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How to buy a Dell WITHOUT windows

27 Dec

I was asked by a friend to get a Fedora CD to her and her friend so that their children can learn to use Linux.  I suggested that I will help by shipping the Live CDs as well as spending some time (along with my 2 sons) to teach their sons how to use Linux.

Then the request came back asking where can they get a new laptop without Windows and that prompted my revisiting the Dell.com website to see if I can get a machine without ‘oze.I have a Dell Vostro V13 N-series (which came with Ubuntu preinstalled, the “N” meaning “No Windows”). So, that was what I was looking out in the dell.com site.  Search as I might, nothing showed up.  It’s amazing how well hidden the n-series offerings are.  I am very sure Microsoft’s marketing muscle is squarely behind it. 

Now, since I know that there is such as thing as a N-series laptop, I clicked on Dell.com’s “Live Chat” button and the following is the transcript of what happened. I’ve replaced the Dell person’s name with “Dell Rep”.
16:35:51 Customer harish pillay
Initial Question/Comment: h.pillay@Ieee.org
16:35:56 System System
You are now being connected to an agent. Thank you for using Dell Chat
16:35:56 System System
Connected with Dell Rep
16:36:01 Agent Dell Rep
Welcome to Dell Sales Chat. My name is Dell Rep. I’ll be your personal sales agent. How may I assist you. If you proceed to place your order online, please indicate my name, Dell Rep, as your sales representative so that I’ll be able to track your order for you.
16:36:22 Customer harish pillay
Hi, Dell Rep. Can you point me to where I can get the n-series vostro v13?
16:36:33 Customer harish pillay
i do not want to buy windows for the machine.
16:37:01 Agent Dell Rep
we do not offer n-series of the Dell system online
16:37:07 Customer harish pillay
why?
16:37:24 Customer harish pillay
does microsoft restrict sales of n-series online?
16:37:56 Agent Dell Rep
i’m not too sure on that but V13 has being replaced by the V130
16:38:23 Customer harish pillay
ok, so I would like to buy a v130 without an OS (I will settle for freedos).
16:38:36 Customer harish pillay
i prefer the n-series v-130 then.
16:39:51 Agent Dell Rep
the V130 is not offering any Free DOS version at the moment
16:40:01 Agent Dell Rep
let me check on the availability of the V13
16:40:13 Agent Dell Rep
we do offer Free DOS offline
16:40:50 Customer harish pillay
it does not matter if it has freedos or fedora (or even ubuntu). i want to buy the machine without any microsoft os.
16:41:07 Agent Dell Rep
any particular specifications on your mind?
16:41:47 Customer harish pillay
i will be running Fedora and/or Red Hat Enterprise Linux on them. I have the apps taken care of already.
16:42:22 Agent Dell Rep
any specific hardware requirement
16:42:51 Customer harish pillay
Why don’t you focus on asking about the OS? the hardware is OK as it is.
16:43:25 Customer harish pillay
64-bit, 8G would be nice, but 4G RAM is OK. USB (3.0 would be nice), bluetooth, wifi.
16:43:55 Agent Dell Rep
please note that you may find difficulties for the correct drivers as we have not tested on the compatibility of the drivers with the OS you intend to install
16:44:13 Customer harish pillay
not that you support windoze drivers anyway.
16:44:17 Agent Dell Rep
any other hardware requirement
16:44:33 Customer harish pillay
none
16:44:52 Agent Dell Rep
also is this purchase are for your company or personal?
16:45:05 Customer harish pillay
does it matter?
16:45:27 Agent Dell Rep
i need to generate the quotation for you
16:45:51 Customer harish pillay
Intel Corporation WiFi Link 5100, Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168B PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet controller,
16:46:19 Customer harish pillay
is there a price difference if the quote was for corporate vs consumer?
16:47:02 Agent Dell Rep
there’s no difference unless your company has a specific contract with Dell
16:47:40 Customer harish pillay
fair enough. give me the consumer quote first.
16:48:32 Agent Dell Rep
can i have your full legal name, address as well as your contact no
16:49:04 Customer harish pillay
:-) . harish pillay, address
16:50:27 Agent Dell Rep
alright, let me work the quotation and emailed it to you?
16:50:40 Customer harish pillay
ok. h.pillay@ieee.org
16:50:47 Agent Dell Rep
noted
16:52:22 Customer harish pillay
so are we done or what?
16:52:42 Agent Dell Rep
unless you’ve others to add.
16:53:04 Customer harish pillay
so the quote will be without windows?
16:53:12 Agent Dell Rep
yes
16:55:26 Customer harish pillay
that’s fine. can you provide me with the quote that shows with and without windows?
16:55:37 Customer harish pillay
i want to know the difference.
16:55:42 Agent Dell Rep
alright
16:55:46 Customer harish pillay
not that i want windows.
16:56:50 Customer harish pillay
are you mailing the quote now?
16:57:17 Agent Dell Rep
give me about 5 mins and i shall be able to send it to you
16:57:56 Customer harish pillay
ok thanks. i will be keeping this chat transcript and blanking out your name.
16:58:12 Agent Dell Rep
thanks
16:58:57 Customer harish pillay
the reason for keeping the chat transcript is so that I can post this to my blog stating that there is a way to buy non-windows Dell machines but one has to ask for it.
16:59:26 Customer harish pillay
so, keeping your name off the transcript is key as it is not you but your organization that is at fault here.
16:59:32 Agent Dell Rep
we do have regular request for n-series of system from time by time
17:00:20 Agent Dell Rep
we do not offer is sometimes to avoid misunderstanding from certain customers where they look for the cheapest system and only to find out that no OS was installed
17:00:33 Customer harish pillay
and I want to make it a permanent request and something that I can find from your online catalog. As long as it does not appear, I think Dell is doing the whole world a disservice and pandering to Microsoft’s monopolistic heavyhand.
17:00:33 Agent Dell Rep
we had that quite a lot previously
17:00:56 Agent Dell Rep
that’s the reason we choose to offer all with the OS preinstalled
17:01:00 Customer harish pillay
and if you explain to people, they will understand.
17:01:26 Agent Dell Rep
not all customer are as understanding as you
17:01:39 Customer harish pillay
so long as dell hides the info (or makes it hard to find), these misunderstandings can happen.
17:02:07 Agent Dell Rep
we have lots of customer who choose the cheapest and only to find out that no OS is installed
17:02:57 Agent Dell Rep
we don’t really hide the info as long as a customer request for it, we’ll be able to offer
17:03:22 Agent Dell Rep
we just limit them options online to avoid misunderstanding
17:03:37 Agent Dell Rep
anyway perhaps we may work out something in future
17:17:37 Agent Dell Rep
i’ve just emailed both quotation to you. could you please check and revert
17:23:28 Agent Dell Rep
Is there anything else I may assist you? If there’s no further assistance required, you may email me at DELL REP @dell.com shall you need further assistance / clarifications.
17:32:49 System System
The session has ended!
I have received a quotation for the Dell Vostro V13 and here are the numbers:
a) S$887.15 for the N-series
b) S$1045.79 for the same machine with ‘doze.
Hardware: Vostro V13 System Base (SU7300)Intel® Core?2 Duo Processor SU7300 (1.3GHz, 3M L2 Cache, 800MHz FSB) ULV, 13.3HDF Anti-glare LED LCD panel with camera, 4GB (1X4G) DDR3-1066MHz SDRAM, 1 DIMM500GB* Hard Drive, 7200 RPM, 6-cell Lithium Ion Sealed 30Whr Battery, Integrated Graphic CardIntel(R) Wireless Network Card 5100 (802.11a/g/n)Dell Wireless 365 Bluetooth ModuleInternal Dell(TM) Keyboard (English).
So, the Windows-tax is S$158.64. Now you know.

 
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