Dell has been offering Ubuntu Linux as an alternative to Windows on some of its laptops for the past few years. Now Dell is adding two of its most interesting new laptops to its line of computers that are available with Linux.

The Dell Precision M3800 Mobile Workstation is now available with Ubuntu and there will soon be an Ubuntu-powered developer edition of the new Dell XPS 13 ultrabook as well.

Configuring the Dell Precision M3800 with Ubuntu instead of Windows will knock $101.50 off the price tag.

That brings the starting price down to $1533.50, which is still pretty expensive. But what you get for your money is a laptop with a 15.6 inch display which weighs just 4.2 pounds, measures 0.7 inches thick, and which features a full HD display, 8GB of RAM, a 500GB hard drive) an Intel Core i7 Haswell processor, and NVIDIA Quadro K1100M graphics.

There are also options for up to 16GB of RAM, a bigger battery, additional storage (and solid state storage) and a 3840 x 2160 pixel touchscreen display.

If you choose Ubuntu as your operting system, the computer will come with Ubuntu 14.04 LTS pre-loaded. At launch this means the operating system won’t support the notebook’s Thunderbolt port. But the upcoming Ubuntu 14.04.2 maintenance release will add initial support for that feature.

Looking for something a little smaller? The Dell XPS 13 is a notebook which weighs about 2.6 pounds and up, has an Intel Broadwell processor, and an 5.2mm thin bezel around the display which allows Dell to squeeze a 13.3 inch display into a notebook the size of a typical 11.6 inch model.

Del has been offering XPS 13 Developer Edition notebooks with Ubuntu for a few years, but this year’s model will be the first to feature a Broadwell processor and a choice of a high-resolution 3200 x 1800 pixel glossy touchscreen display or a 1920 x 1080 pixel matte non-touch screen.

via Barton George, Dell TechCenter and Slashdot

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