laptops sold with free software - Discussion

4 Jul 2013


      Hi there,
In somewhat a reply to this month's FSFE newsletter, regarding avoiding 
Microsoft tax:
"  - How can you avoid the Microsoft tax when buying a new laptop? Kevin
    Keijzer documented some tips and tricks on how to buy a new
    laptop[33] which is a nice follow-up on last months test of a
    preinstalled GNU/Linux laptop from Dell[34]. Help us in gathering
    more information on laptops without Microsoft tax in our wiki[35].   "
I didn't have an wiki account, and created one but it seems that it needs to 
be manually approved, so here's some info via e-mail (and please someone put 
it on the wiki):
Unlike what transpires on that blog post, you can buy some laptops with 
GNU/Linux on a regular shop in some European countries, including Portugal. We 
have been allways one or two different choices on the shelves for a couple of 
years now. This models are usually also sold in some (but not all) other 
countries with the same sofware. Nowadays we actually have three 
"international brands' laptops" to choose from (but they're all variants of 
the same):
ASUS X201E-KX133
ASUS X201E-KX134
ASUS X201E-KX135
Asus has been, indeed, the best laptop vendor in Portugal in this regard the 
last few years.
We also have on our shelves INSYS WV2251ELQL, and there's allways several 
INSYS laptops with GNU/Linux, but not allways do they manage to have them on 
the usual laptop-selling shops. INSYS is a Portuguese brand, and I don't know 
if they sell on or to other countries.
PS - just to be sure about ASUS' models nowadays, I did a search for X201E on 
the web, and the first result was this model on amazon.com... with Ubuntu.
Best regards,
-- 
Marcos Marado