I'd likely build a system and install Linux or BSD on it to start with, but if I got a Windows laptop or something, I'd likely just set up Linux or BSD in a virtual machine.

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I have 2 newer laptops, one that came with 7, one with 8. I dual-boot both of them, for the reason that my high-shcool robotics club uses the Lego NXT, and the software used to compile and connect to the NXT is propierity Windows-only. Other than that, I have no real reason to keep Windows (except for the warranty for the one with 8, but that will change next Christmas). So when I graduate high school, I think I'll redo the partitions on my hard drives...

However, I currently have 3 "dumpster" computers. The first one is my P4 Dell server. It came without an HDD, but I found 2 IDE drives, threw them in, and it's now running Debian. The second one is the EEE that I'm typing from now. The original owner somehow erased the original OS (I know that is was some form of Linux, but I would have wiped it anyway), and it now runs Arch. The third is currently copying files from my P4 server, and it will eventually replace it, mostly because SATA drives are easier to find than IDE. (And when I find them, they're bigger, too!)

Hopefully once I graduate high school and get into college, I will get a laptop without an OS, and make it a "pure" Linux computer.

I've converted old PCs to Linux and I've bought PCs that came with only Linux on 'em. But I've also bought Windows computers and immediately wiped the drive and installed Linux.

I buy computers pre-installed with Windows and replace the offending OS with a Linux system or two. I would be willing to pay a little more for a computer without Windows, but good luck finding one where I live.

exactly the same for me!

Hi,
I buy whatever PC (or laptop) I need based on my hardware requirements and immediately put Slackware Linux on it.
If it comes with a Windblows COA then I will install Windblows in a VirtualBox virtual machine. Of course, one needs a Windblows install CD (or iso image) to do this, but these are not difficult to find if you are so inclined.

cheers
pete

I put something else.
I have bought a couple new machines with Windows but I've also bought used machines which may or may not have the same windows as the sticker on the machine and wiped them as well.
When I bought my $300 netbook for example I could have paid $350 for the Linux version or $300 for the on sale Windows version.
I hope to be able to buy a newer system in the next year or two and would prefer to buy without windows but there isn't much choice and narrowing down to 12" or smaller laptops even less. Dell sells a Linus laptop but its 13" which is too big.
Has anyone tried to return a Window license lately?

Before Vista you pretty much had to wipe windows to install linux. The warranty didn't let you open the case, the tech didn't support booting USB, and various quirks of creating backup discs requiring a specific type of media and thus failing because you have the wrong type of media, as in CDRW discs, not CDR. Vista and later versions let you resize the partition to make room for linux. And most machines since 2006 allow booting from USB. So there's no need to wipe windows from a technical perspective these days. Assuming some tech savvy-ness to be able to select something other than use entire disc.

I always have an All-in-one Windows PC for the family... but aside from that... who buys a "Windows PC" anymore?

You build what you need:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/sectors/c...uter-parts.asp
http://www.microcenter.com/search/se...a-Micro-Center

And so on. Then you put Debian on it, and if its a gaming rig add a cheap copy of Windows and off you go. Otherwise just Linux. Custom rigs are usually better than anything HP, Apple or Dell can throw together from their collective dumpsters.

I'm with astrogeek, NUKE 'EM TO ORBIT.

My recently-purchased computers had Windows originally, but by the time I bought them, they had no OS installed and sometimes no hard drive. I have never checked in advance for Linux hardware compatibility (What, me worry?), and so far have had no difficulty getting all the hardware to work.

Then there are some older computers that I bought with Windows XP and later upgraded to Linux.

I still run Windows Vista on my laptop (sorry, guys), but this year I squeezed the Windows partition and installed Linux as a second boot option.

Too funny ... I never checked for compatibility either and just jumped in with both feet. I've never really gotten bit in any serious manner; worst case is some very old USB network adapter didn't work so I grabbed another one.

I run Linux at home, but the family computer runs Windows 7. I do run Linux at work and develop in it, but I also run Windows XP, 7, and 8 at work and develop for them.

So nothing to be ashamed of Beryllos.

I always wipe windows off any new computer I get.

I voted other.
Sadly, my EEE PC, which I bought with Xandros on it, died recently.
My desktop was built to run Debian Sid and Slackware dual boot (though I've not got Slack on at the moment) and my first PC build. My previous desktop being purchased from a company that is no longer in existence which used to sell PCs with Ubuntu installed, in the UK.
Now I need a replacement for the EEE but the size isn't so much of a constraint any more so I am looking for bang-for-buck and Linux compatibility and not much else. This, in practice, means I could end up with a pre-installed Ubuntu machine which I would convert to Debian; a Chromebook which I would dual-boot with whichever distro I could get to work best; a Windows 8 machine, well not really as it would be pointless; a Windows 7 machine which I would dual-boot with Debian; or an old machine running either no OS or XP which I would just wipe, perhaps add an SSD, and install Debian.

It had not occurred to me until this thread, but the last three machines I've purchased have been native Linux machines: Two Dells, back when getting Dells with Ubuntu was easy, and my new Zareason.

The Windows machine that I dual-boot with Mageia was a thank-you gift from a fellow who I helped by blogging on his tech website for three years.