HP unveils its first Linux laptop

Compaq nx5000 ships with Novell Inc.'s SUSE Linux 9.1 and the OpenOffice productivity suite

By Robert McMillan

August 4, 2004 12:00 PM ET

Comments

IDG News Service - SAN FRANCISCO -- Hewlett-Packard Co. yesterday began shipping its first notebook computer to come with the Linux operating system preinstalled.

The Compaq nx5000 was unveiled at the LinuxWorld Conference & Expo here during a keynote speech by HP's vice president of Linux, Martin Fink.

"This is the year that Linux overtakes the Mac on the desktop, and maybe my laptop will help accelerate that," Fink said.

Industry research firm IDC in Framingham, Mass., said it believes that this has already happened. "Linux captured the No. 2 spot as desktop operating system in 2003," said IDC analyst Dan Kusnetzky in a recent interview.

Though Linux has proved popular as a server operating system, it has had less success on the desktop. In late 2000, IBM began offering Linux preinstalled on its A20 and T20 notebooks, but it eventually withdrew the Linux offerings.

By 2007, IDC estimates that Linux will have 6% of the desktop market in terms of units, Kusnetzky said.

Starting at $1,140, the nx5000 ships with either Intel Corp.'s Celeron or Pentium processors, a 15-in. screen, and 30GB to 60GB of storage. The Linux version ships with Novell Inc.'s SUSE Linux 9.1 and the OpenOffice productivity suite. The product can also be purchased with Windows XP, according to HP's Web site.

Reprinted with permission from

IDG.net
Story copyright 2009 International Data Group. All rights reserved.

Comment Recommend Digg Twitter ShareThis

Email Print Send Feedback Reprints

Jump to comments

T20 notebooks

Additional Resources

WHITE PAPER

Do You Know the 7 Steps to Successful Data Migration?

Approximately 60 percent of data migration projects overrun time or budget, while some fail completely. Download this white paper, "Enhancing Your Chance for Successful Data Migration," to learn the critical steps you need to take to execute a data migration project with minimum cost and risk to your business.

WHITE PAPER

Total Cost of Ownership of Server Computing Vs. PCs

Read the Gartner research note to learn why the TCO of a server-based computing deployment used to deliver all applications to users is around 50% lower than that of an unmanaged desktop deployment.

WHITE PAPER

IDC White Paper: Linux in a Global Recession

Economic downturns have a tendency to accelerate emerging technologies, boost the adoption of effective solutions, and punish solutions that are not cost competitive or that are out of synch with industry trends. This IDC White Paper presents the results of an IDC survey of 330 companies in Western Europe, Asia/Pacific and the Americas that measures the receptiveness to Linux and takes into consideration changing views driven by the disruptive economic environment that businesses face today.