laptops w/linux

[nmeyers at javalinux.net (nmeyers at javalinux.net)]

On Sun, Oct 26, 2003 at 11:40:07AM -0500, eric wrote:
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> hi, i wrote a note to the sales dept.s of hp and ibm telling them that i
> want to buy a laptop (both companies have some cool toys) but i don't
> want windows on it.  i'm trying to get around giving M$ money for
> something i'm not going to use.  both said that they do not offer
> laptops with linux installed and that they also do not offer laptops
> with no os installed.  if i buy a laptop from them i have to give M$
> money.  i wonder if they don't offer this because the market is too
> small or if they're in some contract where they're not able to sell a
> laptop without xp on it.

If there were a serious market for Linux on laptops, companies the size
of HP and IBM would figure out how to sell them. The only Linux market
big enough to get major hardware vendors' attention is on servers -
that's why you'll find them selling servers preconfigured with Linux,
but not workstations (last I checked, anyway) or laptops.

I remember one company that specialized on Linux on laptops a few years
ago - I don't recall the details, but I think it made bulk purchases of
OS-less laptops from major vendors. Notice that I'm talking about that
company in the past tense.

Nathan