All of the Dell Precision mobile workstations launched earlier this year are now available with a choice of Windows or Ubuntu Linux. Dell has announced that the Precision 5530 mobile workstation is the latest of its mobile workstation-class computers to be available as a Linux-powered Developer Edition computer.

It’s currently on sale for $1185 and up.

The starting price gets you a 3.9 pound notebook with a 15.6 inch display, an Intel Core i3-8300H quad-core processor, 8GB of RAM, a 500GB hard drive, a 56 Whr battery, and a 1080p display.

But the notebook can be configured with up to an Intel Core i9-8950HK hexa-core processor, up to NVIDIA Quadro P2000 graphics, up to 32GB of RAM, up to a 4K touchscreen display, up to a 97 Wh battery, and up to two hard drives or SSDs.

One nice touch is that unlike some computers aimed at developers, you do save about $100 by choosing Ubuntu instead of Windows as your operating system on the Precision 5530.

That said, the Precision 5530 is basically the business/enterprise version of the consumer-oriented Dell XPS 15 which has a significantly lower starting price of $1000 (with Windows)… but it lacks some of the configuration options available for the Precision models (including the Ubuntu Linux option).

The laptop measures 14.1″ x 9.3″ x 0.7″ and features HDMI 2.0, USB 3.1Gen 1, Thunderbolt 3, headset, and SD card ports.

The Dell Precision 5530 Developer Edition joins the Precision 3530, 7530, and 7730 in Dell’s current lineup of mobile workstations with optional support for Ubuntu Linux.

Dell ships the computers with Ubuntu 16.04 LTS, but you should be able to upgrade to Ubuntu 18.04 LTS if you want the latest features. Both versions of the operating system are officially supported by Dell and Canonical.

 

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3 replies on “Dell Precision 5530 mobile workstation now available with Ubuntu”

  1. This looked interesting until Sticker Shock set in. $1185 for a 15.6 inch laptop is WAY too high.

    1. That’s very much in line with other workstation class machines. The Lenovo equivalent, the Thinkpad P1, has preorders starting at $1900, for a better specced machine than the base Precision. These are highly repairable and maintainable machines with ridiculous processing power (for a laptop). They’re aimed at corporations and high earning developers, not at normal people.

      1. And I’m looking forward to buying a Precision 5530 off of eBay in 2022, to replace the ~2014 Precision M4800 I got off of eBay a few months back. I love the four year corporate upgrade cycle on machines that can last a decade.

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