Los Alamos Computers

I am thinking about buying a Thinkpad with Linux pre-installed from Los Alamos Computers ( http://laclinux.com/en/Start). Has anyone had experience doing business with them?

 

thats http://laclinux.com/en/Start

 

I haven't bought from them, but their prices seem to be a little on the high side.

Unless you are uncomfortable installling Linux yourself (or pride prevents you from buying a Windows computer and wiping it), you are probably better off buying your ThinkPad from Lenovo or a topseller model from a third party (e.g. ProVantage).

One other option. Some corporations and Universities have a custom order pane. This would allow you to order a ThinkPad with PC-DOS and avoid the "Windows Tax".

However, if you don't want to go through the trouble of configuring Linux to run on your ThinkPad (it's generally pretty easy), the Los Alamos Computers may be a solid choice.

 

Talking about price being "on the high side", check this out: http://emperorlinux.com/

I have been wiping out existing windows and installing Linux on my laptop for quite a number of years; what has been bothering me is that there are alway some drivers missing, some components do not work well, then you need to spend a lot of time trying to pin down the problem, etc., and time is expensive... So I figure this time I give an alternative a try.

 

Just keep in mind that some features just might not be supported in Linux yet, or ever. For example I've seen people stating in the past that things like the OEM's support suite of applications (e.g. ThinkVantage) or dedicated buttons for such just were not supported and couldn't be made to work. I don't know if this is still often the case or not. If it is, buying it configured by the reseller won't necessarily fix that. I would ask them about that.