cross-posted from: https://rss.ponder.cat/post/165736
At least in the U.S. and Canada, that is.
This was brought to my attention thanks to a Reddit post where a user (presumably a resident of Canada), had posted how Lenovo was shipping laptops with Fedora and Ubuntu at a cheaper price compared to their Windows-equipped counterparts.
Others then chimed in, saying that Lenovo has been doing this since at least 2020 and that the big price difference shows how ridiculous Windows’ pricing is.
Cutting the Windows Tax
When I dug in further, I found out that the US and Canadian websites for Lenovo offered U.S. $140 and CAD $211 off on the same ThinkPad X1 Carbon model when choosing any one of the Linux-based alternatives.
US pricing on left, Canadian pricing on right.
Interestingly, while the difference in pricing is noticeable, your mileage may vary if you are looking for such laptops on the official website. Not all models from their laptop lineup, like ThinkPad, Yoga, Legion, LOQ, etc., feature an option to get Linux pre-installed during the checkout process.
Luckily, there is an easy way to filter through the numerous laptops. Just go to the laptops section (U.S.) on the Lenovo website and turn on the “Operating System” filter under the Filter by specs sidebar menu.
Yes, it’s as simple as that. You can do the same for the various official online regional storefronts that Lenovo runs to see whether Linux-based operating systems are being offered on their laptops in your country.
Closing Thoughts
It is good to see that Lenovo is offering Linux in its laptops. In fact, there is another big-name laptop manufacturer, Dell, who also does something similar with its Ubuntu-certified laptops, but both have the same constraint of having limited options for buyers.
Also, as far as I know, Dell doesn’t reduce the pricing if you choose Linux instead of Windows. Correct me if I am wrong in the comments.
Nonetheless, I think these manufacturers could do a better job in marketing these Linux-based alternative operating systems to general consumers, showing them how they can save big when opting for these instead of the pricey and bloated Windows.
Otherwise, we might have to start observing Windows Refund Day again.
💬 Your take on this? Would mainstream users benefit from having Linux pre-installed on their laptops?
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I bought a laptop without a Windows license from Lenovo years ago. It came with FreeDOS, if I remember correctly. I wanted to install Linux, so I didn’t care. In some areas they’ve been offering this for a while now.
Now they need to make the BIOS updates installable from Linux or ability to flash them from the BIOS. But I like this move, hope more start doing so.
It already is, via https://fwupd.org/
which is integrated into the app store on fedora, at least
Hopefully they start selling the Linux version in my country ngl
That’s great! - But. But, I hope some people check it out carefully. Some years ago, Lenovo middle-man’d the SSL root certificate on laptops so they could inject ads into Https web pages. (And spy on users? Steal passwords? Manipulate bank accounts? I hope not…)
I wonder what they could hide in an own Linux install?
Dell did the same thing - in the same year too.
You should always clean install your OS. Let the guys wanting to spy on you put some effort in.
Really?! Do you have a source? I’d like to look this up!
https://www.zdnet.com/article/how-to-remove-dells-superfish-2-0-root-certificate-permanently/
It’s actually called eDellRoot, not Superfish though.
You can safely assume that probably every manufacturer did or still does similar thing - whether they’re caught is another story though.
Oh, wow.
Do you have any reputable articles of this? I’m interested cheers
Thank you that’s appalling and I’m glad I build my own pcs
Just look it up. It made the news rounds about 10 or so years ago. It was a big deal at the time. Just about everyone covered it and Lenovo acknowledged it and, IIRC they apologized for it
Apologizing and stopping are two different things.
“Sorry we broke into your security on purpose.”
Installing my own OS is half the fun of getting a new computer. Why would I want the manufacturer to install an OS?
Because laptop manufacturers don’t make laptops for people who want to install their own OSes. The average tech illiterate just wants something that works out of the box.
a nice 140 usd discount sounds like a decent incentive
Oh, windows certainly isn’t an option. The options I’m weighing are “pre-installed Linux” and “tabula rasa”.
Good way to check that all the parts are working before putting whatever you want on it.
you get the discount + you can reinstall it yourself/install a different distro + it shows the general market how much of the cost is due to a Windows license and other OS alternatives, creating more informed consumers
i see it as a benefit
But why not “blank drive”?
Easy enough to do that ourselves really, this is just for normies.
probably just not worth the additional logistics
Idk maybe so you can start using it?
Nothing is stopping you from throwing out the OEM install.
Least of all, Windows, the telemetry software that lets you play games and sometimes be productive. Terms and conditions may apply!!1
I quite like their laptops but they put the most horrible keyboards I’ve ever used. I’ve had chronic rsi and my fingers physically hurt less than 8h of use.
Do they have high end laptops (32g RAM, top i7 or similar, for Android development) at reasonable prices with good keyboards? I’ve been on Xps for a while.
I actually prefer the Lenovo keyboard to any other laptop keyboard in existence. Be it HP, Dell, Microsoft, Asus, Acer or otherwise.
You…don’t like Thinkpad keyboards? You may be alone in this.
my shop uses HP Elitebooks and Lenovo ThinkPads and users typically prefer the Elitebook keyboard but this is a comparison of only 2 midrange models with a sample size of a few hundred so your milage may vary.
I have an elitebook g450 and a yogo 380L. They’re both nice in their own ways but the g450 has a better short travel.
2025 is the year of the Linux
desktoplaptop!I would really like to see broad support for TPM-backed FDE, which also requires secure boot to work to implement this properly.
For me, this is essential to have for feature parity with Windows on laptop.
Let’s not have tpm at all instead.
It kinda blows my mind that “no OS” isn’t the cheapest option
I seem to recall in the past Microsoft pressured manufacturers to not sell computers without an operating system, arguing that unscrupulous consumers would install pirated copies of Windows on them. A ridiculous argument, but it was the excuse they used.
It’s the same reason that you have to pay more to stream videos without ads…
Yeah, smart TVs with no OS are way more expensive than the ones riddled with ads as well.
I changed to the projectivity launcher on my Android TV and it was night and day in terms of performance. No ads. The UI doesn’t change every other week to make me look at some new show I don’t care about. I can literally just hide everything I don’t want to see.
I should probably look into actual entire OS swaps available for my TV but I don’t have the time. Changing the launcher and using ADB (over lan) to disable updates and apply some optimizations was worth the day it took me.
Turns out the hardware on the TV is fine. The software was just complete garbage and got worse with every update.
Now if only I could fix the UI in the actual apps like YouTube. But still it’s a lot better. I’ll probably install the YouTube alternative app one day when I have time.
My wife started using the TV over her tablet after I changed it. She said she hated how slow it was to just turn on and start that she just would go to her tablet instead.
So… Windows is an ad delivery system.hmm, it makes sense, because as an operating system that’s the only thing it does well is show ads.
Stremio doesn’t charge me more. I dont know why anyone would pay to stream. Or not block ads.
Well, these services do require money to run. If everyone were as ‘clever’ as you are then we’d have little content indeed.
If they could ship a computer with the option upon first boot of Windows, Linux, or no OS without having to pay license costs of Windows that would be fine, but that’s not how it works. 99% of people want Windows. Any laptop shipping with no os would just be sent back a few months later after sitting on the shelves for a few months.
No way thats 99%
Out of windows and linux, it’d be close to 99%. Linux’s desktop OS marketshare is 4% according to a quick google, Windows at ~70%, MacOS at ~26%. Since MacOS isn’t an option on these, the choice between Windows and Linux would likely be 96% Windows, 4% Linux.
So sure, I’ll admit I got that wrong - not 99%, 96% based on 2025 marketshare.
Computer companies tried that for a while like 15 years ago, too.
Except now you don’t need to run proprietary software. Everything is online. If Chromebooks work for 90% of users, Linux will work for even more.
The timing here with compatability getting better could be a huge difference maker.
Absolutely. I’m just saying its not a novel idea.
I’m in the UK, and last year got a Lenovo ThinkPad laptop with Linux pre-installed that was cheaper than the Windows equivalent. I had a choice of RAM, SSD, display and OS. Ubuntu was the only choice of Linux, though.
How much does an OEM windows cost these days?
2 pints if you’re Peter Thiel’s blood type.
Your in luck, Thiel is a universal reciver
Can’t exactly remember, but I think it was about £50 cheaper not to have Windows (Home Edition) installed.
This is awesome and I love it. Maybe they could even take a few more dollars off by not having any OS installed (bypassing the labor costs of imaging an SSD). I’ll be installing my own copy anyway, so I’m fine with a blank SSD.
Those manufacturers where you can select either Linux or no OS don’t charge extra for Linux.
I mean it’s like maybe a dollar or two for the labor costs, so that’s understandable. I’d still prefer just a blank SSD anyway.
The cost is actually negative given that they get to pre-install whatever software they want into it.
It’s likely done in an automated way by the same equipment that tests the hardware, so costs are probably more along the lines of a few fractions of a penny, and imo shipping any device without an os at all is a bit silly as they could very likely end up in the hands of someone without the capability or equipment to image them.
For someone that wants to install their own OS, it coming with an OS installed by default is 100% irrelevant because you’d be plugging in a bootable drive on first boot up anyway.
No. If it does not work you can’t be sure if it is your fault or the device is broken. This will lead to support costs for the manufacturer
Why can’t you?
Because 99.999% of the time the hardware you’re buying is different from the hardware you have prior experience with. Even if the model numbers are the same there could be a change in hw or fw revision that breaks compatability with whatever drivers you previously had success with.
Here in Europe it was possible to buy almost all laptops and desktops from Lenovo without OS preinstalled since long time, saved a lot of money that way. It’s nice that they officially offer Linux now.
I thought OEMs only paid like $10 for Windows?
they tend to make money off it due to the bundle deals and commissions and what-not.
a major oem charging $140-200 is all profit.
Perhaps it’s a direct response to the tarrifs, as well as an instance of a Chinese company finding a way to fuck over an American company now that trade relations across the board between the US and PRC are juddering to a halt.
It says they’ve been offering this since 2020
It’s usually 10% of the device MSRP for windows pro.
There are some very low cost devices that get it for $10 for windows home…
Looks like this was Windows home. Windows pro was a $ upgrade.
I think you misunderstood what’s being discussed. In this post, all Windows versions cost money. It’s just they bake it into the advertised price and say Linux is a reduction, which means you’re paying the difference if you choose to go with the default. It isn’t free, no matter how they display it.
Seriously? Go back and read carefully.
In the post, Linux has a “negative” cost. In reality this means it’s closer to the base cost and the “free” Windows is baked into the price, not actually free. Both versions of windows have a cost. One is higher than the other though.
I wonder what the labor is to install it. Well I guess it’s the same labor as Linux.
Anyone know how they do it? Do they plug the drive into a cloning machine before installing it in the computer?
Everything about devices like these is done without employees manually doing stuff on them.
I wonder what the most manual part of the whole process is
Probably QA tbh. Other than that I’d think it would be plugging some of the delicate ribbon connectors in.
They have an image of the OS that they copy on the SSD for each machine.
Awesome, with Ubuntu too!
Sweet!
Nice!
Cool!
Bossa nova!
