> I actually find the fact that the Linux version is more expensive to be insulting. If anything, it should be cheaper, given that you're paying the "Windows Ta

> I actually find the fact that the Linux version is more expensive to be insulting. If anything, it should be cheaper, given that you're paying the "Windows Tax" on the W10 version of the laptop. Unless things have changed since the Windows 7 days, you're paying the Windows Tax on both units. Dell (and other major manufacturers) pay Microsoft for every unit sold no matter what ends up on the hard drive. That's why it's half-jokingly called a "tax" in the first place, and it's likely why the Linux version costs more; the base price is the same no matter which OS is installed, and the little bit more you pay for the Linux model goes towards recouping that extra work integrating Linux. > Now if they cost the same price, with the caveat that the $80 or so that would normally go to the W10 license is instead going to Dell's Linux team to ensure hardware compatibility and/or submit upstream changes to Canonical / Red Hat, then I'd be all for it. I love that idea too, and maybe the smaller OEMs can get away with that if they have a per-install license fee from Microsoft instead of a per-unit-sold fee.