Well, after a couple of weeks waiting my shiny new Dell Inspiron E1505 preloaded with Ubuntu 7.04 (Feisty Fawn) has finally arrived. First I must say that it took a LONG time. It is pretty common for Dell to take some time getting PC’s and/or Servers delivered after it is ordered. (IBM and others tend to get them out faster.) Second, after a few days with the new laptop, it was worth the wait.
This was my first laptop purchase for myself, although I have had many laptops with companies I worked for So I took my time and ordered the best of everything, because I will have this one for a long time and want to be sure it is not out of date when I got it. Here is what I ordered: (Dell’s link for Linux equipment is http://www.dell.com/open
- Inspiron E1505 (N-Series) -They call it N-Series when it does not have Windows preinstalled on it.
- Intel Centrino Duo 2.0 Ghz
- 15.4 Inch UltraSharp TrueLife Wide-screen WSXGA+ (Upgraded from the standard hazy dark screen.)
- 2GB, DDR2, 667MHz 2 Dimm (Upgraded from the standard 512MB)
- 256MB NVIDIA GeForce Go 7300 TurboCache (Upgraded form the integrated Intel)
- Intel PRO/Wireless 3945a/g
- 100GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive (Upgraded from the standard 80GB 5400RPM)
- 8X DVD+/-RW Drive (Upgraded from the 24X CDRW DVDRom drive)
- 85 WHr 9-cell Lithium Ion Additional Battery (In addition to the 53 hour 6-cell battery)
- Extra-Large Nylon Deluxe CarryCase
One thing that grabbed my attention is that Dell is calling these “n Series”, so I did a bit of research. It seems that Dell has an agreement with Microsoft that prevents Dell from shipping computers without an OS. So to satisfy those that want Linux, or other OS, they call these “n Series” and ship with either Linux or FreeDOS.
Upon initial boot I was very pleased to find that everything worked out of the box. All of the function keys (the blue ones for sound, brightness, numpad, etc.), and the other extra buttons for multimedia control, worked very well also.
Well, I will keep you up on things as they come up.