I have taken the System76 Plunge

[cigtoxdoc]

About 4 years ago, I purchased the hardened student mode for my Son who was then 11. First problem was that when there was an internal problem, it had to go back to System 76 and he as down for weeks. The second problem was low quality of the System 76 powere supplies. I would consider buying another System 76 machine, but I need on-site service, even when traveling abroad. I get that with my Dell Vostro 3500. I have dual boot Win XP Pro SP3 and Ubuntu 12.04 64-bit.

John

[mips]

... but I need on-site service, even when traveling abroad. I get that with my Dell Vostro 3500.

John

That's the great thing about Dell, over here in South Africa they come highly recommended due to their onsite service policy. Got a problem you phone dell, do a quick diagnostic and the next day there's a guy at your door with a new motherboard, hard drive, lcd or whatever is needed to fix the thing. Heard nothing but good things about dell service and it's all part of the warranty.

Whenever someone asks me what they should buy I recommend dell due to their service. I see as of late Lenovo is also offering the same service here if I'm not mistaken which is great.

[DimitrisC]

How is the battery life on it? I was considering the Galago Ultrapro but I think it fails the battery benchmark for ultrabooks.

[knpoe]

of the gazelle, I've provided 3 to clients -- no problems with any of the ones that came in to date.

[mips]

yes but there is customs tax and vat tax and transport cost and...

ok another option - we need the trade agreement between EU and USA to be finalised

http://www.ggsdata.se/index.php?page...ntulaptops.php
http://www.mysn.eu/se/index.php

Just two examples of places that sell ubutnu preinstalled laptops, both in Sweden. The first link sells the same Clevo models System76 rebrands...

I'm sure if people just put a bit of effort into searching they will find a local alternative.

[mastablasta]

very pricy alternative. and shipping costs... uf.

we went with HP with SUSE preloaded

they have Dell here with Ubuntu but price is too high. i remember comparing these Vostro once (loaded with Ubuntu). and they had a model in Germany for 350 EUR. Same model here cost 700EUR. they guy was prepared to negotiate down to about 600 EUR. special price. i told them that their colleagues in German are selling this for 350. they were shocked. apparently that was under their supply price (they are exclusive dell distributor for the market). i told them that perhaps they should renegotiate with Dell.

anyway would like to see something with reasonable price, sturdy, robust (not some flimsy frame), linux preloaded and free shipping.