Dell says that 1/3 of the Mini 9 netbooks it sells are shipped with Linux as the operating system. The computer maker also reports that return rates for Linux machines are low as well. This is a contrast to what MSI has told Laptop Mag about the return rate for Wind netbooks with Linux being four times that of Windows-based units.

Dell says that it has done a very good job explaining to users what Linux is capable of. Dell says that much of the reason it sells so many Linux netbooks is the competitive pricing of its Ubuntu machines. The low return rate is comparable to the return rate of XP-powered Mini 9's according to Dell.

The percentage of Linux Mini 9's sold is much higher than the percentage of other Dell notebooks that ship with Linux and is likely because of the low price point of the netbook systems. I mentioned yesterday that Asus is looking to offer Android on netbooks; perhaps this will make Linux really popular on netbook machines.

Via Laptop Mag