Laptop and NoteBook Manufacturer - OEM/ODM Relation Matrix

OEM is the abbrevation for Original Equipment Manufacturer. The following survey tries to show the relations between the original laptop manufacturers and their derivated brand names. Please note these relations seem to change continously and are difficult to detect. So this survey is only an estimation.

Laptop Manufacturer - OEM Relations

Brand -> OEM	AlphaTop	Arima	ASUS	Clevo	Compal	First International Computer, Inc. - FIC	Inventec	LG	NATCOMP	Quanta	Samsung	Wistron
Acer					X					X
Apple Computer Inc.	X									X
BenQ										X
Compaq		X			X		X	X		X
DELL					X					X	X	X
Fujitsu-Siemens					X					X		X
Gateway										X
Hitachi				X								X
Hewlett-Packard - HP					X					X
Lenovo (former IBM)								X		X		X
MaxSelect		X	X
Mitac									X
NEC		X				X				X
Sony			X							X
Toshiba					X		X			(X)
Zepto					X

Sources [modified by WH]: CT 17/2002 p. 135., Heise Online 14.01.2004.

How to Identify Laptop and Notebook Manufacturers

Sometimes it's difficult to know what manufacturer has built the machine or parts of it actually. Linux provides different means to gather information about the manufacturer.

FCC ID

Besides the means provided by Linux, often the FCC ID lets you retrieve information about your original laptop or notebook manufacturer.

Linux Tool: lspci

The command lspci reveals information, which you may look up in the PCI Vendor and Device Lists.

Linux Tool: dmidecode

To read out the information provided by the Desktop Management Interface - DMI, you may use dmidecode made by Alan Cox and Jean Delvare. Here is an example for an ACER TravelMate 430. The command dmidecode reveals COMPAL as the manufacturer of the Base Board and the Chassis (note: serial numbers are obfuscated):

[..]
Handle 0x0001
        DMI type 1, 25 bytes.
        System Information
                Manufacturer: Acer
                Product Name: TravelMate 430
                Version: TravelMate 430
                Serial Number: LXT0000000000000000000
                UUID: 7642065F-E741-1D5A-740B-000000000000
                Wake-up Type: Power Switch
Handle 0x0002
        DMI type 2, 8 bytes.
        Base Board Information
                Manufacturer: COMPAL
                Product Name: BBQ12
                Version: Null
                Serial Number: 0123456789AB
Handle 0x0003
        DMI type 3, 17 bytes.
        Chassis Information
                Manufacturer: COMPAL
                Type: Other
                Lock: Not Present
                Version: N/A
                Serial Number: None
                Asset Tag: ................................
                Boot-up State: Safe
                Power Supply State: Safe
                Thermal State: Safe
                Security Status: None
                OEM Information: 0x00001234
[..]

Comparing Accessories: e.g. Battery

Another method is to look for models which are constructed in the same way, e.g. which are using the same accessories. For example laptops or notebooks which use a compatible battery model.

Other Resources

• Laptop and notebook manufacturer Linux status survey.
• vendors which sell pre-installed Linux laptops, notebooks, PDAs or mobile phones.
• Microsoft tax - refunds for Linux laptops and PDAs.
• Linux certifications for Linux laptops and PDAs.