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Dell’s Ubuntu-powered XPS 13, codenamed Project Sputnik, started life as an internal R&D project. Now it’s grown up and is available to buy online in the US—but why does it cost more than a Windows equivalent?
The computer now takes the name XPS 13 Developer Edition, and comes with a Precise Pangolin Ubuntu build pre-installed along with a special raft of drivers to make sure it works with as many peripherals as possible. The hardware is similar to other XPS 13 models: either an Intel i5 or i7 Ivy Bridge CPU, 8GB of RAM and a 256 GB SATA III SSD, so it should run super-quick with that Ubuntu install.
But then there’s the issue of price. While the UK price hasn’t been revealed (Dell states “We are currently working on expanding availability beyond the US,”) in the States, all this comes in at $1,550 (around £965)—$50 more than the Windows equivalent. In other words, Dell is asking you to pay more for an open-source computer than for one running a proprietary OS. And that doesn’t make much sense. [Dell via Ars Techinca]
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Buying a Dell doesn’t make much sense either.
I have to say, the new XPS line is really appealing, and they have some cracking cheap deals. As much as a year ago, I’d have agreed with you. In this case, do Dell not realise people will just buy a Windows XPS and keep the copy of Windows?
I have been using my Dell XPS 17 for almost 2 years now and its the best machine I have ever used.
It was £1200, with Quadcore SandyBridge 2.20 GHz, 4GB Ram & a 3GB NVIDIA GeForce GT 555M.
I believe that cheap Dells are shit, but that’s the same for most cheap laptops.
Having brought the Dell XPS 1330 and the Alienware M11x when they first came out, all I can say is – NEVER AGAIN.
The 1330 was replaced twice and had the motherboard replaced and hinge replaced, screen replaced twice and still had faults. It eventually died the day I got the m11x. This lasted all of 3 months before the hinge failed…and then failed again and then failed another time. The build quality is substandard and the battery failed after 9months of normal use. Oh and the “built in over-clocking” didn’t work from day one.
And don’t even get me started on their customer service throughout all this…
-Rant over, maybe the new models are better but I don’t believe in being burnt three times. Especially when each cost on upwards of £1000.
i have the xps 1710 and its a great machine….i do wish the keyboard came off the ibm lenovo …
I’ve got an xps previous generation to this one but that was only because they had a voucher stacking deal/glitch that meant I got an £890 laptop for £500!
Yeah, actually the pricing does sort of make sense when you think about it. It’s a question of economies of scale – if you are likely to sell more Windows laptops than Ubuntu ones (and the market certainly seems to suggest that this is likely) then the R&D, configuration, testing and support costs for the Windows line can be spread over a larger number of units, leading to a lower average unit price. Since fewer Ubuntu models will be sold, the savings arising out of the free OS do not outweigh the associated costs which have to be spread over a smaller number of units.
Valid points. However, why on earth would anyone wanting an Ubuntu device buy this when they could purchase the Windows equivalent and install their own copy? The type of folks using Ubuntu are typically tech savvy so would imagine creating a Ubuntu boot, installing and managing is simple for them.
Makes no sense to me unless there is something additional being offered here – don’t buy the driver support as that is typically quite manageable from my basic experiences with Ubuntu.
Even techies and developers can be lazy or rich.
as far as i can tell, the “something additional” being offered here is more drivers, which i don’t really see the point of, i’ve never had any driver problems on any hardware i’ve used with Ubuntu
I suspect the lack of 3rd party software subsidies will also have something to do with it too – I’ll bet the Linux version doesn’t come with a dozen free trials or any resource hog anti-virus!
never understood the dell hate, my wifes Dell i5 Latitude E5430
it is very well built, runs real fast and has all you need from a decent laptop
also my desktop is one of the first quad core desktops, still real fast and have had not one bit of trouble with it (despite it still having vista on it)
so could people clarify what they think is actually wrong with dell?
admittedly i have never bought from the cheaper end of dell desktops or laptops, so cant comment there
Agreed – I used to build my own, but got lazy/busy, and my last two PCs have been Dells – I just got my One XPS 2710 in September. The first one they delivered (days ahead of schedule BTW) had a duff graphics chip out of the box. Dell customer service was great, and I had a replacement delivered within a week.
My first Dell lasted me for seven years, and has only required a new hard drive (not Dell’s fault) and a graphics card and memory upgrade to use Windows 7 (total £100), and I’m still using it at work – in fact, typing this message on it now.
i want one. don’t care if its a bit more cos i know they had to do a lot of work getting everything to run right (like the touchpad, which was apparently a bit of a pain)
It’s a Dell, it was never going to be reasonably priced.
I don’t understand the Dell hate either, my Inspiron 1545 has been running smoothly for over two years now.
Perhaps it is because the windows machine is subsidised by all the bloatware Dell will have undoubtedly stuck on there. There probably isn’t any on the Linux version.
I would gladly pay more to have a computer free of malware.