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I knew a "business development" guy who specialized in these deals. Unless something has changed drastically in this space, Dell isn't going anywhere near $200
by PragmaticPulp 5y ago
I knew a "business development" guy who specialized in these deals.
Unless something has changed drastically in this space, Dell isn't going anywhere near $200 plus the cost of a Windows license on every machine they sell.
I'm guessing they have higher return rates and higher support calls from people selecting the Linux option who don't fully understand what they're doing. If the Linux option reduced the price, there would be scores of people clicking it just to save a few bucks without understanding the consequences.
You have to keep in mind that technically competent people ordering laptops are actually a minority.
- packetlost 5y agoI imagine companies with business accounts also receive discounts on the "developer" machines in question anyways, so it's really just an incentive to prevent the extra support overhead.
- LarryMade2 5y agoAnother point is the packaging and documentation, got a Linux Server in the mid 2000s came with Red Hat with a lot of nice install disks, support line, etc. Not just the distro dicks in RH's packaging, so that does add to the cost. I'm sure they might have done a bunch of testing and tweaking to ensure compatibility upon first boot as well. Though from my standpoint I'd rather know of a distro's quirks with a particular computer than be surprised when I decide to use something different down the line.