APR
1
2008

where to buy a 14" non-glossy notebook without Windows in Germany ???

Submitted by Alexander Neundorf

Ok, so because the old notebook is starting to fall apart (it is probably around 5 years old or so) I need a new one.
So, I want to buy a new notebook, nothing too fancy: 14 inch, non-glossy, Intel Core Duo, Intel Graphics, Intel WLAN, 1GB RAM, price at most 800 Euro.
I guess it's obvious to everybody reading this that I'd like to have fully Intel chipset because of the free drivers. This will actually be my first non-AMD CPU I buy new since 1994 or so.

Now to the tough part: the last MS product I bought was Win95, now I'm running 100% Linux since around 1997 on all my private computers, so does my girl friend. Oh, that's not true, from time to time I also install FreeBSD somewhere, but that's not the point. Add to that that I spend basically all of my spare time working on free software, so that people can create, share and access their data, information and communication freely without having to pay a company to let them do that.

Now, how much do I think I want to buy MS Windows today and add one more sample to the number of sold MS systems, even if it just comes bundled with a notebook and probably doesn't add much more than 20 to 50 Euro to the price ?
Correct, I will not do that.
I mean, even if I would get it for free, I want my next notebook vendor to know that there are customers who want to run Linux.

Now comes the problem: does anybody in Germany sell such a notebook ?

Lenovo Thinkpads come with Windows and I didn't find an option where I could get one without it.

Dell Germany has a 15 inch notebook which it ships with Linux, so this comes already quite close. It is not 14 inch, it starts at a quite low price but also with less powerful hardware and if I upgrade it to the level of of the entry Windows notebook it is more expensive than this one. Choosing a different notebook and asking for Ubuntu instead of Windows is not possible (yes, I called the order hotline and asked several times).

Dell USA actually has what I'd like to have, 14" non-glossy fully Intel with colors to choose (an Inspiron). But they don't ship to Germany :-/

So, can anybody give me some hints where to get such a notebook ?
(Asus EeePC is not powerful enough)

Alex

Comments

http://zareason.com has a 14" Linux Laptop with Intel hardware, and they ship to Germany. The specific model is LightLapSR:

http://zareason.com/shop/product.php?productid=16152&cat=0&page=1

By vladc at Tue, 04/01/2008 - 23:18

Are you sure ?
When trying to check the shipping costs Germany isn't listed as one of the countries (but France, Belgium and some others are).
Instead there is http://www.zareason.de, but they don't have the LightLapSR :-/

Alex

By Alexander Neundorf at Tue, 04/01/2008 - 23:51

Hmm... I guess you're right. I didn't notice that LightLapSR wasn't advertised on http://zareason.de .

By vladc at Tue, 04/01/2008 - 23:59

Their FAQ says:
For all our ZaReason machines, we can ship to nearly any location, including the EU, but due to orders flowing in for the Cloudbook from EMEA regions where we cannot ship, we have the EU areas deactivated. Please check back in a few weeks. The EU should be reactivated for ZaReason systems soon.
(That's "all" their machines, it does not include the Everex ones (the gOS PC and the Cloudbook) which are mentioned in the preceding paragraphs.)

There's also a contact e-mail given on the FAQ, you can try asking them.

By Kevin Kofler at Wed, 04/02/2008 - 03:26

FYI, Germany (as well as some more EU countries, e.g. Austria) is now listed in the list of countries at zareason.com, so you should be able to order from there.

By Kevin Kofler at Thu, 04/03/2008 - 10:17

Yes, I already contacted them via email and they answered immediately :-)

I just tested the "Estimate shipping costs" and it gave 0.00 $ (which would be nice, but I think it may be a bit more than nothing).

Alex

By Alexander Neundorf at Thu, 04/03/2008 - 21:29

First: call Dell, and describe the problem. The customer service is sometimes very flexible, and with a bit of luck they can make you a special offer.

Second: Dell Germany also has the XPS as a Linux machine - this has 13,3", maybe that would be closer to your needs than a 15,4" thing?

Third: http://de.zepto.com/ has several notebooks without Operating Systems.

I have to admit that I didn't check for glossy/non-glossy, but again: call the guys. They might be able to help you regarding that question.

By liquidat at Wed, 04/02/2008 - 02:22

(oops, this should have been a reply to the thread, deleting)

By Kevin Kofler at Wed, 04/02/2008 - 03:22

I assume you are looking for laptop for work.
Best alternative for lenovo is HP/Dell.
HP offers 6510b (and other) through TopConfig, where you can select no OS.
Dell should have something in Latitude class.

By vavrusa at Wed, 04/02/2008 - 12:56

Alexander,

I think like you - that's why I started the European (German) branch of ZaReason this year.

Regarding the LightLap:

we don't list it on our page since we haven't found a local distributor for that model yet.

But should you need a German (or any other European, see the list at our UltraLap's page) keyboard for the LightLap bought at zareason.com, then we'll be happy to supply it.

Thanks for considering a ZaReason machine,

best regards,
Wolfgang

P.S.: Sadly, ours all have glossy screens - nothing much we could do against that at the moment...

By wjl at Thu, 04/03/2008 - 18:04

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