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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A step in the right direction. If they don’t offer a price difference, they can keep it.
We need better and longer term uefi/bios support as IBM/lenovo used to have systems that specifically prevent uefi Linux installs from booting.
That trust was broken then, they do not have it now.
My plan is working nicely, next laptop will be a Lenovo
Only on North America, you say?
pity.
For at least the last decade, Europe has been abandoning Microsoft in droves.
I suspect soon Microsoft will be unknown in Europe except as “That system they use over there.”
The system that should not be named!
Then they will unironically call it the freedom OS
Or the European OS.
Free rainbow socks or no deal!
Year of the Linux desktop is here! /s
That is awesome
More manufacturers need to do this!
Dell used to. Not sure of they still do.
Some do! Or at least, they give you a choice of OS at different price points. NovaCustom, Eurocom, and AVA Direct come to mind. Of course, there are also plenty of vendors that ONLY offer GNU/Linux pre-installed…
Removed by mod
I like they give the option!
Since I am dualbooting just to be able to check if it is a software issue or not in. Then i dont know what I would choose. Mainly use Linux. It is fun when I figure out the headset problem is a cable were the connections are 20 cm away from each other since it is hanging from the table.
Hopefully they start selling the Linux version in my country ngl
I bought a laptop without a Windows license from Lenovo years ago. It came with FreeDOS, if I remember correctly. I wanted to install Linux, so I didn’t care. In some areas they’ve been offering this for a while now.
I got an ASUS laptop with FreeDOS back in 2015 for the same reason. Had to upgrade the HDD and RAM, but It still works like a champ.
Now they need to make the BIOS updates installable from Linux or ability to flash them from the BIOS. But I like this move, hope more start doing so.
It already is, via https://fwupd.org/
which is integrated into the app store on fedora, at least
kde’s discover app store supports it too
i figured, but since i wasn’t 100% sure i didn’t wanna spread misinformation
Installing my own OS is half the fun of getting a new computer. Why would I want the manufacturer to install an OS?
majority of consumers don’t even know how to decline cookies on websites, let alone how to install windows, or that other thing that’s called limix… or what
Because laptop manufacturers don’t make laptops for people who want to install their own OSes. The average tech illiterate just wants something that works out of the box.
you get the discount + you can reinstall it yourself/install a different distro + it shows the general market how much of the cost is due to a Windows license and other OS alternatives, creating more informed consumers
i see it as a benefit
But why not “blank drive”?
Easy enough to do that ourselves really, this is just for normies.
probably just not worth the additional logistics
Good way to check that all the parts are working before putting whatever you want on it.
a nice 140 usd discount sounds like a decent incentive
Oh, windows certainly isn’t an option. The options I’m weighing are “pre-installed Linux” and “tabula rasa”.
Least of all, Windows, the telemetry software that lets you play games and sometimes be productive. Terms and conditions may apply!!1
Idk maybe so you can start using it?
Nothing is stopping you from throwing out the OEM install.
That’s great! - But. But, I hope some people check it out carefully. Some years ago, Lenovo middle-man’d the SSL root certificate on laptops so they could inject ads into Https web pages. (And spy on users? Steal passwords? Manipulate bank accounts? I hope not…)
I wonder what they could hide in an own Linux install?
Dell did the same thing - in the same year too.
You should always clean install your OS. Let the guys wanting to spy on you put some effort in.
Really?! Do you have a source? I’d like to look this up!
https://www.zdnet.com/article/how-to-remove-dells-superfish-2-0-root-certificate-permanently/
It’s actually called eDellRoot, not Superfish though.
You can safely assume that probably every manufacturer did or still does similar thing - whether they’re caught is another story though.
Oh, wow.
Do you have any reputable articles of this? I’m interested cheers
Thank you that’s appalling and I’m glad I build my own pcs
Just look it up. It made the news rounds about 10 or so years ago. It was a big deal at the time. Just about everyone covered it and Lenovo acknowledged it and, IIRC they apologized for it
Apologizing and stopping are two different things.
We used to undermine the security of our customers systems.
We still do. But we used to, too.
And? I’m not sure what point you’re trying to make.
“Sorry we broke into your security on purpose.”
“We’re sorry we’re facing consequences. We’ll take action to make sure this doesn’t happen agian.”
I quite like their laptops but they put the most horrible keyboards I’ve ever used. I’ve had chronic rsi and my fingers physically hurt less than 8h of use.
Do they have high end laptops (32g RAM, top i7 or similar, for Android development) at reasonable prices with good keyboards? I’ve been on Xps for a while.
I actually prefer the Lenovo keyboard to any other laptop keyboard in existence. Be it HP, Dell, Microsoft, Asus, Acer or otherwise.
You…don’t like Thinkpad keyboards? You may be alone in this.
my shop uses HP Elitebooks and Lenovo ThinkPads and users typically prefer the Elitebook keyboard but this is a comparison of only 2 midrange models with a sample size of a few hundred so your milage may vary.
I have an elitebook g450 and a yogo 380L. They’re both nice in their own ways but the g450 has a better short travel.
I’m in the UK, and last year got a Lenovo ThinkPad laptop with Linux pre-installed that was cheaper than the Windows equivalent. I had a choice of RAM, SSD, display and OS. Ubuntu was the only choice of Linux, though.
How much does an OEM windows cost these days?
2 pints if you’re Peter Thiel’s blood type.
Your in luck, Thiel is a universal reciver
Weird, I didn’t peg him as a bottom.
