Windows might be the most common operating system but there is no doubt that Linux is gaining ground rather quickly. The biggest complaint that I always hear about Linux is that the hardware on a computer never quite functions right with Linux. Ubuntu is trying to conquer that problem, but wouldn’t life be a little easier if the computer you bought was built for Linux? Then you know that everything would work how it is supposed to.
No problem! System76 has several different laptops that vary in price to accommodate nearly everyone’s needs. You can even go as far as to customize them so that they are exactly what you want…you can even get a built-in camera. Honestly though, for the operating system being free I am quite surprised that their cheapest laptop is $700…and by the time you add some of those finishing touches I’m sure you can take it over $1000. Right now, without any coupons, I can go over to dell and pick-up a Windows Vista laptop for $689. I guess if you are looking into the future then the Ubuntu laptops might be appetizing since the operating system upgrades will always be free, but it would have been nice to see these in the $500 range.
Source: Engadget (Thanks for the tip Mohan!)
Since we are on the topic of Ubuntu I thought I should mention Ubuntu’s newest pre-release of version 7.04, which is still two-months away. This pre-release is dubbed Feisty Fawn Herd 3 and sports a few new features over the previous versions. The most prominent feature is the new Control Center (pictured above) which pulls in the feature I love the most from Windows Vista…instant search! Now you can just start to type the setting or option that you are looking for and it will instantly show you the results. Figuring out how to change that one hidden setting is now going to be a thing of the past.
A lot of the other things that are new in this pre-release are updates to existing programs, so they are primarily building on what already exists. I definitely like that idea because people aren’t necessarily looking for a lot of new features, but instead they want to see the existing features and applications made even better. With the popularity of Ubuntu it surprises me that they have not integrated XGL/Beryl to spice it up with the 3D effects, but I would guess that they might be holding back until the stability of those features gets a little better.
Thanks for the tip Chris!
I’m dual-booting with XP and Ubuntu on my Dell laptop. When I did the format/partition/install of both systems Ubuntu loaded up all the drivers without any issues. It was a quick install and I didn’t have to do anything but punch in my wireless password to start using it. With XP I had to track down all the drivers from the Dell website and spend about 30 minutes making everything work before I could use it. I was surprised to say the least.
Well I had a little problem with my wireless on my HP notebook (since it uses Braodcom chipset) but I had problem solved within 10 minutes with NIDSWrapper. Other than that I had everything working out of the box even my 4 in on card reader. It is a very good OS and it’s free which is a very good think for a starving student.
I’m not as fortunate as you guys. Ubuntu runs fine on my system but the system fan never turns on.
You’d probably be surprised at how hot a laptop can get when it doesn’t use its fans. 
Fill a bug. Ubuntu developers can’t test all hardware, so they need your help
Actually, it is a known bug. People have talked about it on the forum and I remember seeing it in their hardware compatibility guide.