Dell selling OS free computers

Beelzebub

at least Stateside they are: http://www.dell.com/content/topics/segtopic.aspx/e510_nseries?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs

Matthewthebig

"Note: Dell does not support non-Dell installed operating systems."

rofl

Tom Dunne

Interesting development. Wonder if they will try it this side of the Atlantic?

Cuddlesworth

What sort of price difference are we looking at here in the systems with similar specs. Some corperations would be very interested in these as most have no need for windows pre-installed on the systems.

aidan_walsh

krazy_8s wrote:

What sort of price difference are we looking at here in the systems with similar specs. Some corperations would be very interested in these as most have no need for windows pre-installed on the systems.

Going through the Dell.com item customiser and making two technically equivilant machines puts the OS free computer at $749 vs the $859 tag of the other.

Interesting how they still tried to sell Windows based productivity and security software as options of the OS free bundle

mick.fr

Dell has always sold PC with no OS if you asked it.
Corporates do not buy OEM version of Windows because they have a Select agreement with Microsoft.

I have seen quiet a few corporates here in Ireland where OEM was systematically bought with a new PC and then adjusting and paying more with MS at the end of the year...Pretty stupid until the day they understood there was no need to buy Windows from Dell, both of them, Dell and the guy in charge of buying the PCs in corporate did not bother to try to understand anyway.

The fact Dell says they do not support non-Dell installed OS simply means if you want to use FreeBSD, Dell will not support it. If you buy Redhat from Dell and then reinstall it to your own needs later, and then call them at some stage to get support, they will of course support you.

Obelisk29

tom dunne wrote:

Interesting development. Wonder if they will try it this side of the Atlantic?

Yep they do but not over the web. You have to ask for the N-Series, as far as I know available on most desktops.

Will get my friendly in-house rep to have a look at laptops if anyone is interested.

O29

Capt'n Midnight

aidan_walsh wrote:

Going through the Dell.com item customiser and making two technically equivilant machines puts the OS free computer at $749 vs the $859 tag of the other.

Interesting how they still tried to sell Windows based productivity and security software as options of the OS free bundle

I'm getting $40 difference and that includes a larger hard drive on the low end Dell Dimension E520

NO OS $749 E520N
Pentium® D Processor 820 with Dual CoreTechnology(2.80GHz,800FSB)
FreeDOS™ included in the box, ready to install
1GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz- 2DIMMs
Free Upgrade! 250GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache
48X CD-RW/ DVD Combo Drive
19 inch E197FP Analog Flat Panel
256MB nVidia Geforce 7300LE TurboCache
Integrated 7.1 Channel Audio
My Accessories
No speakers (Speakers are required to hear audio from your system)
Dell USB Keyboard
3.5 in Floppy Drive
56K PCI Data Fax Modem
My Software
My Service
1Yr Ltd Warranty and At-Home Service
Also Includes
Dell® 2-button USB mouse
Integrated 10/100/1000 Ethernet
Award Winning Service and Support


Windows $789 E520
Pentium® D Processor 820 with Dual Core Technology (2.80GHz, 800FSB)
Genuine Windows® XP Media Center 2005 Edition
No Express Upgrade to Windows Vista Selected
1GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz- 2DIMMs
Free Upgrade! 320GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache
48X CD-RW/ DVD Combo Drive
19 inch E197FP Analog Flat Panel
256MB nVidia Geforce 7300LE TurboCache
Integrated 7.1 Channel Audio
My Accessories
No speakers (Speakers are required to hear audio from your system)
Dell USB Keyboard and Dell 2-button Scroll Mouse
No Floppy Drive Included
56K PCI Data Fax Modem
My Software
No productivity suite- Includes Microsoft Works 8. DOES NOT INCLUDE MS WORD
No Security Subscription
Trial pack- Basic and trial products from Corel and Yahoo
My Service
1Yr Ltd Warranty and At-Home Service
6 Months of America Online Membership Included
Also Includes
Mouse included in Wireless, Laser or Bluetooth Package
Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 7.0
Integrated 10/100 Ethernet
Award Winning Service and Support
Windows Vista™ Capable

mick.fr

Capt'n Midnight wrote:

I'm getting $40 difference and that includes a larger hard drive on the low end Dell Dimension E520

NO OS $749 E520N
Pentium® D Processor 820 with Dual CoreTechnology(2.80GHz,800FSB)
....

Windows $789 E520
Pentium® D Processor 820 with Dual Core Technology (2.80GHz, 800FSB)
Genuine Windows® XP Media Center 2005 Edition
...

Do not even bother buying those.
They are crap.
In this case Dell propose a basic 1 one warranty.
For less than 700 euros you can build your own with a real Dual Core Pentium and not 1st Generation Dual Core Pentium D Crap.

mukki

Capt'n Midnight wrote:

I'm getting $40 difference and that includes a larger hard drive on the low end Dell Dimension E520

NO OS $749 E520N
Pentium® D Processor 820 with Dual CoreTechnology(2.80GHz,800FSB)
FreeDOS™ included in the box, ready to install
1GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz- 2DIMMs
Free Upgrade! 250GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache
48X CD-RW/ DVD Combo Drive
19 inch E197FP Analog Flat Panel
256MB nVidia Geforce 7300LE TurboCache
Integrated 7.1 Channel Audio
My Accessories
No speakers (Speakers are required to hear audio from your system)
Dell USB Keyboard
3.5 in Floppy Drive
56K PCI Data Fax Modem
My Software
My Service
1Yr Ltd Warranty and At-Home Service
Also Includes
Dell® 2-button USB mouse
Integrated 10/100/1000 Ethernet
Award Winning Service and Support


Windows $789 E520
Pentium® D Processor 820 with Dual Core Technology (2.80GHz, 800FSB)
Genuine Windows® XP Media Center 2005 Edition
No Express Upgrade to Windows Vista Selected
1GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz- 2DIMMs
Free Upgrade! 320GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache
48X CD-RW/ DVD Combo Drive
19 inch E197FP Analog Flat Panel
256MB nVidia Geforce 7300LE TurboCache
Integrated 7.1 Channel Audio
My Accessories
No speakers (Speakers are required to hear audio from your system)
Dell USB Keyboard and Dell 2-button Scroll Mouse
No Floppy Drive Included
56K PCI Data Fax Modem
My Software
No productivity suite- Includes Microsoft Works 8. DOES NOT INCLUDE MS WORD
No Security Subscription
Trial pack- Basic and trial products from Corel and Yahoo
My Service
1Yr Ltd Warranty and At-Home Service
6 Months of America Online Membership Included
Also Includes
Mouse included in Wireless, Laser or Bluetooth Package
Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 7.0
Integrated 10/100 Ethernet
Award Winning Service and Support
Windows Vista™ Capable

hay capt'n, you have far too much spare time

interesting research though

aidan_walsh

I seem to have made a slight flaw in my original calculations (I tested the E520N against an E520 in the Small Business pricing scheme, rather than the correct Home & Home Office without realising), so I redid the test.

I made the two machines absolutely hardware identical. This means I refused the free HDD upgrade offer on the E520, which keeps the price the same but lowers the overall value of the machine. Since the test is about the price of equivilant machines being sold with different operating systems, I deemed this to be acceptable. Feel free to argue if you disagree.

I used the E520 that started at $749, as it was the same starting price as the E520N.

E520N - $749
Pentium® D Processor 820 with Dual CoreTechnology(2.80GHz,800FSB)
FreeDOS™ included in the box, ready to install
1GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz- 2DIMMs
Free Upgrade! 250GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache
48X CD-RW/ DVD Combo Drive
19 inch E197FP Analog Flat Panel
256MB nVidia Geforce 7300LE TurboCache
Integrated 7.1 Channel Audio
No speakers
Dell USB Keyboard
3.5 in Floppy Drive
56K PCI Data Fax Modem
1Yr Ltd Warranty and At-Home Service
Mouse Dell® 2-button USB mouse
Integrated 10/100/1000 Ethernet
1Yr Ltd Warranty and At-Home Service

E520 - $819
Pentium® D Processor 820 with Dual Core Technology (2.80GHz, 800FSB)
Genuine Windows® XP Media Center 2005 Edition
1GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz- 2DIMMs
250GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache™
48X CD-RW/ DVD Combo Drive
19 inch E197FP Analog Flat Panel
256MB nVidia Geforce 7300LE TurboCache
Integrated 7.1 Channel Audio
No speakers (Speakers are required to hear audio from your system)
Dell USB Keyboard and Dell 2-button Scroll Mouse
3.5 in Floppy Drive
56K PCI Data Fax Modem
No productivity suite- Includes Microsoft Works 8. DOES NOT INCLUDE MS WORD
No Security Subscription
Trial pack- Basic and trial products from Corel and Yahoo
1Yr Ltd Warranty and At-Home Service
6 Months of America Online Membership Included
Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 7.0
Integrated 10/100 Ethernet

So that still leaves me with a $70 difference to buy the OS free version.

Capt'n Midnight

aidan_walsh wrote:

I made the two machines absolutely hardware identical. This means I refused the free HDD upgrade offer on the E520, which keeps the price the same but lowers the overall value of the machine. Since the test is about the price of equivilant machines being sold with different operating systems, I deemed this to be acceptable. Feel free to argue if you disagree.

I'd argue because Dell always have free offers
When they first started selling Home User PC's without windows the price difference was zero when you took into account the better "special offer" available on the windows machines. Can't remember if it was on the reg or where I saw it.

Cuddlesworth

mick.fr wrote:

Dell has always sold PC with no OS if you asked it.

?

I work in one of the largest corporations in Ireland and we buy a considerable amount of machines from Dell. We do not have the option of Buying a desktop pc without Windows sold as the OS.

I live with 2 people who work in Dell. There is not model available for anybody in Ireland(desktop or laptop) that does not come with a Os pre-packaged at a extra cost. They have moved right up through Dell and have been in Sales. There is no option in the matter.

mick.fr wrote:

Corporates do not buy OEM version of Windows because they have a Select agreement with Microsoft.

Wait one second. Do you believe that Dell don't sell systems to large businesses without Windows because Microsoft said so? Considering that for each of these systems Microsoft gets revenue, even if the Windows key is never used?

mick.fr wrote:

I have seen quiet a few corporates here in Ireland where OEM was systematically bought with a new PC and then adjusting and paying more with MS at the end of the year...Pretty stupid until the day they understood there was no need to buy Windows from Dell, both of them, Dell and the guy in charge of buying the PCs in corporate did not bother to try to understand anyway.

Considering that nearly every large businesses use a corporate version of Windows(1 Key for all machines) installed over the network, this doesn't make any sense to me. Why would they pay Microsoft more for Windows licenses they don't need? Oem Windows is not systematically bought with a new system, it comes pre-packaged with it. All desktops get ghosted with Windows as part of the manufacturing process down in Limerick. There is no choice here in Ireland.

Also before you say anything about how they had to buy more licenses for each machine because they had to put their own Windows on them, read into how a corporate license key works.

mick.fr wrote:

The fact Dell says they do not support non-Dell installed OS simply means if you want to use FreeBSD, Dell will not support it. If you buy Redhat from Dell and then reinstall it to your own needs later, and then call them at some stage to get support, they will of course support you.

Dell support Linux in Servers, the Linux support staff have penguins all around their desks and are quite weird. Dell also use Linux in quite a few of their own servers. But besides that Dell do not support Linux on their desktops.

BostonB

mick.fr wrote:

Do not even bother buying those.
They are crap.
In this case Dell propose a basic 1 one warranty.
For less than 700 euros you can build your own with a real Dual Core Pentium and not 1st Generation Dual Core Pentium D Crap.

Whats a 1 one warranty?

Why is a Dual Pentium D not a real Dual Core Pentium? What is it then?

Obelisk29

krazy_8s wrote:

?

I work in one of the largest corporations in Ireland and we buy a considerable amount of machines from Dell. We do not have the option of Buying a desktop pc without Windows sold as the OS.

I live with 2 people who work in Dell. There is not model available for anybody in Ireland(desktop or laptop) that does not come with a Os pre-packaged at a extra cost. They have moved right up through Dell and have been in Sales. There is no option in the matter.

krazy_8s

I think your flatties may be mistaken on this one. Just confirmed with my account manager in Dell that they can sell os-free desktops.

If anybody is interested they can pm me and I'll pass on his number.

O29

Cuddlesworth

Whats the cost difference?

musiknonstop

I have 2 N-Series Dell Optiplex's sitting under my desk. They came with some sort of MS-Dos clone called Freedos. Naturally we wipe them and install Linux :-)

Obelisk29

krazy_8s wrote:

Whats the cost difference?

Not sure tbh - I've never specced one up myself. Will get a quote for comparison.

Knowing Dell there'll be a charge for not having MS.

BTW, in the UK you can buy Optiplex's that don't come with all the bloatware - but you have to pay extra to not have it! Duh.