Selling PCs with Linux preinstalled is hard enough. Doing it without paying attention to the latest hardware trends makes it nigh impossible. That’s probably why two major Linux OEMs, ZaReason and System76, have debuted “all-in-one” (AIO) desktop PCs powered by open source operating systems. Will their initiatives pay off?
Reviewer Christopher Tozzi has this great breakdown of PCs with pre-installed Linux operating systems.Tozzi has reviewed two Linux OEM vendors ZaReason and Systems76 for this story.
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ZaReason is an important vendor to remember because they are planning on opening a retail location in Toronto. It will be the Berkeley, Calif.-based company’s first in Canada.
The ZaReason product line is mainly for Ubuntu Linux but does offer Fedora, Debian, Kubuntu, Linux Mint, Edubuntu and others. The company also has a tablet called ZaTab for $349 that they claim is open and hackable. At the high end, ZaReason offers the Verix for $999. It has a 15.6-inch screen with an available Intel Core i7 CPU and NvidiaGTX 650M 2GB dedicated graphics.
Meanwhile, the Denver-based Systems76 has been producing Ubuntu preinstalled laptops, desktops, and servers eight years. The company has a belief that each one of its products defines System76 as a company. The company’s goal is to help users, businesses, schools, and governments “easily transition” to the world of open source.
