Dell’s latest XPS 13 DE still delivers Linux in a svelte package | Hacker News Reader

Dell’s latest XPS 13 DE still delivers Linux in a svelte package

arstechnica.com

29 pointssatai9 comments

For anyone who just wants a basic and solid developer machine and wants a good, nice HD display, then you should consider at the Dell Chromebook 13. It is a fraction of the price for the XPS 13, fully compatible with Linux, has an upgradable SSD, and is a little bit more Stallman-friendly. The BIOS can be flashed with a number of open-source BIOSes [1] [2] - this makes it even possible to run Hackintosh on it. The battery lasts a good 10 hours when new, and 6-7 hrs as of one year I used it constantly.

Unfortunately, Dell don't sell the i-version anymore and their website currently only showing the Celeron. I have the i3 version and it has been a wonderful machine.

1: http://www.reddit.com/r/chrultrabook 2: https://johnlewis.ie/custom-chromebook-firmware/rom-download...

I miss the "Win" key at Chromebooks. Life without it would be pretty painful at i3 and other desktop environments.

Remap the search key to win?

Pretty ugly position :-/

Probably would work if I would never switch to other keyboards.

Agreed, but you are also paying 1/3 of the price

Sounds interesting...

Do you have to change the bios run native Linux? Can you remove the boot nag screen without flashing the bios (as done with acers)?

Yes, you would have to reflash the BIOS to remove the nag screen but it should be relatively painless. Given you would have to open the machine for SSD replacement anyway, it is one stone for two birds

You lost me at "Chromebook".

We need complete keyboards for developer machines. The lack of classic and necesary keys is a dealbraker for developer machines.

Edit: Please don't suggest remapping the keyboard. You can't remap a keyboard with N keyboards to another keyboard with M keys, if N < M. It's just physically impossible.

The battery life sounds like the nicest improvement, honestly. I've got the 2015 9343 version with the QHD+ screen running Fedora, and I'm lucky to get six hours out of it.

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