[Dell today made it official, unveiling three consumer systems -- the XPS™ 410n and Dimension™ E520n desktops and the Inspiron™ E1505n notebook -- with the Ubuntu 7.04 Linux distribution factory installed.]

Round Rock, TX -- Available in the U.S. after 4 p.m. CDT today at www.dell.com/open, the systems target the Linux enthusiast community and are a direct result of extensive customer feedback received since February via www.ideastorm.com, the company’s Web site for fielding customers’ suggestions to improve products, services and operations. About 30,000 IdeaStorm community members advocated that Dell offer systems with Linux pre-installed, and more than 100,000 participated in a follow-up survey to help determine customer preferences, including which Linux distribution to offer initially.

“The interest and enthusiasm from customers who challenged us to deliver a consumer Linux solution have been matched within Dell and Canonical, the sponsor of Ubuntu, by a team of dedicated professionals who made this happen in a phenomenally short period of time,” said Neil Hand, vice president, Dell Consumer Product Group. “It’s fantastic to be able to offer what many Linux enthusiasts want -- great Dell products with popular open-source software for work and play.”

With no software licensing costs associated with Ubuntu, the base price for each system is competitively priced and fully configured. Hardware support is available through normal Dell support channels, along with the Basic software support on a variety of dedicated Web sites and Linux forums. Customers can also choose service upgrades from Canonical, including: 30-day Get Started, One-year Basic and One-Year Standard. More information on Canonical services is available at www.ubuntu.com.

Dell is offering hardware options on each system that have the most mature and stable Linux driver support. These hardware options have been thoroughly tested and certified by Canonical. For hardware options not offered with this release, Dell is working with the vendors of those devices to improve the maturity and stability of their associated Linux drivers, and expects to have a broader range of hardware support with Linux over time.

In response to customer feedback, Dell created a robust Dell Linux Forum, www.dellcommunity.com. The forum provides an easily accessible resource and collaborative environment that enables customers to interact with other Linux enthusiasts, ask questions, share experiences and learn. Customers can customize and purchase Dell’s Ubuntu systems at www.dell.com/open.

Recommended Configurations and Pricing

Inspiron E1505n Dimension E520n XPS 410n

15.4-inch TrueLife WXGA display 17-inch flat panel display 19-inch flat panel display

Intel Pentium® Dual Core T2080 Intel Core 2 Duo E4300 Intel Core 2 Duo E4300

512MB shared1 memory 1GB shared1 memory 1GB shared1 memory

80GB hard drive2 250GB hard drive2 250GB hard drive2

CDRW/DVD ROM CDRW/DVD ROM DVD+/- RW3

Intel® Media Accelerator 950 Graphics

256MB nVidia Geforce 7300LE TurboCache4

256MB nVidia Geforce 7300LE TurboCache4

Intel PRO Wireless 3945 10/100 Ethernet 10/100 Ethernet

Starting at $599 Starting at $599 Starting at $849

About Dell

Dell Inc. (NASDAQ:DELL) listens to customers and delivers innovative technology and services they trust and value. Uniquely enabled by its direct business model, Dell is a leading global systems and services company and No. 34 on the Fortune 500. For more information, visit www.dell.com, or to communicate directly with Dell via a variety of online channels, go to www.dell.com/conversations. To get Dell news direct, visit www.dell.com/RSS.

Dell, XPS, Dimension and Inspiron are trademarks of Dell Inc.

Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Edubuntu and their associated logos are all registered trademarks of Canonical Ltd.

Dell disclaims any proprietary interest in the marks and names of others.

Pricing, specifications, availability, and terms of offers may change without notice. Taxes, fees, shipping, handling and any applicable restocking charges are extra, and vary. Dell cannot be responsible for pricing or other errors, and reserves the right to cancel orders arising from such errors.

1 Up to 224MB of system memory may be allocated to support integrated graphics, depending on system memory size and other factors.

2 For hard drives, GB means 1 billion bytes and TB equals 1 trillion bytes; actual capacity varies with preloaded material and operating environment and will be less.

3 Discs burned with this drive may not be compatible with some existing drives and players; using DVD+R media provides maximum compatibility

4 The total of local and shared system memory used by this graphics card is up to 256MB. Local on-board memory is 128MB. Up to 128MB of system memory is allocated to support graphics, depending on system memory size and other factors.

More...

Back to Headlines...