[acc01]

If by "custom" you mean rebranded consumer hardware coming with some Linux distribution I'm never going to use preinstalled, the answer is likely to be "no."

Clarification added later that I never anticipated to be needed: my point here is that there are more significant departures from mainstream needed to call something a "custom Linux laptop for developers": most likely, significant hardware changes.

[VonGuard]

You've never heard of Ubuntu?

[acc01]

You've probably misread "going to use" as "heard of."

[zoowar]

Amazon Spyware results: skin care, shoes, day spa

[drivebyacct2]

Yes, they should absolutely just sell the hardware with no OS installed. That makes sense. Wow, a new account for that comment?

[acc01]

Remember we are talking about "power user" hardware, or something like that. Of course I'm going to install the O/S of my choice on my work laptop.

[gizmo686]

Maybe so, but that doesn't mean they should not pre-install a free OS. The fact that they official support Ubuntu gives confidence that it will work with (almost) any linux distro (possibly with some work on your end).

[drivebyacct2]

And those bits on the HDD sure make it harder to install a different OS over the top of it.

I don't understand how you can be snarky about a company that picked an OS (I, for one, am shocked that they picked a popular distribution) and then got a good set of drivers and tools for it, packaged it up and want to support it.

If you want to install something else, install something else. If you don't want to pay the Dell or the Sputnik tax, then go buy something else. I don't get the shitting on Dell for trying to accommodate another market segment.