I'm about to start a new job. They offered to supply a computer at my office. I'd like a cheap Linux box, but all Google's suggestions for a manufacturer (System76, ZaReason, etc.) are from articles that are several years out-of-date. I also wasn't wowed by the price point for these manufacturers -- they seemed to demand significant markups for things like SSDs above what they'd cost separately, when all they're doing is plopping the hardware in the box.<p>Is it silly to go the route of a non-mainstream manufacturer? I'd rather not get something pre-installed with Windows, both for security reasons and for the idiotic added expense.
If the company is supplying the computer, it's a bit of a false savings to worry about $100 for Windows or an extra $100 for an SSD. It's not that wasting money is good, it's that the normal costs of doing business are the normal costs of doing business.<p>For a business computer, I'd strongly consider computers with business class warranties - e.g. 3 years Next Business Day on-site [or better]. It just doesn't make economic sense to fool around.<p>Personally, I'd go with Dell. Shopping is relatively easy and straight forward. For cheapness I'd look at refurbished/scratch-n-dent/previously-ordered-new from the outlet [which is <i>not</i> the same as DFS].<p>I've bought two personal machines that way. My Precision T7400 is pushing seven years old without a glitch, running out of expansion capacity or short of processing power. The Vostro I bought my son is pushing three years. Again, no substantial issues.
I assume you want a desktop computer? Dell has great hardware support for debian/ubuntu and RH/Cent OS. I (think) you can purchase a desktop without an OS from their SMB store. Definitely get something with a spinning platter and pop in your own SSD. It will save you a lot of money.Why not build your own desktop? If you want to get the best deal and guaranteed hardware support, read some component reviews on <a href="http://www.phoronix.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.phoronix.com/</a> and put it together yourself. Good luck!
I have Linux running on Lenovo machines. One laptop, one desktop.<p>Everything works. I second the recommendation to buy it with a spinning drive and replace it with an SSD.
Dell T20, Xeon ECC $500 no OS, RHEL support, up to 6 disks possible, up to 32 GB RAM.<p>Only downside is that it is targeted at lower-power server scenarios, so will not support add-on GPUs as it only has a 290W power supply.