Lenovo teams up with Novell for new, pricey Linux ThinkPads

If Linux is your thing, and you've got a good bit of cash to spare, Lenovo has just released a couple of attractive new options to their T60p line with Novell's SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 pre-installed. Linux and ThinkPads have always seemed a natural fit, and there is plenty of community support out there if you'd like to roll your own install, but a Lenovo-supported install should be nice for users who just want things to work out of the box. Unfortunately, that convenience comes at quite a cost, since the 14-inch "workstation" goes for $3100, while the 15-incher hits $3200. The laptops are pretty well specced, with a 2.33 GHz Core Duo T2700, 1GB of RAM, 100GB HDD, 256MB ATI FireGL V5200 graphics, DVD burning, 802.11a/b/g WiFi, a fingerprint reader and a 9-cell lithium-ion battery, but a similarly configured 14-inch T60p running Windows goes for a mere $2360. Quite a premium for convenience indeed.

UPDATE: If comments are any indication, Lenovo is already going to have a hard time convincing consumers of the value on these things. Well, the news just gets worse: according to LinuxPlanet, Lenovo isn't even going to pre-load SUSE. The laptop will ship with a blank hard drive, and the necessary drivers will be downloadable. Sure, they're throwing in some nifty unlimited phone support, but we're really not so sure this is going to fly. Thanks, Vasicila for the heads-up.

[elfguy @ Aug 17th 2006 12:45PM]

That's a ridiculous price. You can get a similar Acer or Dell laptop for over $1000 less. And ATI FireGL? wtf is that, where is the RADEON Mobile X1600 or such...

[Veronica @ Aug 17th 2006 12:46PM]

If it doesn't explode, I'm not interested.

[snife @ Aug 17th 2006 1:14PM]

A ThinkPad is well worth the $1000 more than an 'equivalent' Dell or Acer, the original cost of a machine is only a small proportion of what it actually costs you.

And while we are at it, the FireGL V5200 is way better than an X1600

[mr fantastic @ Aug 17th 2006 1:23PM]

haha, that much more just for a "free" operating system pre-installed. Ill go for windoze

[Erik @ Aug 17th 2006 1:53PM]

mr fantastic, you realize that Novell's Suse Linux 10 is not free right?

[cecilia @ Aug 17th 2006 2:09PM]

make it multi-boot and it would be worth it

[rob @ Aug 17th 2006 2:12PM]

These are very inexpensive in comparison to the Sun laptops or the old RS/6000 thinkpads IBM used to sell. I bet they will clean up in the small markets that have been traditionally served by very dull, very expensive unix portables. The Novell suite is pretty user friendly and if IBM is going to make sure I get a good overall Linux experience (no searching for device drivers, for instance) then maybe they deserve to charge a premium for it. All in all I feel sure IBM/Lenovo knows more about who wants these and how much they will pay than we do. I'm pretty glad there is a good, well-supported alternative to Windows being offered/supported by IBM. The more viable this option becomes, the better off we will all be down the road.

[kansei @ Aug 17th 2006 2:14PM]

ugh. I paid over 4k for my thinkpad T42, and it doesn't even have FireGL graphics.. and what did I get for that price? An ultra-reliable, durable laptop with EXCELLENT customer support. I deal with trash dell laptops (1-2 year old latitudes) all day long at work. We're sending 2-3 back in for replacement each and every day, and now the whole battery recall thing ugh.

Plus, look how much ATI charges for the FireGL.. there's most of the increased cost right there. Also, the 9-cell battery is the extended life battery which bumps up the price, and the 14" display is (hopefully) 1400x1050.

Oh and Suse may be free, but Suse with a world-class support package is not. Why do people get so hung up on initial investment? With a thinkpad, you may pay more at first but it'll last you, and will be supported if you have any issues. I wouldn't trade that for $1000 dollars any day.

dells are disposable (hell, they even self-incinerate).

[Diderich @ Aug 17th 2006 2:15PM]

OUT : ATI FireGL v5200
IN : Nvidia Quadro FX 2500 (512MB)

ATI has way too large share of the notebook market for my taste, and since Lenovo is launching a "Linux" laptop I would strongly recommend them to go with the Nvidia card instead of ATI given ATI's terrible driver support on Linux.

[James P Dehnert Sr. @ Aug 17th 2006 2:59PM]

Makes the Apple MacBook Pro look better.

I am a big fan of Suse, but this seems a bit pricey.

[will chen @ Aug 17th 2006 3:29PM]

"Makes the Apple MacBook Pro look better.

I am a big fan of Suse, but this seems a bit pricey."

The MBP is a toy compared to the Lenovo Thinkpads.

[chris @ Aug 17th 2006 3:41PM]

Oh come on guys, both Lenovo and Apple's MBP are top of the heap machines.

More options=Usually always cooler.

[Kirk @ Aug 17th 2006 4:38PM]

As the owner of both a MBP and a T42p I'm not sure why you would say the MBP is a toy compared to the Thinkpads. IMHO both are excellently engineered notebooks with comparable support and build-quality.

[sve @ Aug 17th 2006 4:50PM]

why suse, and who uses linux on laptop that is $$$$

[Justin @ Aug 17th 2006 5:30PM]

i dont see how they could charge that amount of money for a product thats only slighly better than products half the price.

[mp @ Aug 17th 2006 5:44PM]

correction, _not_ pre-installed (DIY, and they'll give you downloadable drivers from their site):

"In an interview with LinuxPlanet, Rajat Aggarwal, Lenovo's worldwide product manager for ThinkPad T Series, said that Lenovo will sell the new T60p laptop both on its Web site and through its direct and indirect sales channels."

...

"'But we are not pre-loading it with Linux," he told LinuxPlanet.'"

...

"Aggarwal maintained that Lenovo will be the first mobile PC maker to provide full phone support for a Linux laptop.

Moreover, all Linux drivers needed for the T60p will be downloadable directly from Lenovo's Web site."

http://www.linuxplanet.com/linuxplanet/newss/6298/1/

[arton @ Aug 17th 2006 7:19PM]

The FireGL card is a professional workstation style card meant for 3d content creators and such, and they are very expensive.  It's not comparable to the cards people are talking about because it's not meant for games.

[Dave @ Aug 17th 2006 9:48PM]

To be honest, i'm a little surprised that the Win version is cheaper.

The average consumer gets the blank hd and self install.(which some other makers do offer) And That still reeks of an M$ 'implied threat' licensing agreement.

The main purpose and target of this line is for large tech industry buys
The companies say this series provides users with a secure platform for a traditionally desk-locked advanced design engineering. In addition, engineers will be able to perform routine office tasks without having to switch workstations between the office and the lab.

The Lenovo Linux-enabled workstations are currently certifying engineering design applications from companies such as Cadence, Synopsys and Mentor Graphics. Additional workstation certification candidates are also under evaluation.

Several ThinkVantage Technologies, including the ThinkPad Configuration Utility, Power Manager and Access Connections are supported on the new Linux-enhanced ThinkPad T60p workstations.

- It was requested by Intel- as their design systems run on linux. They (at least Intel) will get the sys. pre installed. So if your company wants a few thousand of these laptops, i'm sure lenovo will pre-install.

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&taxonomyName=software&articleId=9002465&taxonomyId=18

and yes Ibm has always been a premium buy. you pay that for systems that work..always. Gamers don't buy thinkpads, people who need unquestionable reliability do.

BTW, Nvidia would have been better but ibm always uses Ati. Why!?

[will @ Aug 17th 2006 10:33PM]

"As the owner of both a MBP and a T42p I'm not sure why you would say the MBP is a toy compared to the Thinkpads. IMHO both are excellently engineered notebooks with comparable support and build-quality."

For some people, the MBP is more than enough... for some, the Thinkpad comes with a lot more non-gimicky features.

I'm not talking about a nice fibre-optic keyboard... i'm talking about a pro-level gfx card, world class security, etc.

[Mad Duff @ Aug 18th 2006 11:13AM]

"BTW, Nvidia would have been better but ibm always uses Ati. Why!?"

Some site I read said the T60p ATI driver has a tonne more new mobile functionality than the NV drivers making them better for mobile platforms. Some stuff like hotkey display switches, switch between clone mode and extended desktop using xrandr, solid suspend to disk support, and hotplug support for LCD panels. There might be more but I don't have the article handy.

[me @ Aug 30th 2006 1:40PM]

What? ThinkPad and Linux are a natural combination? What a bullshit! ThinkPad don't use nVidia graphics but ATI, so where is the good match???? My X31 was always unstable because that damn ATI chipset. Take a Lenovo -- the Intel graphics seem to be far more reliable.

Hell, avoid ATI and Matrox under Linux by ANY means. If you want to go cheap, take a Benq! They have open-sourced VIA 3D drivers for their UniChrome chips.

[me @ Aug 30th 2006 1:40PM]

> BTW, Nvidia would have been better but ibm always uses Ati. Why!?

Why do you think IBM failed at SO MANY things? Where is OS/2? What use has JFS? And what was the name of that open-sourced java DB again? Cannot even remember. IBM has a reputation. That's why they can make a living. I still remember my WinXP Pro days on my ThinkPad X31 -- some day, the software updater broke its own neck. All they do is unreliable. They do not even warn the user about forgetting a system access password for a ThinkPad: if you loose it, you cannot just remove the CMOS battery, no, you can throw away your entire ThinkPad! They don't care. Probably because the Enterprise is too old. Somewhen, everyone dies.

IBM seems to me like a bunch of managers. I think I can remember that IBM stated the ATI GL cards are more precise and therefore more suitable for professional work. ATI may have a lot of features under Windows, but their Linux support is a fake. And so is IBM's. As you can see here, again.