Acer about to offer Ubuntu pre-loads?

Remember how Acer's chief, Gianfranco Lanci, slammed Vista as a disappointment to the "entire industry?" Apparently, he wasn't just fishing for sound bites. While there's still no official word, an Acer advert in Singapore offers their 15.4-inch Aspire 5710Z laptop pre-loaded with none other than the Ubuntu distro for SG$999 or about $660 of that US green stuff. However, we're not 100% clear whether the pre-load comes from Acer direct or via some third party tinkerer. Still, we wouldn't be surprised in the least to see Acer follow Dell's lead here and offer additional choice for consumers.

[Via The Inquirer]

[AlexP @ Jul 31st 2007 4:13AM]

Why are all the Linux laptops outdated?

[Pitr @ Jul 31st 2007 4:55AM]

It might be outdated, but think of the target audience that might go for Ubuntu preloaded machines - they're low cost, so it might be someone's first machine, or the purchaser might have a low income for example. In addition, Ubuntu obviously doesn't require specifications as high as the likes of Windows Vista does, so therefore Ubuntu preloaded systems are more likely to be thin on the ground in terms of processor speed, hard drive space, RAM etc.

I'm not surprised if Acer start preloading Ubuntu, they've maintained Linux drivers for most/all of their product line over the last couple of years for any after-purchase Linux installs people might wish to try. It's a pretty useful service.

[peshue @ Jul 31st 2007 5:10AM]

They do seem to be outdated, but generally you can do more with old hardware on linux system. For example, my AMD3000+ with a 9600xt video card can run compiz fusion just fine, while it wouldn't have a chance with aero.

[strider_mt2k @ Jul 31st 2007 7:22AM]

Agreed.

I just posted yesterday about a capable machine I built from spare parts that's running Ubuntu Linux like a champ!

-when even a tweaked and trimmed Windows XP made it run like a chump.

I also applaud their efforts!

The only thing that's "outdated" is your mode of thinking when it comes to personal computers and the ACTUAL roles they play.

[aaronlh @ Jul 31st 2007 8:32AM]

Actually Peshue, if you have 1GB of ram in that system, it will run Aero fine.

[AlexP @ Jul 31st 2007 5:49AM]

Uh, okay? So what? As someone who's used Ubuntu, I'd still like to be able to load an up-to-date machine with it, I wouldn't be interested in paying for something that's one or several generations old.

IMO, it's like a clearance "sale" (the pricepoint isn't really helping that), and to help drive the price down they load them with Ubuntu.

The thing is, I can get a better laptop with current generation hardware for a little more than a grand and I'm getting a discounted Vista license along with it.
Worth every extra dollar because I know it will last longer than a Pentium-based laptop.

Acer's Ubuntu offering, given that this isn't a Photoshop or a fake (creating an image like that isn't exactly hard to make...), cannot properly compete with Dell's current Ubuntu offerings or their future ones for that matter.

The fact that Linux is less resource-demanding is not an argument to put last-generation hardware back on the market for the sake of selling computers pre-loaded with it. As I've said, it looks a lot more like a "clearance" sale than anything else.

[Pastry Chef @ Jul 31st 2007 6:59AM]

I'm just happy to see another company offering Linux as an option to Windows. It always seemed unfair that some people had to pay Microsoft's ransom for software they would never use. I hope more manufacturers follow...

[michael @ Jul 31st 2007 2:43PM]

You don't have to use Windows.

You can use a Mac (which isn't any cheaper BTW), or build your own PC and put Linux on it.

The thing, is that people just prefer Windows. It works with lots of stuff, not so hard to use, and it works great for what it does. To me, and many others, Windows is a perfectly sound choice.

[Pastry Chef @ Jul 31st 2007 10:49PM]

michael, I'm not talking about the people who want to use Windows, I'm talking about the people who don't want to use Windows and have to pay for it when they want to buy a laptop.

[AKBlade13 @ Jul 31st 2007 3:39PM]

The Linux/Ubuntu revolution continues. I for one....

think that's awesome of Acer and that more companies should follow suit(grammer and spelling). Maybe this will be the start of a brand new OS competition that might just make MS actually try to do well on the first time. Plus it will help to expose some of the crowd to Linux and free OSs.

AKBlade13

[Yojimbo @ Jul 31st 2007 4:54PM]

Oh dear.... grammAr & spelling eh?

[Alex Rodriguez @ Jul 31st 2007 5:26PM]

tryna catch up with dell?