing any one of the Linux-based alternatives.
US pricing on left, Canadian pricing on right.
Interestingly, while the difference in pricing is noticeable, your mileage may vary if you are looking for such laptops on the official website. Not all models from their laptop lineup, like ThinkPad, Yoga, Legion, LOQ, etc., feature an option to get Linux pre-installed during the checkout process.
Luckily, there is an easy way to filter through the numerous laptops. Just go to the laptops section (U.S.) on the Lenovo website and turn on the “Operating System” filter under the Filter by specs sidebar menu.
Yes, it’s as simple as that. You can do the same for the various official online regional storefronts that Lenovo runs to see whether Linux-based operating systems are being offered on their laptops in your country.
Closing Thoughts
It is good to see that Lenovo is offering Linux in its laptops. In fact, there is another big-name laptop manufacturer, Dell, who also does something similar with its Ubuntu-certified laptops, but both have the same constraint of having limited options for buyers.
Also, as far as I know, Dell doesn’t reduce the pricing if you choose Linux instead of Windows. Correct me if I am wrong in the comments.
Nonetheless, I think these manufacturers could do a better job in marketing these Linux-based alternative operating systems to general consumers, showing them how they can save big when opting for these instead of the pricey and bloated Windows.
Otherwise, we might have to start observing Windows Refund Day again.
💬 Your take on this? Would mainstream users benefit from having Linux pre-installed on their laptops?
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You’re really underestimating how similar windows 11 and Ubuntu are for average end users
You are overestimating.
Not really. Most people under 25 grew up on Chromebooks, not windows. Most people over 25 that aren’t tech savvy have been systematically moved to exclusively use web apps for whatever thing they’re doing. And based on browser numbers they can recognize a chrome logo to click on.
Anyone even slightly tech savvy, and I’m including people that use a computer for anything other than web based apps as tech savvy, has heard of Linux and can figure out what pretty icon to click on.
This isn’t 1994, Ubuntu was made for the iPhone generation, windows 11 was made for the iPhone generation. They’re both babby mode oses for people that think google is a program.
That’s wrong, sorry. More people are more computer literate now than at any point in history since computers are a significant part of almost everyone’s life now.
The “problem” with Linux is that even if it was as easy to use as Windows, which it definitely is not even close, it doesn’t support most of the most frequently used software that people use, from productivity to gaming. It’s making strides in gaming at least, but until valve gets a solution for all the anti-cheat stuff, it will never get off the ground. Fortnite? No Linux. COD? No Linux.
For productivity the alternatives to all the MS software range from “possibly as good as or better” to “definitely noticeably worse”, but the biggest problem is the fact that the interconnectivity between all the apps and other products isn’t there. Microsoft have insanely granular integration across almost all of their products, and people’s workflows often depend on it. Not to mention the thousands of other programs that are Windows only.
Nah, not true at all, especially not in the corporate or business world.
The numbers don’t lie. No matter how many people know about Linux, they just don’t want to use it. It makes almost everything needlessly harder than it needs to be for them.
What decade did you step out of? These arguments stopped being true last decade. None of these arguments have been even slightly true since the pandemic.
You can play COD? Libre office suddenly became
decentbetter than literally just writing in notepad?MS Office runs just fine, libre office is also fine for the vast majority of use cases, and of course you can play call of duty. The only thing kernel level anticheat does is make the installation of a game take longer with a few more steps; and most companies are realizing that given the demand from the steam deck.
So you’re saying you know how to play COD on Linux?
You said his info was out of date. Is it out of date or not? Why are you silent now?
Since the pandemic? Huh? You think everyone switched to web apps since the pandemic? Based on what and why?
Seriously, I’m struggling to understand what out of what we’re talking about has anything to do with the pandemic lol
Which arguments stopped being true last decade?
…why did the single most transformative event in terms of working from home on non work supplied devices change how companies deploy apps?
That obvious question and answer aside, everything has been moving from installed apps to web apps over the last decade. Office365 was the nail in the coffin for traditionally deployed applications, as now businesses didn’t need to update a hundred thousand deployments, just have them login in like they have always done. Not to mention web apps also tend to work on phones and tablets without any addition development work or training.
Have you just been out of it for the last decade or what? Have you just been out of a job for that entire time? Especially with how we assembly has been developed there are exceedingly few cases where you need to have anything but a browser installed for work. I’ve been with three companies in the last 5 years. The only system requirements was a chrome browser and fast enough hard lines internet. Two of those companies were fortune 100, so its not like this is just happening with startups using SaaS providers to cut down on costs.
That’s a very privileged view, the vast majority of people didn’t change their work life.
You think big corporations are just letting everyone work on their personal devices because Covid happened? Lol. Tell me you’ve never worked in a decently sized business without telling me.
Office365 still has local installs you pencil. That’s the version almost everyone uses. It’s more feature rich, more performant, and significantly easier to do integrations with other programs. You clearly have never had anything to do with this space. I have, and I can tell you that you’re very, very wrong. Covid just changed where people work from, not what devices they worked from - and even then, most big businesses have returned most of their employees to the office.
The kind of businesses that just use a machine with a browser are non-technical ones. They’re customer care, they’re assistants, etc. BA’s, QA’s, Project Managers, devs, systems, dba’s, finance, etc all use powerful devices with local installs of software.
My parents never noticed. It’s only younger generations who are heavily invested in the branding.
Actual usage is much the same.
You think “branding” is the key difference? Are you insane?