HP/Compaq Presario and Linux

[Benjamin Scott]

On Fri, 28 Jan 2005, at 9:23pm, crschmidt at crschmidt.net wrote:
> From the consumer standpoint, I can attest to this: my boss was recently
> buying a new laptop, and had the choice in front of him to choose two
> mostly identical laptops. When he asked the difference, this was basically
> their answer: "One is the top of the line. The other isn't."  Longer
> warrantys, higher classes of support, more "premium" parts...  pretty much
> all of it was in intangibles.

  I can say that the first time you call tech support, it becomes very 
tangible indeed.  At one time, calling Dimension support meant you were 
talking to somebody in India, who was recently taught English, and had never 
used a computer outside the one feeding him the script he was reading.  
OptiPlex support went to a center in North America and someone who was at 
least nominally a technician.  Any money you saved by buying the Dimension 
evaporated with that first call.

  'course, no matter how many times I explain this, I still get customers 
who always buy the cheaper Dimensions.  Then they're astounded that the 
support they get is so bad.  *shakes head*

> Of course, most Linux users probably don't have use for most of those
> intangibles anyway ...

  It depends.  Generally speaking, companies care more if you pay more.  So
an OptiPlex customer who wants to run Linux counts a lot more then the same
guy with a Dimension instead.  There was also a time where Dell was
supporting the OptiPlex and Latitude lines with Linux, but never the
Dimension or Inspiron.  Dell has since dropped official Linux support on
user stations, but they still provide "informal" support for those same 
lines.  So it might reduce your hassle.

  On the gripping hand, I'd say there are probably better companies then
Dell *or* HP to buy from for Linux stuff.

-- 
Ben Scott <bscott at ntisys.com>
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