Why Linux on Windows OEM Hardware is Actually a "Genius" Idea
I am writing this post on a HP OmniBook X laptop which I installed Ubuntu on (and later started dual-booting Fedora as well with). When I bought this computer I explicitly decided two things at once that seem contradictory: I wanted to get a "normie" computer with Windows and install Linux on it. Here is why: because it is cheaper to get the same specifications.
That statement probably makes no sense on its own, especially because Linux is free to install (and is open source on top of that) unlike Windows. But there are several factors that combined usually outweigh the costs of manufacturers installing Windows, not just the license itself but also the embedded hardware which Linux usually never uses like TPM chips. My family bought it in December of 2025 to get me a portable laptop. It works very well and runs better than Windows would. It cost $650 (or $600 without the tax) at Best Buy because we bought a discounted machine that they were probably trying to get rid of.
That is not all of the savings I got from this system. I don't have to pay for an Office account. (And honestly I won't because I think paying a subscription for a text editor on your own computer is kind of ridiculous.) I don't have to worry about forced updates, and if an update breaks the system, it is much easier to revert it (which happened with my WiFi once). It will last 5-10+ years because the software probably won't have a hard update cutoff in the way Windows does.
The bottom line is that by buying Windows OEM machines, Linux users gain access to manufacturer subsidies and discounts that usually don't exist for Linux systems (at least not yet). By the way, Microslop probably thinks that people like me are abusing the discounts Windows hardware has compared to most Linux-certified machines. But I don't care, I bought it, it is supposed to be MY property, not Microsoft, or HP, or whoever manufactured it.
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