I'll provide a detailed review soon (I kept lots of notes). But I basically am sick and tired of Ubuntu. Now, more than before, I still don't understand it's popularity. I've used so many distros over the years since I started really using Linux in 1994 (Slackware), and completely made it my primary platform in the very late 90's.

I guess I shouldn't say "I don't get  why others' like it", maybe I do, get what other's may like about it, but personally I can't stand it!

I've certainly used worse distros, but this one certainly doesn't seem to deserve the religious zealots and accolades it has been getting. I can also see how Ubuntu's being recommended to new comers could very well drive many away from future Linux experiences.

I wonder why Dell decided it was the best distro to go with on their systems? Was it because IBM/Lenovo was already using SuSe and Dell wanted a differentiation in different distro from them?

Well, for now my overarching plan is to try the following operating systems on this Dell laptop (once my HP is back up and running):

OpenBSD (latest version), I doubt I can get all the hardware working (OpenBSD tends to be _years_ behind on drivers), but it's an interesting challenge to see how much I can get working.

Then maybe I'll see how Gentoo does on here. I have Gentoo on a desktop and a few servers, and one ancient Thinkpad, but have not tried it on newer laptops. I also doubt it will have the up to date driver support needed to make the most of this laptop, but again, good to see where it's at.

Then I think I'll try FreeBSD on this Dell and see how that does. I've only used FreeBSD on servers for years. I haven't used it on a desktop/laptop for 2-3 years, so would be good to see where that's at.

I was considering trying Slackware on here as well, but I just don't think I want to go down that road for a laptop.

I'll probably end up back on Suse, but hold off until 11.0 is released, or at least close to RC level, just to see how it does.

Anyhow, in a week or two, I'll post a detailed review of my experience of the pre-installed Ubuntu on Dell.

Ciao for now.