[ Thanks to An Anonymous
Reader for this link. ]
“Buying a PC from any large manufacturer/retailer
without a copy of Windows pre-installed is difficult. You have some
companies that refuse to sell a machine if you want Windows
removed, then there are others that will remove it and reduce the
price. Dell offers certain confirgurations without Windows
installed, but it’s not clear from the website, and has to be
requested either offline or over Live Chat.“Harish Pillay found this out by actually trying to buy a Dell
laptop with Ubuntu installed. He had actually done this before,
purchasing a Dell Vostro V13-N series laptop with Ubuntu. However,
this time the N-series was nowhere to be seen and a Live Chat was
required to get a Windows-less laptop.“What follows is a transcript of the chat he had with a Dell
representative in case you ever want to do the same. What’s
interesting to note here is the difference in price including
Windows makes. Without Microsoft’s operating system the final
laptop price is $887.15. With Windows that balloons up to
$1,045.79.”