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bitexploder

An alternative: Dell 7520 line. Runs Linux nicely out of the box.

* No camera or mic is an option (I took it)

* No HiDPI display is an option (I took it)

* 32 GB ram

* 1TB very fast class of ssd

* Legit quad core Xeon

* Discrete GPU (decent)

* Real keyboard

* Charger is approximately size of an actual red brick (blah)

* Laptop is bulky

* I love it, best Linux and Laptop I have ever owned. Let's just leave it tied with my 2015 MacBook.

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I like the options but with its weight of 2.8kg I don't consider this a competitor to the X1.

I am sure it is something of a competitor, but if you want a sleeker laptop and size is your constraint then, no, they don't compete. If price and performance are more important then I think the Dell definitely "competes" in the same way 13" MBP competes with 15" MBP

I run last year’s X1 Carbon and it worked flawlessly with Debian out of the box. Battery life is excellent (3.5W isle with medium brightness) and the only thing that doesn’t work with Linux is the fingerprint scanner. It’s a great device that I would definitely recommend. ThinkPads generally do really well with Linux. And the keyboards are even better than Dell’s ;)

+1. Also using Debian on a X1 Carbon 5th gen (2017). Everything except the fingerprint reader (which I don't much care for) works perfectly.

When you `lsusb' what device id and description does it give for the fingerprint reader?

I don’t have the device at hand but I’m pretty sure it’s a Validity Sensor 138a:0097. There’s an effort to reverse engineer the Windows drivers for this class of fingerprint sensors at https://github.com/nmikhailov/Validity90 but honestly I don’t care much about fingerprint readers on a laptop.

For the record, I checked and 138a:0097 is in fact the correct vendor/product ID.

You forgot one important detail: Dell gives you an ability to have ECC memory.

Ooooh yeah. I have that. Not a thing you notice, but I got it.

XPS 13 also a fantastic choice for linux. Everything works out of the box.

As does the precision line. I have a 5520 and it's absolutely rock solid.

I don't think Dell get enough credit for how compatible their systems are in the high end and what kind of build quality you get.

In my opinion Dell stuff is the only thing on the market that could take over Thinkpads mantle as "Best laptops on the market".

I agree. This is my Thinkpad killer. HiDPI screen is gorgeous, keyboard and touchpad are fine, battery life is 10-11 hours in Arch, all of my media keys work, build quality is phenomenal. I haven't been able to get tear free video working, but I haven't ventured past xf86-intel-video yet on this machine.

Dell has really been impressing me. Their monitors are great and so are their laptops.

Try to use vaapi decoders. mpv has some flags for this and you need some packages but thats how I got tear free video (and lower resource usage on video too)

I started with an XPS 13 Developer edition. It had some minor issues, but I generally agree it was a good Linux experience.

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