[SGVLUG] Shipping for school computers; Dell's linux preload strangely competitive

[Dan Kegel]

I'm one of the four parents volunteering to help a new
charter school pick out 20 computers, so I went to the
Dell and HP sites and tried to configure low end
systems that weren't Celeron-slow.
It is a real challenge to navigate the Dell and HP sites;
their offerings are byzantine, and I might have missed
a bargain.

I was surprised to find that Dell's Linux offering was way
cheaper than their Windows offering; must be some
temporary glitch in their promotional pricing.
The only annoying thing is I had to use Google to find
it; "dell linux desktop" didn't find it, but "dell ubuntu" did,
finding
http://www.dell.com/content/topics/segtopic.aspx/linux_3x?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs
which proclaimed "Ubuntu, keeps getting better!  Now
shipping Ubuntu 8.04 on select systems."
(It also found http://www.ubuntu.com/dell, which is even more out of date.)

The Linux system was $388:

Dell Inspiron 530N
Catalog Number:          29 DDCWDAL
Intel® Pentium® dual-core processor E5200 (2MB L2, 2.5GHz, 800FSB)
(That CPU has a geekbench score of 3200.)
Operating System        Ubuntu 8.04 with DVD Playback
Memory  2GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 800MHz- 2DIMMs
Dell USB Keyboard and Dell Optical USB Mouse
Monitor         Dell S1709W 17" Widescreen Flat Panel Monitor
Video Cards     Integrated Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 3100
Hard Drives     320GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache™
No Floppy Drive Included
Network Interface       Integrated 10/100 Ethernet
Optical Drive   16x DVD+/-RW Drive
Speakers        No speakers  (I included USB speakers from newegg in
price for $10)
Warranty & Service      1Yr Ltd Hardware Warranty, InHome Service after
Remote Diagnosis

Same system with Windows Vista Home: $509  (holy shit, windows adds $120?
I must have done something wrong.)

Here are two options from HP:
$550: HP Pavilion a6700z Desktop PC with
   * Vista Home Basic with Service Pack 1 (32-bit)
   * AMD Athlon(TM) 64 X2 4850e dual-core [2.5GHz]
      (That CPU has a geekbench2 score of 2600.)
   * 2GB DDR2-800MHz SDRAM [2x1024]
   * 250GB 7200 rpm SATA 3Gb/s hard drive
   * Integrated NVIDIA GeForce 6150 SE [VGA]
   * LightScribe 16X max. DVD+/-R/RW SuperMulti drive
   * Integrated 10/100 Ethernet, No wireless LAN
   * 2 USB, front audio ports
   * Integrated 7.1 channel sound with front audio ports
   * HP USB 2.0 stereo speakers (powered through USB)
   * HP keyboard and HP optical mouse
   * HP w1858 18.5-inch Diagonal 16:9 HD Ready Widescreen Monitor

$480 for HP dx2400 Microtower
 Windows Vista® Business with downgrade to Windows XP Professional
 Intel® Pentium® Dual-Core E2220 processor (2.4 GHz, 1 MB L2 cache, 800 MHz FSB)
 (Geekbench2 score: 2400)
 Intel® G33 Express
 1 GB DDR2 800 MHz non-ECC (1 x 1 GB DIMM)
 80GB 7200rpm HDD SATA 3.0Gb/s NCQ SMART IV
 Integrated Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 3100
 16X SATA DVD-ROM
 HP PS/2 Standard Keyboard
 HP USB 2-Button Optical Scroll Mouse
 Realtek ALC888S High Definition Audio Codec
 Integrated Realtek 8111C-GR 10/100/1000 Ethernet
 1 year parts, labor and onsite service standard warranty
 HP w17e 17-inch LCD Widescreen Flat Panel Monitor
  (500:1 Contrast Ratio, Analog VGA Input Signal, 1440 x 900,
  Stereo speakers with volume control)