Review of Dell XPS with Ubuntu Preinstalled

An user on the Ubuntu Forums has received their Dell XPS 410n with Ubuntu 7.04 preinstalled. Overall, they were impressed with Dell’s work despite the lack of an install CD, and no Ubuntu documentation in the box. Also, the restricted drivers manager failed to install the Nvidia proprietary driver for the graphics card. They have written up a review of their experience with preinstalled Ubuntu from Dell.

I think Dell has done a good thing with this system. They obviously made an effort with resolution detection (which was going to be sore no matter what) and did an excellent job of keeping those crapware leeches off the system. If you want a machine that’s going to run all the apps you need and do it well, and without having to research endlessly for compatible hardware to make one yourself, this machine is good for you. I have seen nothing that makes this a deal-breaker for the average user…assuming they don’t want to enable 3D out of the box. That still takes some skills.