I have seem these two tiny PCs at almost give away prices recently. In fact the Chromebook box with 2 GB RAM and I think a 16 GB SSD just dropped to $129US with free shipping per a listing on techbargains.com. I think they would make neat toys or even a replacement for the wife's Pentium 4 desktop (web and email mostly). I am not concerned about storage as I have some surplus SSDs with which I could upgrade one of the units. Just wondering about any compatibility issues.

TIA,

Ken

If they're Chromebooks, they don't have a normal BIOS and the only way to run Linux on them is to try some stunt with installing Ubuntu that isn't even quite a proper dual boot. Have a suitemate that did it; you're better off getting a cheap mini regular PC before they might get rid of the ability to turn off Secure Boot.

Thanks wagscat123,

One model is listed as a Chromebox - perhaps the same as a Chromebook. I have never laid hands on either. The plain Micro is shipped with Windows 8 so I suspect it is more of a real PC.

Ken

You can certainly install Linux on a chromebox, and there are many tutorials available on the interwebtubez. I have one, and I chose to keep ChromeOS on it, and run Linux in a chroot. The crouton scripts make this pretty easy, and it's my preferred way to go. ChromeOS works well, runs fast on low-spec hardware, and is secure. But if you really don't like it, you can remove it entirely and use only Linux. I did that, and wound up going back to ChromeOS with Debian in a crouton chroot. Boot times are ~10 seconds, including entering my password. That isn't a big issue, though because I don't reboot that often. IMO a chromebox is an excellent choice for a desktop system.

I get the feeling that the micro did even come in some config with linux. Guess I could be wrong. Most dell stuff you may have to fool with nic card. Not a big deal. If it runs windows it should run linux to some degree above 90%

Thanks jefro,

I have not yet seen the Micro with Linux pre-installed. I did purchase a Latitude 2100 netbook from the Dell Outlet some years back. It had Ubuntu 9.04 pre-installed and it ran like a champ. I just this week converted it to Ubuntu Mate 14.04 LTS. It is my download machine as it only draws about 8 watts as opposed to about 160 for my Studio XPS desktop (+ 2 monitors). I thought the Micro would be great in that role - just add a 1 TB external drive and run it headless.

I am currently on chat with Dell trying to find some documentation so I can ID the components. The Broadcom wireless card in the Latitude 2100 was not recognized in the initial install but the necessary drivers were available in the repos and not a problem to install. Let me see if Dell can find their butt with both hands. I mean the manuals for this PC

Ken

I like the 8 watts.

Always broadcom.

They tend to have some pretty good documentation but you may need to have the service number on box to find exact build.

I wouldn't hesitate to try a mini if cheap enough. It would have to depend on the cpu. Some may have had i3 or i5's maybe even.

There are so many dell outlets sources that it's hard to decide.