Wow. $211 is a steep discount. People are going to buy with Linux just to save money, some will try it (because it is there), and some may like it and stay.
At the very least, people may learn that Windows is no easier to install (or even harder).
this post was submitted on 16 Apr 2025
853 points (99.5% liked)
Linux
7040 readers
330 users here now
A community for everything relating to the GNU/Linux operating system
Also check out:
Original icon base courtesy of lewing@isc.tamu.edu and The GIMP
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
Windows is no easier to install (or even harder).
I've installed both recent windows and common distros many times by hand (where unattended wasn't trivial) and found everything except latest windows 11 quite similar (including arch) and very easy. Current windows 11 afaik needs registry hacks but I've not installed one yet.
Shipping it with Linux is the easiest way to convince a consumer that it does run Linux. :)
That's a funny way of sayin' that a Windows Home license costs $211.00.
Interesting. Only Fedora seems to be available in Norway.
I'm still 2 years away from a new work laptop (my current one is doing just fine anyway), but when the time comes, I might go for this. Was thinking about going ThinkPad+Linux anyway.
They will pay you to take it!
Lenovo's architecture sucks regardless what OS is on top. My opinion.
200 off is incredible
Aint no way people pay 211$ for that adware, spyware piece of shit operating system. Thats wild.
Some time ago i checked some polish stores to compare W11 vs Linux / no OS prices and i found out that the difference isn't flat and it's actually about ~10% of product price (so the more expensive the notebook is - the higher the price of W11 is)
That's absolutely fucked.
When https://massgrave.dev/ exists it's even worse.
I think this tax on tech illiterate people is getting too high.
Should I start selling USB drives for $5? I don't wanna encourage Windows. But I feel bad for the normies. $211 is insane.
MS literally allows massgrav on GitHub. They have for years. They do not give a fuck.
Paying for windows at this point is a normie tax. And it's gotten too damn high!
load more comments
(2 replies)
load more comments
(4 replies)
Let's see who considers the Linux options when they see they can get the same machine for 200 bucks cheaper. I hope other brands start considering doing this too.
Not only that. The software is so much better.
It's more probable people buying cheaper and then installing Windows afterwards - a lot more probable than starting their tech life from scratch.
starting their tech life from scratch
Lol that's an exaggeration
I once installed Linux on my machine and my physical keyboard magically transformed into a Dvorak keyboard and the mouse vanished, replaced by a note saying "Terminal is more ergonomic".
Made the setting up ritual way harder than it should have been :(
load more comments
(16 replies)
load more comments
(1 replies)
They always refused to reimburse the cost of Windows licences before this even if it was illegal in the country you lived in. I'm very surprised.
I paid about $100 less to have my workstation shipped with Ubuntu instead of Windows 10 Pro 3 years ago. United States.
load more comments
(2 replies)
$211?!
Surely that can't be US dollars, that'd be wild. The 24-hour clock also has me thinking this isn't the US.
Looking at the UK site, I'd 100% go for "No Operating System", then install Fedora Workstation anyway.
It is -$140 on the US store, the -$211 is probably Australian dollars.
load more comments
(11 replies)
And you save money? Oh man, the path of least resistance just changed.
I don't know if it's not scrolled enough but here we have another option which is "no os at all" and you save another 30€
load more comments
(1 replies)
This should be standard in stores. If people could save that much, they wouldn’t choose Windows haha
Which is why it's never going to happen. Old people like me will remember the first EEE PC from Asus, the original netbook. Netbooks were small cheap laptops that were popular before smartphones were around. It ran Linux and it worked pretty well. Then Microsoft came out with a special version of Windows XP which could run on netbooks and they gave it away for free, just to prevent Linux from getting popular on consumer devices. So they're going to pull something like that again. And Lenovo know this, of course. This is likely just a negotiating tactic to get concessions from MS on licensing fees.
load more comments
(1 replies)
It looks like (at least here in the U.S.) that this is the only model that allows selection of the OS. I looked at cheaper models of different product lines by them and they all include Windows 11.
I don't understand why companies don't offer more Linux options these days, there's zero excuse
Instal Windows everywhere and get cheaper Windows.
Offer Linux and lose the offer from MS.
So, offering linux was bad for business. Was. Bevause thanks to work communities did in Linux and marketing from Steam...and Proton, Linux stopped beimg a thing you'll easily lose clients over.
Because no one buys Linux PCs. Dell used to sell multiple lines of laptops with Linux, but pretty much no one was buying apart from a few freaks.
load more comments
(1 replies)
Would be nice if started with Linux as "included" and then added the 211 for windows.
If they did that sales would drop because people would switch to another manufacturer that gave them Windows for "Free".
load more comments
(6 replies)
Awesome, I wish more computer manufacturers did this and actually gave you the ability to choose the OS to ship your PC with, especially with how much cheaper it is to not include Windows with activation. Wow.
Exactly. I currently have a notebook which is very well made. But it still sucks that I had to pay the windows license which is of no use : (
Is this a tariff thing? Like is it suddenly more expensive to license Windows, hence pushing OEMs to offer discount options?
Lenovo is at least partially Chinese.
No, Lenovo has offered Ubuntu and at times other distributions preinstalled, for many years. It’s only on a small number of models.
load more comments
(4 replies)
view more: next ›