Ubuntu OS

Anyone here have some first hand experience with th Ubuntu OS that now comes on many Dell Laptops?

1) Reliability vs Win 8.3?

2) Surf speed comparison with Win ?

3) English or Spanish interface or can this be customized?

kiko wrote:Anyone here have some first hand experience with th Ubuntu OS that now comes on many Dell Laptops?  

1)  Reliability vs Win 8.3?  
8.3? I think you mean 8.1. In general Linux is a more robust OS than Windows. There are very few viruses out there that can attack it. In almost 15 years using Linux I've never had, to my knowledge, a virus. Linux will also run quite well on older hardware whereas Windows 8.1 might not run at all.

2)  Surf speed comparison with Win ?  
Second to the speed of your connection to the internet, surf speed is more a function of the browser being used than it is the operating system. In online comparisons, Chrome usually comes out on top.

3)  English or Spanish interface or can this be customized?
With Linux, it's for you to pick your language of choice at install. This can be changed after install if necessary. With Windows 8.1 you have to buy a Spanish language install CD.

thx for the feedback,

Since you seem to have access to a computer right now why not take a test drive? There are a couple of ways to do this and, I'm told, that with one you don't necessarily have to change anything on your current computer. Oh yeah, it's free!
I'll start with the more difficult one because it is the one that I have done. You can easily partition the hard drive and install Ubuntu on the same machine that you are using right now. When you boot the machine you choose which OS to go with. My current desktop computer is dual boot Win7/Ubuntu 14.04. I run Ubuntu by default but can, with one keystroke, choose Win7 (this choice must be made at boot up).
You can also use a live CD version of Ubuntu to try out in your current computer without making any changes to your machine. I have not done this so I will not even try to elaborate. There is lots of info on either of these options on the Ubuntu site.
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation
One of the more prominent local computer experts likes to bash Ubuntu and I think that he probably has a valid complaint, to a point. He knows his customer base and the effort that they are apt to put into learning a new OS. Unfortunately, the OS becomes the whipping boy.
My own computer expertise tops out at about the point where I plug in a USB connection. That said, I've successfully installed Ubuntu on several machines. Trying Ubuntu takes more of a willingness to try rather than any real computer savvy. If you try it and don't like it there is nothing lost.

Matt