Dell XPS 13 Review from a lifelong Mac user
jeffgeerling.com
jeffgeerling.com
I mean, hardware is nothing compared to the OS.. I can switch to any other Mac and it would take me a couple hours to be comfortable. That would be it.
If I'm switching to a Dell XPS, I don't really care about the hardware at that point. It's all about software.
I tried doing that a couple months ago when my MBP went bad as Apple doesn't know how to build a keyboard anymore. Bought an XPS 13". I think it has great hardware. Couldn't switch away from macOS. I'd use XPS with macOS over the shitty Macbook Pro any day.
Since then, I've committed to only use MacOS on a Macbook and Windows on a real keyboard. That seems to preserve my muscle memory the best. But things can be rough when I use a Windows laptop or a standalone Mac keyboard.
Fixed some wrist pain I was having though from cmd-tabbing with the default layout!
With respect to Windows on the Macbook Pro, when I used Windows VMs, I would go to the VM preferences and swap the command key mappings so that I could continue using my muscle memory.
How do you usually try to press the command key? If you're going for it with anything other than your thumb, you're doing it wrong. Note that Apple keyboards often have narrower spacebars than PC keyboards, so the command key is closer to the center of the keyboard (and closer to your thumb) than the alt key on a standard PC keyboard.
I seem to be switching based on the type of keyboard I'm using. Whenever I open bootcamp I have to consciously remember to use ctrl not cmd.
Pretty much all the software I use is cross-platform, and even Windows is a fairly acceptable Unix nowadays, so the biggest transitioning problem I have is keeping track of which modifier keys to use for my keyboard shortcuts.
In my experience I've found inflexibility with respect to OS to be a warning sign that usually means someone isn't going to work well long term as a flexible, open-minded team member. Signs of that at interview time usually push me pretty quickly in a 'no' direction.
Come on. Someone can be an excellent dev but be made much more efficient by their chosen tools/environment.
Come do some public sector work for a while - you'll see what inflexibility really looks like.
Agreed that the worst thing is the muscle memory for shortcuts; my pinkie always needs a few hours before it starts to remember which keyboard layout I'm using.
That has nothing to do with Macs vs PCs. Everything with a touchpad gives you a tap to click option, and if you didn't spend enough time with a Mac to realize this then you can't really make a fair assessment of the platform in any way other than hostile first impressions.
I typically give things like this their fair shot - some of them I get used to, like Windows switching to grouped single icons without titles... I hated it at first, but eventually it made some sense to me. Only when I've absolutely given up on them do I bother changing settings.
I try my best not to let those negative first impressions stick, to give them a real shot, and this was part of the machine I'd purchased, I figured I better try it...
System Preferences -> Trackpad -> Tap To Click
Are you sure you had a Mac because this isn't hard to find.
> Objective C
Why are you using it ? Swift has been the default and its a fantastic language.
I'll probably never be totally Apple-free. I leave the door open for them to make a decent developer laptop again. And I don't have compelling replacements for, or the money to go down the rabbit hole all at once, for the iPhones, Apple TV, iPads etc. and figure out what to do about my photos and music. But Apple got me by wooing me as a developer. Now that I'm on Linux full-time at home, I can start thinking about how I'd like to solve those problems, where before I wasn't really giving it any thought. Apple should be worried, because we are a bell weather, and you can't expect a platform to thrive that developers despise.
The following shifts Ctrl/Win/Alt one to the left:
clear control
clear mod4
clear mod1
keycode 37 = Super_L
keycode 133 = Alt_L Meta_L
keycode 64 = Control_L
add control = Control_L Control_R
add mod4 = Super_L
add mod1 = Alt_L Alt_R Meta_L
You can't use this on Wayland, has to be on X11, which is fine with me because Wayland has other issues.
Now you can copy/paste/cut/etc using Alt key (which is now mapped to Ctrl).
I guess if you do video editing or staff like that XPS or any other machine is not an option over MBP
Oh, and Keynote is nice, but web Keynote is fine for my purposes. But everything I use for my actual job is either a web app (LucidChart, etc.) or is eminently portable (Unix tools, VSCode, etc.).
I use MacOS, Linux and Windows daily (less often Windows these days). The only feature I really miss on other OS's is spotlight, though I can kind of replace it with rofi in Linux world. Also, in my experience the ecosystem of Linux and Windows software is much larger than that of MacOS. Not to mention Mac software is sold at a premium (even things as simple as tab switching or note taking programs).
I still love Macs, but for me it's mostly the hardware (screen, touch pad, etc).
Beyond that, not having iMessage is a loss. Pages, Keynote, & Numbers are free on Mac, and they're so much nicer to use than LibreOffice IMO.
I also use Git Tower. Again, command line is of course an option, but I'm more efficient with a UI. Git Kraken isn't bad, but I ran into some weird permissions issues the last time I used it, so I ended up relying on VS Code's git client more.
That said, I have to work on iOS every now and then, and Apple's tight grip on that toolchain means I'm stuck with a Mac no matter what. If not I'd seriously be considering a laptop like this Dell or a Surface Book next.
I ran Linux on my MBP up until the touchbar nonsense, then I switched to a Dell XPS with Ubuntu preinstalled. The experience has been great, probably better hardware support under Linux than on the Mac.
Wonderful experience so far. Pretty much the only two things I miss are the wonderful built-in multi-language dictionary and good HiDPI support. That's it. In other aspects it has been much better than MacOS for a developer. Programs even crash much less frequently as well.
Such tiny things, but it's one of the things that has kept me on windows (even though I used a mac most of the time for the past two years).
Some of my co-workers switch between mac, windows & linux without skipping a beat.
My answer to this is, use cross-platform software as much as possible and avoid anything platform-specific (especially if dealing with Windows or MacOS). I use a Mac at work and a Linux (with KDE) at home, and hardly even notice the switch between these two environments. A terminal is a terminal, and a browser is a browser...
Switch to cross platform software alternatives before you switch, or don't get locked in in first place. This way you just replicate your environment on the new platform for the most part.
I did change some shortcuts so that run=cmd+shift+g instead of alt+f2 and f4 to work like Mac OS but that's it really.
I use both macOS and Ubuntu every day and have no issues switching.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psystar_Corporation
Obviously if a company isn't selling product with OSX installed it's different, but any marketing that suggests it would likely be problematic. Besides, the community has done a pretty good job of identifying compatible hardware
1) Was kind of a scam
2) Sold computers with OS X already installed
2 is the real violation that got them sued. Obviously it's legal to sell computers that are compatible with OS X. Selling them with OS X installed in violation of Apple's EULA is a good way to end up in court.
Best computer I've ever owned. Like a fine watch.
You don't need Bootcamp anymore and a USB Windows 10 install takes minutes.
MacOS is abandonware at this point, IMO.
But, I still find myself using my MacBook Pro (provided by work) for almost everything even at home.
Two things that keep me in the Mac land.
1. Retina Display and the 16:10 aspect ratio. 2. Smooth, and usable touchpad.
XPS13's display is too rectangle and I'm not watching movies in it. It feels too cramped for looking at code. GNOME out of the box does not do fractional scaling (125%) hence everything looks either too big or too small to my taste.
I dont have the patience or the know-how to tune the touchpad to be decent in Linux.
Sure I could probably setup the Linux trackpad to be Mac like if I threw plenty of hours at it, but I don’t want to waste my time like that, not anymore. I did in my youth, but now I’ll just buy the thing that works.
Same here, but with a twist: out of the box, Linux makes it easier for me to install the things I need to do my job. The display, power management, etc. issues are all frustrating, true, but ultimately not as important.
Different folks have different priorities.
Kind of curious, because no matter what machine I use, every time I start fresh, it takes about a day to get up and running. Linux is even worse because of drivers.
I use Linux and Mac daily and I probably spend a comparable amount of time on configuring both.
You just don't feel the pain that you're used to.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cultofmac.com/210380/apple-...
(I have nothing constructive to add here, I just wanted there to be some opposition to the idea that Apple have the perfect touchpad)
2) I'm far from an expert on this: I don't know why it's taken more than a decade to figure out trackpad motion.
Patents?
I legit used to no-scope people in Halo Combat Evolves on my PowerBook G4 back in the day - with the trackpad.
I remember Microsoft put gpu makers through hell when they put out the driver framework thing a few years ago? I wish they took trackpads seriously (even for gaming) and forced that synaptics shit out. Maybe people laugh at the idea of gaming with a trackpad but I wish it were possible even if I’m a minority. I wish games could support trackpad gestures too.
Also I meant 3840x* above.
In many environments I don't like the reflections of a bright window behind me or the ceiling office lights.
You can buy matte stickers to put on glossy Mac screens, but they can be hard to apply well without bubbles.
I wish all the PC makers would stop trying to copy the Apple model of "all touch surface, and the pad on a rocker for buttons". I'm probably being old and cranky (for context, my very first laptop was an Apple Powerbook 170 with a track ball, and it was AWESOME), but I prefer the days when you could get a consumer laptop that had a touchpad with two discrete buttons. These days, you're generally stuck choosing from some ugly business and gaming laptops if you want real touchpad buttons.
I find that feature more interesting than gestures. Ymmv.
I always used the Dell web chat to get warranty support and the vast majority of the time I just wrote a few sentences that made it clear that I was a power user that knew what was likely to be broken, someone would get dispatched with 24-48 hours, and I'd spend less than hour on the whole affair (most of that time spent doing something else while the support person replied or the tech worked on the laptop).
I have an XPS 13 and when my keyboard got flakey a repairmen came to my house and replaced the keyboard without even checking it first. Also, after I bought the laptop they randomly put $50 in my credit card account because I was "a good customer". WTF? I guess buying customer's loyalty is a thing now.
Compare that to all the terrible customer service news from apple, and I think apple is really the one that needs to change more the the other guys at this point.
I got it as a Windows machine and never ran anything else on it. Technically it was broadly fine. The specs were OK, it was reasonably repairable, I had a hi-dpi screen, the case was solid.
But the keyboard felt really dead, the wrist rest was smeary, the screen had a grainy impression, the machine was slower than its specs would suggest, and the 16:9 ratio and thicker/heavier than expected construction meant there wasn't much to be gained from the narrow bezels on the screen.
I replaced it with a high-spec MS Surface Laptop, which is a risky gambit because the Surface is effectively completely unrepairable. But it has a better keyboard, screen (3:2 ratio), and touchpad, it's faster, and the wrist rest has a nice carpet on it. It's a pleasure to use so far, in contrast to the Dell.
It's funny how much of this still comes down to personal ergonomic factors.
I've got 9350 and it's also bad. Coil whine, one firmware update completely bricked it (fortunately was on warranty), "fun" with accessories (TB15 was a disaster). Would not recommend.
Actually it's only the NBD warranty that keeps me with Dell (used that and it's very convenient). Does Microsoft have something like that?
In practice though I just bought a second hand thinkpad. Mediocre screen but otherwise excellent value and great Linux compatibility.
As a happy lifelong Windows user, surrounded by programmers who call me insane (or an idiot, even) for liking it, I was curious to learn more about what a developer who's used to Mac thinks about the Windows 10 dev experience. (notably for a more honest impression of what I might be missing)
There's also a Mac program called SuperDuper! that makes bootable copies of drives, so I can clone my internal drive to an external USB, and if/when my internal drive fails, I can actually boot directly from the cloned USB drive, just by plugging it in during the Mac startup sequence. It has saved my bacon several times. I don't think there's a Windows equivalent, unless that has changed.
Here's a video of the sleep / snooze light in action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZT6siXyIjvQ
Aside from it being cool/delightful, it's also useful. When you close the lid, the light initially stays fully on, until the system has actually entered sleep mode. If it stays fully lit (and doesn't start 'breathing'), it's a hint that the machine hasn't actually gone to sleep. Do not put a non-sleeping MacBook in a backpack, or it will get insanely hot to touch...
In some ways, the transition was pretty painless. I mainly use JetBrains products, so there was very little pain in the switch there. I expected that, which is one of the reasons why I decided to switch in the first place.
However, what I hadn't predicted was how few of the quality-of-life tweaks I was using had equivalents on Windows. For example, I was using the clipboard history feature extensively on Alfred when I was using Mac, and Ditto is barely a replacement for Windows. Recording screencasts with Screenflow on Mac is painless, and Windows (at the time) didn't have a comparable equivalent. The built-in functionality for window management in Windows is not bad, but it doesn't compare to Spectacle for flexibility.
Those are just a few examples, but collectively, these ended up adding a surprisingly painful amount of friction to my development process, even when the IDE was exactly the same. I finally ended up admitting defeat and switching back to MacOS.
I might conclude that if you're using the out-of-the-box, platform default environment, Visual Studio and Windows 10 are probably going to give a better experience than XCode + vanilla MacOS. Then again, if you're the kind of person whose .vimrc has decades of tweaks, you'll probably be happier in Linux. Basically, my view is to just let everyone do what they want and what they feel comfortable with, coexist with them, and don't try to convert/proselytize in general, which I believe is a pretty non-controversial stance.
Good news! That is being fixed in the next release of Windows 10: http://clipdiary.com/clipboard-articles/view-windows-clipboa...
> The built-in functionality for window management in Windows is not bad, but it doesn't compare to Spectacle for flexibility.
You can actually download extra utilities for this. I like switcher (lets me search open windows by name), but there are quite a few others. The entire Windows shell is replaceable if you want to go that far.
I've never had a problem recording screen casts, lots of software options have always existed there, and they only keep getting better.
To get the full feature set of ScreenFlow, multiple apps would be needed though, I haven't seen any single app that does it all, although one may exist.
Also what Window Management features does Windows not have? I generally use the hotkeys for everything, without issue. I wish it was easier to do things like splitting my display into 3, but again lots of 3rd party utilities exist to expand the functionality out.
> Then again, if you're the kind of person whose .vimrc has decades of tweaks, you'll probably be happier in Linux.
This is how I feel about Windows, my path environments, custom aliases, and utility scripts laying around. :)
- You get three clipboards in OS X. Windows gives you 1
- all of the UNIX utilities work (find, grep, xargs, they're all there), all the syscalls work. Because it really is UNIX
- readline shortcuts are available everywhere out of the box. Windows confines me to Cygwin and Emacs
- Cygwin is okay ($PATH versus %PATH% annoys me), but it's not even close to Homebrew
- Visual Studio is a disaster most of the time I use it. YMMV
- a lot of stuff does not run on Windows (most memorably, Swift) whereas almost everything runs on Debian and most things run on OS X
I have a Windows laptop and I've resorted to running Debian on VMware and ssh'ing in with Putty/Xming. I'm surrounded by programmers who openly mock OS X ("you can't develop on a mac!") and tend to stick to Microsoft Approved Software Component Framework -type stuff.
To be fair, I haven't tried WSL. I tried to install Docker, but I was told my top-o'-the-line PC needed another $140 to play that game. Crappy DLC is all it is to me.
Interested to know why you say that VS is a disaster?
- I can hit C-F and count to 2 before Find in All Files opens
- "9 build errors. Build successful" [0]
- random pain points [1]
- intellisense is often not what I want (though sometimes it is) so I alternate between Esc & Tab
- you can't make this stuff up [2]
Maybe I just need to reinstall. The window/panel layout is great, I will say. It's easy to use. It's familiar for a lot of people.
[0] https://stackoverflow.com/questions/17703004/visual-studio-d...
[1] https://stackoverflow.com/questions/24468370/linker-cannot-o...
[2] https://www.google.com/search?q=visual+studio+has+stopped+wo...
Aside from the potential to run into show-stopping problems like that, you may run into "big company" problems if you work for one, like I do. That is, VPN support within WSL only half-works, and because it's Windows you may be forced to follow domain policies that require Windows Defender to run, which slows down WSL, and blocks you from Insider builds that could fix WSL problems.
You can run a Linux VM on Windows instead of WSL. Which has its own set of problems and is overall a worse experience than developing on macOS, in my opinion.
So currently while, as a Mac user, I actually prefer the Windows 10 UI, the hardware competition, the keyboards, etc., I can't use WSL. Side-projects that you can adapt to WSL's limitations are one thing, but making it work as your development environment for a wide-range of professional projects is another. I saw all this with some actual sadness because I'm tired of investing in Apple when they've basically abandoned macOS and are making so many hardware choices I disagree with, that affect me (keyboard, touch bar).
This is the biggest problem I have with Windows. Microsoft lets corporate IT depts fuck it up. Such control should not be possible. It's my computer, I should be able to use it as I like.
At least they shouldn't be able to override existing functionality, like disabling edge and windows store.
I'm completely at ease with developing on Windows now, and I've "done Linux" since 1994, worked long for one of the major Linux vendors and even contributed a bit to the Linux kernel (networking and firewall), but if I had to do system administration I might have a stronger opinion (simply because I'M so sued to Unix ways in general).
It is like this Monty Python scene https://youtu.be/WboggjN_G-4?t=69 when people start arguing about their operating system.
For the last couple of years I looked at how nature (biology) "computes", not just neurons, the entire bio-chemistry with its machinery. Now that is something different - while everything people put on their computers works on pretty much the exact same principles unless you zoom all the way in to nanometer scale (figuratively speaking).
I would also clearly prefer windows for projects supposed to run on windows servers, and Linux for projects supposed to run on Linux. Mac OS Server is utter crap and completely useless, so Apple doesn't have that going for it.
We use a macbook air at home, it still runs just as good as when we got it. I've always had issues with Windows where the out of the box experience is incredible, but 2 years later, I'm waiting 5 minutes after start for, 'things to finish' before the computer begins to feel fast again.
Whenever I look at replacing the Air, I get nearly to the end of the checkout with a new macbook pro 13" (what I use for work), when I get a sick feeling that I shouldn't be spending $2k for our house 'in front of the tv' laptop.
Everyone: don't install Flash (built in to IE/Edge, if you need it, and you likely don't), don't install Java as much as you can avoid it (find alternatives or standalone installs), and install iTunes only from the Microsoft Store if you want it (goodbye Apple Updater, you will not be missed).
Those recommendations alone take care of so much startup gunk.
Power Users: check Startup applications and Services in Task Manager's Advanced/Details view from time to time. Task Manager in Windows 10 lets you disable Startup applications directly without needing any other tool. Many third party services you can switch from Automatic to Automatic (Delayed Start) and lose no functionality, but get out of the Windows startup "hot path". I have backup software that absolutely needed to be (Delayed Start), not just because it was slowing Windows startup but also because it was trying to access system/network resources before Windows was ready for them anyway, yet the installer did not default it to be (Delayed Start) up until just recently. (If you build Windows Services, consider defaulting your service installers for Delayed Start or Trigger Start. You don't need to be in the startup hot path, you are more likely to be getting in the way.)
Macs for the most part in the house are trouble free too. But suddenly apps not launching or just beachballing is not uncommon after high number of suspend/resume cycles without reboot. Truth be told it's amazing in OS land right now - Fedora/Ubuntu, W10, macOS all do a number of things right without a sweat.
One thing that Win10 on my X1C6 has macOS beat is speed to the desktop after suspend. I don't know about TouchID MBPs but connected standby + Fingerprint logon on Windows 10 makes the resume to desktop experience blazing fast.
They mention that they also use an iPad and other setups, which suggests they’re doing rather platform-agnostic dev work. Once you shell into a box in the cloud, only the keyboard and screen are any different.
I stick to my Mac exclusively for photo and video work, but I can get most things done on Windows as needed (though a few workflows are a little more annoying than I'd like in the absence of Spotlight, Automator, and a few Mac-only niche apps I love to use).
tho win 10's default privacy settings leave a lot to be desired :(
Also, I think a few more things worth to mention.
Pros:
- XPS has a decent hardware (I got 16GB, i8Gen, 500GB SSD and forgot about having a few docker containers running on the background which was an issue with my MacBook Pro 15 (8GB, 2.5Gh)
- It is really 1k$ cheaper than the same config MacBook model. Apple's Retina and Touchbar are really cool, however, they still do not have 16GB 13' mac which is a deal breaker.
- Touchscreen. Take your touch bar and put it into your missing 3.5 jack plug, Tim's Team, why would I need a touch bar when I have a touchscreen; (no offense to Apple, I still own a few apples because they are nice)
- the webcam is well described, but it is not that bad, it saves a few inches in size which makes its screen look like it takes all space and there are no borders at all;
- while ubuntu became usable with Gnome desktop I almost did not notice all missing Apple's out of the box features;
- it is very light (~1kg), my backpack can be heavier;
Cons:
- WiFi is super shitty in XPS series. If you have not had any issues yet - then you have not bought one yet. It is better to replace with 30$ adapter to not have issues with differently configured routers;
- It has Windows on it and some features are not supported on Linux. For instance, I see no sense in having fingerprint scanner if it does not work under Linux;
- Be aware that screen scaling might not work on some linux machines. For ubuntu 16.04 I got windows so small so I cannot read the text. Luckily 18.04 fixed it, but still;
Overall, it is the best laptop for Linux I've used so far (Lenovo and Asus are good ones as well), having good hardware and being more or less cheap. I hope Apple will simplify ML and add a bit more RAM to Autumn's laptops, otherwise, there are no reasons to go back.
Holy cow, yes. My wife's XPS 13 had the crappiest Killer WiFi card, and Dell would not acknolwedge that it was the source of all of our issues no matter what I tried, no matter what evidence I presented. The WiFi card was causing all sorts of issues from slow browsing, to the entire computer freezing on restart/shutdown, to no WiFi after wake up from sleep... the list goes on.
I finally rage quit after a session with Dell support had me run hours of meaningless diagnostics tools and then said everything was ok and to check my router. I told them right from the get go that I suspected the Killer WiFi card was faulty, but the technicians always ignored that piece of info.
I bought an Intel 8265 to replace the Killer WiFi card, and when I went to replace it, the antenna ball broke off of the Killer card and was stuck inside the little socket! There was a tiny flake of solder I was able to grab with my finest pliers and pull it out, allowing me to install the Intel card. After installing the Intel card EVERY SINGLE PROBLEM described earlier went away.
https://www.amazon.com/Intel-8265-Generic-2230-8265NGWMG/dp/...
$30 was all it would have taken to make the XPS 13 from a piece of garbage to an awesome laptop. I'm already paying $1000+, why not $1030+? But now, I will never buy another XPS again because it required 10+ hours of my time to troubleshoot and fix all by myself.
It's almost as if Docker has to start and run in a VM on non-Linux systems.
> however, they still do not have 16GB 13' mac which is a deal breaker.
What are you talking about? You've been able to upgrade the memory in a 13 inch MBP to 16GB on purchase since like 2015 at least
> Touchscreen
I've had two traditional laptops with touchscreens. Both times they got in my way and I stop using the touchscreen after like three months max.
On a 2-in-1 like the Surface Book where touch is a first-class input it's a completely different story, but on traditional laptops a touchscreen is far from an ideal user input device. It's like the N64 controller - you're left wondering if the manufacturer thinks you have a third arm coming out of your chest or something. To use it you have to take your hand completely off one of your two much better input devices (keyboard and trackpad/mouse) and hold your arm in an awkward, quickly painful position if your laptop is in a normal position (on a fairly flat surface with the screen straight or maybe tilted back a little, a couple of feet away from you max). The touch bar isn't the greatest design decision but moving a finger up to tap e.g. the bookmark app control in Chrome is a far more natural movement than lifting my hand to the screen to attempt to poke at the bookmark star which is rendered at like half the size of my fingertip.
Just as an FYI, that's no longer true for both macOS (xhyve) and Windows (unknown underlying tech, but compiling and running dockerd behaved reasonably with the exception that one could only run Windows docker images). In fact, IIRC, even Docker for Mac uses xhyve, so only docker-machine folks use the VM-based solution
They don't have 32GB laptops which would be useful for some of my work though.
By the way, all Macbook pro models still have the 3.5mm audio jack.
Ha-ha, you are right, it was a reference to a scandal they had when removed audio jack from phones. Just a joke :)
Later it turned out that an Intel 8260 card I've bought to use in PC-based AP cannot be coerced to work in 5GHz band no matter what I did, so I've swapped them, now Atheros is in AP and Intel is in XPS, with everything working flawlessly. So it turned out that the Intel card is less functional...
This is really surprising. Can you say what specific replacement worked for you on that laptop?
More recent models have switched to the "Killer" brand wifi card, and I'm not sure whether those have in-kernel support or if it's another akmod thing.
Just google for XPS WiFi issue and you will get plenty of results. This model should be a good fit: Intel 8265 Generic, 2230, 2x2 AC+BT (8265NGWMG), look for Intel wifi cards they are much much better than default ones.
Anyone know if there's any really great wifi cards internal or USB, that allows full AP, "war driving" etc - and also 5ghz and such? Preferably with great drivers for Linux and freebsd?
(I doubt internal is an option for my surface pro 4, but for refurbished ThinkPads/dells it might do the trick..)
So much so, that I think I'm going to go with Asus for my next ultrabook.
http://www.dell.com/en-uk/shop/laptops-notebooks-and-2-in-1-...
£1,498.99 GBP one in above list.
It's spacious, I don't get erroneous output, and most importantly, you get a uniform click no matter where on the trackpad your finger is.
In the hinged trackpads, it's a pain to click at the top - often you have to slide your finger down.
This is less of an issue if you're more of a keyboard only type - but for me it's one of the first things I notice when I use a windows laptop.
Other pros/cons I more or less agree on, but in my book this is a big one that is commonly left out.
Little things like that add up - and it's nice when they are just completely out of the way. FWIW I don't have the issue you reported, I can click anywhere on the trackpad, even the very edge. Mostly useful when you're dragging and dropping or selecting text etc.
Nod of agreement to the wifi issue, and the fact that it's extremely fixable with a plug-in adapter.
Are you sure you are talking about MacBooks? They all have a 3.5 jack
First off, the killer with anything Dell: The firmware is just incredibly terrible. Sometimes it takes 30 seconds for the initial Dell logo to show. Others have similar issues, too, but no firmware setting seems to help. The Latitude I had before also took its sweet time during startup.
The MacBook has a keyboard that is actually usable. The Precision does not. They keys just don’t feel right and make weird noises. The MacBook touchpad is better, too. The Precision touchpad tends to make the cursor jump while clicking.
And last but not least: Windows. Microsoft is trying very hard, but it’s not there yet. Especially mixed DPI support is still terrible, even in Windows itself.
However, if given a choice, I’ll take the 4K screen again any time. Once you go “Retina”, you don’t go back.
The firmware is confusing the integrated Intel HD Graphics card with the nVidia GeForce; leading to a hugely yanky windows UI, while the CUDA cores are sitting idle. Independently of wether the laptop is running on battery.
The issue runs around the Desktop Windows Manager not wanting to be executed on the proper GPU. I don't know who to blame here, Microsoft, Dell or nVidia. Probably all of them as this seems like a common support issue no one wants to engage into.
Its really frustrating, and has basically turned my "laptop" into a desktop
Really, does anybody knows why Windows needs all this time to identify USB devices? The same PC does it instantaneously when running Linux.
#this gets rid of the hissing on XPS 13
amixer -c PCH cset 'name=Headphone Mic Boost Volume' 1I love my mid-2012 MBP, I hope it lasts forever but like many I'm weighing my options.
Srsly while i do own now a macbook pro at work and really like the touchpad, i'm a touch quicker with the red knob in combination with AwesomeWM as a window manager.
Main advantage: my hands rests on the device and don't have to move below.
I disable trackpads, as I only ever use them accidentally.
They both seem like great systems. All I know at this point is that I’m set in my ways :)
* the default sensitivity is very low; you really have to haul on it to move the pointer significantly. Worse, the hardware starts trying to "correct", making the motion harder and harder to accomplish! (And you can see the correction when you let go completely and the pointer just starts drifting for a while until the correction re-corrects)
* attempting to change the settings results in the kernel driver crashing or something; errors get emitted to dmesg and the device resets. So setting two settings is tricky: you have to loop on setting the first setting, and then once that succeeds w/o crashing, loop on setting the second setting. If that fails, it's back to square 1![1][2]
That said, the Touchpad is not as accurate as the TrackPoint can be, or at least, used to be.
I mostly use an external small wireless mouse now, but that removes a hand from the keyboard. sigh
[1]: Here is another user with the same issue, though he doesn't fully realize it: https://www.reddit.com/r/thinkpad/comments/58c0dn/t460s_trac...
[2]: https://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-input/msg51145.html but alas, no response.
I would expect a longtime Lenovo user to know that "the red knob" is not the official unofficial name for that object. :-)
- Amazing touchpad, no need for a mouse at all
- Light, yet powerful and great battery life
- best in class display
- being able to easily copy and paste between iphone <-> macbook
- being able to easily send files between all osx/ios devices with zero hassle
- being able to take calls on my macbook and transfer them to the phone if needed
- bluetooth headphones working rock solid, switching between devices seamless
etc
OSX being somewhat more bearable than windows and slightly worse for my work than linux is not the most important thing to me.
that's the number one. I have not seen any other laptop where the touchpad is usable.
I thought it would be a good device, it looks good, has a nice form factor, screen etc. but just doesn't work as well as macOS and a MacBook.
I soon after changed to a MacBook and now have the touchbar Mac, which I love!
I tried used one for almost a year, and never used the touch bar once. I was forced to use an external keyboard because I needed a tactile physical escape key (caps was already taken by Ctrl or cmd, I forget which).
I agree with you though, I have a touchbar Mac and I would be more happy with out the touchbar part.
Ultrabooks seem to have basically converged. Everybody's running more or less the same hardware. This has been good for Linux; hopefully my install goes as well.
Thanks
EDIT: To be clear, my issues were resolved after an update back in Dec 2017: http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/19/Drivers/DriversDet...
"Optimize CPU loading to Improve EE noise" is specifically one of the issues that BIOS update addresses.
I run Ubuntu exclusively on my XPS 13 and have taped shut the camera. The battery life, display, touchpad, and overall feel of the laptop are all very satisfactory and up to my standards. I couldn't be happier with it.
> Despite an all-around makeover of the physical design of the system, the camera remains stubbornly anchored to the blank expanse below the screen. That means any attempt to use it results in a less-than-flattering view, emphasising one's neck, chin and nostrils.
Source: https://www.cnet.com/products/dell-xps-13-2018/review/
It's very Mac like in feel. Aluminum enclosure, black keyboard, and for lack of a better term, feels sturdy. The keyboard feels miles better than the current keyboards on the MBP, imo.
I installed Ubuntu (Mate) on it, and everything worked out of the box. Trackpad feels great, screen looks crisp, and I don't find myself missing my mac at all.
Compared to the cheap, plastic Dell's that I've experienced in years past, this is a massive step up in every way.
My only beef with my XPS13 (had the same problem with previous Dells) is the audio drivers are horribly buggy, and you have to fight it to not apply unpleasant frequency-domain distortion to the signal. The user experience had to have been designed by someone who never listens to music. It magically detects when you plug in an external audio sink via the 3.5mm jack. Sometimes that detection doesn't work, so the sound keeps coming out the internal speakers. Then, assuming the jack works, you now have the equivalent of a 1970's graphic equalizer turned up "to 11" in the signal path. Guess what? The application that allows you to control that signal degredation process IS NOT INSTALLED. You need to spend several hours pull hair before you discover the forum post where someone explains how to install the right version. Then cross your fingers it will stay working through the next Win10 or BIOS update cycle..
I love everything about the XPS 13 and having my entire machine configured from a single configuration file is bliss.
You might find this link useful: https://www.notebookcheck.net/The-Dell-XPS-15-9570-might-inh...
Even if the laptop works fine, the temperatures could get worse after a couple years of use. You might often need to change the thermal paste and clean the heatsinks and fan.
I would suggest waiting a bit more for extensive tests. OTOH if money is no issue, I'd go for it. i9 in a laptop sounds really cool.
The main technical issue driving the switch is VM usage. macOS is not a friendly VM host, it's a huge memory and CPU pig on its own which soaks up resources from the guest. And as a guest, macOS is an even worse pig, and also has an unfriendly license for guesting it on non-Mac hardware. So I'm kinda over macOS, all of the proprietary stuff I need will run on Windows 10, which is something of a regression compared to macOS, in particular privacy. But I only use Windows 10 for certain kinds of work, so it's tolerable.
I do like the system reset and refresh options in Windows 10 though. I've cobbled together the functional equivalent of this with Btrfs snapshots for / and /home so I can do either complete resets or just rollback to previous states, while keeping /home moving forward.
I had to return my laptop, hoping the shop will refund. Now bought MS Surface Laptop it is silent (mostly) and I'm happy with it.
Looks like most of the core i7 8* models are noisy.
Damn shame; I have a Happy Hacking Keyboard Pro2, and it's the best keyboard I've ever used, I want as much of that experience as I can get on my laptop. Being a touch typist, its (not infuriating but slightly) annoying context switching between work keyboards (UK, caps is caps), my laptop (US mapping on a UK layout), and PC (HHKP, all US - the most superior layout). I'm pretty good at switching out my muscle memory, but I do get caught out every now and then.
Is anybody in the same boat as me? Or does anybody know how I could get around this issue (not including going over to the US to buy locally - that has problems of its own, ie. travel and money)?
Admittedly, I know I'm in a very niche minority but dammit I want to give them my money and I can't find a way..
The global shipping program is really great for this IMO; you pre-pay any taxes due (just VAT for laptops IIRC) so you don't have to deal with extra waits or paying a ton for DHL/whoever to collect it from you. The seller ships the item to a distribution centre domestically, then ebay check it and handle the international leg.
There's a good chance you'll end up saving compared to buying locally in the UK even after paying for shipping and VAT on the whole thing. Have done it with my last couple of laptops and wouldn't hesitate to do it again.
I don't particularly like MacOS but I prefer anything Unix to Windows. I ran Linux on the XPS and the 2012 MBA. When Retina wasn't well supported on Linux, I made the switch to MacOS for development. I miss tinkering with Linux, but grew accustomed to a dev workflow with Mac apps (Tower, nvALT, etc).
The reason I stick with Macbooks: they can take a beating.
My XPS 13 was falling apart after a few years, and had gone through three (!!!) motherboard replacements (fortunately, under warranty). I've had minimal issues with my Macbooks. I don't know what the state of the current XPS 13's is, but all I care about is "how often is it going to break in the next four years."
The touchbar and the ever so fussy butterfly keyboard on the newest MBPs have reopened the possibility of me moving back to a Linux XPS 13. I just wish I could get some kind of update on the durability of that machine.
https://www.kartar.net/2018/03/dell-xps-13-aka-2018-is-the-y...
I did get the 4k screen, which is amazing with the touch disabled. Lots of room if you have great eyes.
Couple downsides however: * They must have been drunk when they decided where the camera should go * Huge screen wobble after 6 months, maybe the hinges are just loose and need to be tightened. * Regular charging port doesn't work anymore. USB-C everywhere however.
I'm happy about the laptop, there's faults but I like it a lot more than my previous three MBPs. The X1 carbon looks like an amazing follow up, closely following that.
Also, the new XPS has a virtual longer key travel by using magnets, as a mech keyboard fan, how cool is that?
I have a friend that returned their XPS and bought a Mac because the fan noise was driving him up the wall. I don't know how, but somehow Macs just don't have audible fans most of the time, while most other computers will turn them for even trivial tasks.
The main struggle for me is hitting HYPER + enter in OSX and not getting a new term. I should just map it in alfred.
Nevertheless, outside of creating the hyper key in OSX, all other keys have remained stock. I use sharemouse to jump between systems.
With regards to the article, I'm surprised they didn't mention a really annoying Magic Trackpad 2 glitch where the cursor slows to about 20% until its been pressed. It annoys the crap out of me when it happens (not through sharemouse, but when the trackpad is paired directly with the windows box.)
That said, macos is still a pretty amazing thing, especially coming back to it after running linux on a laptop for so long.
But hey, windows on this thing is also pretty awesome, I mean with bash and wsl running I can test my cross platform apps all on the same machine, while also having access to the worlds finest debugger, visual studio 2017.
Now if only I could include macos in that mix once in a while...
The only solution is to simply have multiple laptops, depending on your mood, grab one haah.
I'd be curious to hear stories of any React / Node developers making the switch and their recommendations. Do you just run an Ubuntu image in a VM for running all your Node stuff?
No, it doesn't. While it's better than the most basic support provided in Linux, it still doesn't provide support for 3 and 4 finger gestures and the existing scrolling support is fairly weak. Yes, still better than Linux, an OS that hates touchpads apparantely, but not what I'd call good at all. Barely usable yes. Passable for a $120 touchpad. Not at all.
That is all anyone wants. A macbook air with a "retina" screen.
Imagine if all you had to do to make millions of customers extra happy was also the easiest thing. No research, no additional R&D, no innovation required ... just give us a 11" MBA with a higher resolution screen.
Article here if anyone is interested https://wooptoo.com/blog/inspiron-7570-plus-plus/
Almost everything has worked out of the box, and upgrades to Thinkpads are pretty easy (if you don't immediately spring for one with an SSD).
It may also help to reduce the screen thickness because there wont be cable going from the bottom to the top for the camera.
That mostly fixed the chirping I had. Still get it for a few milliseconds here and there, but it's nothing like it was before.
- Can you reduce the keyboard light to 0 ?
[1] https://www3.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/thinkpad/thinkpad-x/Th...
[2] http://www.dell.com/en-us/work/shop/dell-laptops-and-noteboo...
Today, that continues. I click the Lenovo link and hit a popup asking for my email. I decline that. I try to hit "View or customize" in Firefox, and that fails. I switch to Chrome, and again have to decline giving my email, and that works. But then I hit a screen that says,
"We value your opinion!
After your visit, would you be willing to provide some quick feedback? It will only take a minute."
No.
Then I get six options to choose from, ranging from about $1,100 up through $2,000. What are the differences among these? I'm not entirely sure.
I know I can wade through these and figure them out, but the user experience doesn't seem very good.