50USD discount offered to buy a laptop without windows

[horacio2]

Hello there,

So, I was looking information about buying a computer without windows pre-installed and apparently is nearly impossible. I read things about getting refunds of about 40-50 bucks thou. Anyway, I went to the Dell website and went directly to the chat. You can see in the picture the conversartion. They offered me a 50USD discount if I would buy it in that moment. For me, it sounds a good deal considering the pain that must be to get a license refund. My conclussion is that whenever you buy a computer, you could ask for a discount if you want it without Windows on it. However, I guess that is possible when doing it directly from the websites of the brands. Anyway, what are your thoughts/experiences with this... Specificalley if someone has got to buy a PC without windows. Coz, I read already the threats whre people ask about this possibility and the responses to that...

257790

[pqwoerituytrueiwoq]

but don't retailers get bulk discounts?
a 400$ system from dell may be 400+20 shipping, but a retailer may have it for 350-380
are you really saving anything by getting a laptop from the manufacture?

[oldrocker99]

It's wonderful to buy a computer that doesn't have a Windows tax included in the price!

[mips]

It's wonderful to buy a computer that doesn't have a Windows tax included in the price!


The ones with windows preinstalled are usually cheaper. I would buy whatever is cheapest and not be a os zealot.

[oldrocker99]

The ones with windows preinstalled are usually cheaper. I would buy whatever is cheapest and not be a os zealot.

I am, I suppose, an OS zealot, but I use Linux because I consider it a better OS, not because it's cost-free, but it is free as in freedom. It also is more stable, and not porous or vulnerable than Windows, by a long shot. NO anti-virus program can detect everything that's out there. Anti-virus programs tout their effectiveness of 93%. That leaves 7% of a huge number of malware programs.

Two vulnerabilities have been found in the last year in Linux (OpenSSL, and bash), and they were fixed the same day. A vulnerablity on Windows is fixed on Patch Tuesday.

[WinEunuchs2Unix]

If you consider that pcs are factory formatted with windows and packaged, if one were to purchase it without windows it should probably cost a couple hundred more for human labour to undo the robot work.

[mastablasta]

I always try and get a bit of discount. recently got the micro server with a bit of discount. though not as much as I had hoped. but every bit helps these days.

when I was in Asia the computers are really sold as on bazar. so you are expected to haggle a bit or pay full price. I was patient and got a nice deal with special price and windows preinstalled (too bad they only had the starter version on that one). anyway cost me the same as others with no OS :P

[mips]

I am, I suppose, an OS zealot, but I use Linux because I consider it a better OS, not because it's cost-free, but it is free as in freedom. It also is more stable, and not porous or vulnerable than Windows, by a long shot. NO anti-virus program can detect everything that's out there. Anti-virus programs tout their effectiveness of 93%. That leaves 7% of a huge number of malware programs.

Two vulnerabilities have been found in the last year in Linux (OpenSSL, and bash), and they were fixed the same day. A vulnerablity on Windows is fixed on Patch Tuesday.

I never said you had to use windows. It's a simple exercise to create system restore DVD's and then to format the HDD and install whatever OS you want. Those DVDs can come in handy when you want to sell the laptop onto someone else that prefers windows.

You are limiting your purchasing options when only buying laptops without windows as the range available to you is considerably less. Secondly your linux laptop & OS might not be really that free if it has any hardware that of any sort that requires binary blobs (firmware, drivers etc)

[pqwoerituytrueiwoq]

I never said you had to use windows. It's a simple exercise to create system restore DVD's and then to format the HDD and install whatever OS you want. Those DVDs can come in handy when you want to sell the laptop onto someone else that prefers windows.

You are limiting your purchasing options when only buying laptops without windows as the range available to you is considerably less. Secondly your linux laptop & OS might not be really that free if it has any hardware that of any sort that requires binary blobs (firmware, drivers etc)
also you can swap out that crappy stock 5,400 RPM HDD with a SSD for 700RPM HDD, the install linux then and when you sell it put the stock HDD back in it
then since your linux install is portable you can put that drive in your new laptop and all you may ned to do is change a driver (eg nvidia)

[uRock]

The ones with windows preinstalled are usually cheaper. I would buy whatever is cheapest and not be a os zealot.I agree


<snip>It also is more stable<snip>I disagree. I have errors in ubuntu several times a day. Whenever I want to watch videos, I have to enable tear free desktop, then disable it when I am done or the system will not boot properly on the next startup. During the day, RAM will slowly creep up to 90% and I have to log out to keep everything from being loaded in Swap. When I want audio via HDMI, I have to go into sound and select it manually, then I have to go back in and set it back to the sound card when I move back to my desk.

With Windows I never have to mess with AMD, nor sound settings after the initial driver install, nor do I get any of the system errors. I only choose Linux over Windows for the sake of security.

As for the OP, I would take the discount from Dell or others before paying the arm and leg charged by the companies selling Linux based laptops.

[QIII]

That AMD tear-free thing is annoying.

I will also say that I have had greater stability with Win 7 than Ubuntu. But I must also say that I don't do the same fiddling around with the guts of Windows.

[mastablasta]

stable as in frozen. with known bugs and patches for it yet no new features? probably windows is more in that direction. it is a lot older and had many patches and service packs. it would make sense that it is more stable as well.

with windows you can install new software and new hardware on old stable OS. in Linux this is a bit more difficult. many cards still have support for WinXP (at least with some legacy drivers). try getting a good support of new hardware for Linux for 2001. even hardware from 2010 is sometimes not supported...

[mJayk]

I am, I suppose, an OS zealot, but I use Linux because I consider it a better OS, not because it's cost-free, but it is free as in freedom. It also is more stable, and not porous or vulnerable than Windows, by a long shot. NO anti-virus program can detect everything that's out there. Anti-virus programs tout their effectiveness of 93%. That leaves 7% of a huge number of malware programs.

Two vulnerabilities have been found in the last year in Linux (OpenSSL, and bash), and they were fixed the same day. A vulnerablity on Windows is fixed on Patch Tuesday.


Apart from paying more for a PC without windows just because it has zero windows is silly, its like paying more for chips than a burger with chips meal just because you think the cow was important.