Lenovo has launched a range of laptops pre-installed with Novell's SuSE Linux operating system, which it announced in August last year.

Originally marked for release in the fourth quarter of 2007, SuSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 is now available pre-installed on Lenovo's ThinkPad T61 and R61 models.
The notebooks are aimed at typical business users, and are expected to be expanded as an option for some Intel Penryn-based ThinkPads in February.

As part of the deal, Lenovo will provide direct support for the hardware and operating system, while Novell will provide updates and patches directly to customers.

Michael Applebaum, senior manager of desktop Linux marketing at Novell, told Desktop Linux: "We are very pleased to see our work with Lenovo reach the market and begin bearing fruit for customers around the world.

"The Lenovo ThinkPads with SuSE Linux Enterprise Desktop pre-loaded allow customers to reap the security, usability and flexibility advantages of Linux with the comfort of knowing it is pre-installed and fully supported by their hardware provider."

The starting price for the T61 system is $949, which some have pointed out is only $20 less than the same laptop loaded with Vista Home Premium, leading to questions about the worth adopting the open source operating system.

The new notebook range sees Lenovo join the likes of Dell in answering the call from some consumers for open source operating systems to be available directly from the supplier.