Preinstalled Ubuntu

[GrouchyGaijin]

Hi Folks,

I was wondering if anyone has a preference among preinstalled Linux vendors and if so why?
I'm taking a trip to the US this summer and plan on buying an Ubuntu laptop while I am there.
I'm leaning toward zareason over System76 because zareason will install 12.04.

I'm curious to know what other people think and if anyone can directly comment on their experience with either vendor.

[Bucky Ball]

Thread moved to The Cafe.

[mips]

And how will you handle warranty claims 'if' something goes wrong, ship it back & forth?

[cmcanulty]

I bought 8 laptops from this place a few years ago and all worked out quite well
http://www.linucity.com/Scripts/default.asp

[Frogs Hair]

System 76 would require over seas shipping to the U.S. , so you would be better of buying where you are .The previous post looks promising if you want to buy in the U.S.

[GrouchyGaijin]

@mips How would I handle warranty claims if I installed Ubuntu on a Windows machine that I buy in Sweden? I'm pretty sure trying to get a manufacture to honor a warranty after I've changed the OS is nearly impossible. Am I mistaken about this?

[GrouchyGaijin]

System 76 would require over seas shipping to the U.S. , so you would be better of buying where you are .The previous post looks promising if you want to buy in the U.S.
The thing is, I've only been able to find one preinstalled vendor in Sweden and the price was much much higher than buying in the US.
Have you guys had problems with System76 or zareason machines?

[Elfy]

...
I'm leaning toward zareason over System76 because zareason will install 12.04....

Just a small point here - will zareason still be installing the old LTS, given that the new one will release in April - before the summer :)

[GrouchyGaijin]

Just a small point here - will zareason still be installing the old LTS, given that the new one will release in April - before the summer :)
That is a good question. I didn't even think of that.

[rewyllys]

Just a small point here - will zareason still be installing the old LTS, given that the new one will release in April - before the summer :)
ZaReason will install any Linux distro and version thereof that you tell them to install.

[Bucky Ball]

But they don't offer 14.04 at this point. It is not an option on their website. I've just been playing there and putting together a dream machine to send to Australia, and you can't get 14.04 on one. Probably because it is not released until April and they would be quite insane to sell a laptop with a testing release on it (unless specifically ordered by a dev, who would probably order one without an OS, which is also an option).

Do they have international warranty? Can't find that, but sure they'd be happy to tell me with an email. ;)

[Elfy]

ZaReason will install any Linux distro and version thereof that you tell them to install.

They might well do - but I was responding to the OP's first post, which is not quite about what zareason might or might not do.

Of course the other thing that the OP might do is look within Europe and not just Sweden, there are some here that sell, not sure about shipping, but I would imagine it to be less than from the US.

[GrouchyGaijin]

They might well do - but I was responding to the OP's first post, which is not quite about what zareason might or might not do.

Of course the other thing that the OP might do is look within Europe and not just Sweden, there are some here that sell, not sure about shipping, but I would imagine it to be less than from the US.
Really who would you recommend?

[mips]

@mips How would I handle warranty claims if I installed Ubuntu on a Windows machine that I buy in Sweden? I'm pretty sure trying to get a manufacture to honor a warranty after I've changed the OS is nearly impossible. Am I mistaken about this?

If that's an issue then it's not that hard to image the original drive and restore it when you send it in for a warranty claim. You could even remove the HDD drive, store it in a safe place and replace it when you need to return it. A hard drive is cheaper than shipping it across the atlantic, not to mention the time involved. Ram & hdd are user serviceable parts so changing it would not invalidate your warranty.

I'm sure you can find linux laptops in sweden or even barebones ones, clevo (system76 & sager rebrand them) for example also has barebones laptops if I'm not mistaken.

These guys do Clevo in Sweden with Ubuntu preloaded http://www.ggsdata.se/index.php?page=laptops/ubuntulaptops.php which is no different to System76, System76 just stick their own branding onto the Clevo laptops.
These guys also sell Clevo http://www.mysn.eu/se/index.php

But hey at the end of the day it's your money and if you wanna buy something from a store 6000km+ away instead of locally then that is entirely up to you. Enjoy whatever you get.