Dell: Linux Netbook High Return Rate 'Non-Issue'

I think we can finally put a certain myth to rest that's been circling around the web for a while now. Microsoft often claimed that netbooks running Linux saw higher return rates than those running Windows, but according to Dell, this is utter nonsense.

Todd Finch, Dell senior product marketing manager, spoke at OpenSource World, and in his talk he made it quite clear that Dell's Ubuntu netbooks see no higher return rates than the Windows variants, calling it a 'non-issue'. "They are making something of nothing," he said of Microsoft's claims.

The original issue was drivers just as it always is. And just as it always does, that has settled out as the sample population grew. A lot of Linux users tend to be more tolerant of that sort of thing and willing to work it out for themselves than an equivalent population of Windows users, but it isn't really an overwhelming number of either. It isn't Microsoft FUD, and it's old information anyway.

I'm looking for a netbook myself but feature creep is forcing me back to a laptop platform for maybe another hundred bucks. The issue is probably going to end up whether I run Firefox and Open Office on XP or Ubuntu, and frankly, OS evangelism aside, I don't care. YMMV.

> ...as soon as Windows 7 is released, I’m selling my MacBook and buying a Windows 7 notebook. I’ve been playing with Windows 7 on my kid’s computer, and I absolutely love it.

May I humbly suggest you just install Win7 on the MacBook.

After I got my current MacBook, I installed the Win7 RC on my previous Mac (a Mini) using BootCamp, and it's the best Windows machine I've ever used. It performs extremely well.

You may recall that when BootCamp got popular, many reviews of "What hardware runs Windows best?" came to the conclusion that Mac hardware was the best Windows platform around.

Seriously, if your unibody MacBook is in decent physical shape, I recommend you consider using it as the platform for your next Windows install. You have nothing to lose by trying it before buying something else.

Note: I -also- run VMware and have multiple Win OSes in VMs that I run on Mac hardware. That's not the same; there are pros and cons to VMs vs. metal installs. But if you don't want OS-X as your main system, relegate OS-X to a small part of the MacBook hard drive (say, 30GB) and BootCamp the rest for Win7.

I have been very pleased with mine...

Why would anyone getting a netbook buy Dell?

A lot of corporations consolidate their purchases or leases through one company. If they wanted a netbook for an employee, they would just roll it onto the same account. Makes life easy on the bean counters and is usually cheaper because they get a discount of some variety.

For personal use though, I agree with whoever posited name recognition.

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