Quoting Simon sionide@sionide.net:
http://www.novatech.co.uk - Novatech offer hardware without Windows pre-installed, which saved me about £100 on my laptop. I then installed Windows 2000, installed Ubuntu over the top which partioned Windows (2.5gig -maybe too little but it can be changed if need be.) Ubuntu installs the Grub boot manager which is perfect. So I have Windows installed just in case (Uni projects might require Windows programs etc but I'm trying to keep it Linux as much as I can.)
Thanks Simon. My current machine is a laptop running XP, so I'm going to hang onto that should I ever need it, and it will be handy for other family members too (means they will leave mine well alone!)
Quoting Wayne Stallwood ALUGlist@digimatic.plus.com:
Sort answer, if you feel confident enough with hardware to make a good job of building your own machine then I'd recommend that. In my view it is a worthwhile experience and it puts you in direct control of the hardware inside.
If not and you want the flexibility of a scratch built machine and really don't want an OEM windows license then contact a Linux friendly reseller (myself or there are plenty of others) and get them to build it for you. If you are looking for best bang for the buck then it may be a sad truth that a brand name machine (even with a OEM licence) gives good value.
I didn't realise the 'windows tax' was that modest in most cases. My issue with getting a brand name was that it might have hardware inside that wouldn't work terribly well with linux. So, I may well be going for the linux friendly option!