Dell’s 2019 XPS 13 DE: As close as we currently get to Linux-computing nirvana
arstechnica.com
arstechnica.com
I've written about this before on HN, to the point where it's starting to feel a little rediculous, but my experience has been so positive I view this machine as the modern replacement of the glory days MBP. I have the 2018 edition of this laptop and to this day it performs amazingly well.
Battery life is on par with the new MBP I used for work in 2016. With Terminal, Chrome, Signal, PyCharm, and Hangouts open I consistently get up to 5 days of battery life. Suspend and sleep mode works perfectly when opening and closing the top. I do think TLP[1] is required for this though. If you upgrade Ubuntu from your stock installation from Dell, the config might be lost though.
It has literally never crashed on me. I've had absolutely no stability issues.
OS upgrades are seamless and have only resulted in performance improvements. I haven't noticed any issues from Intel microcode updates, but this is anecdotal and I haven't tested this thoroughly.
It's the closest I've gotten to a MBP in terms of mouse pad quality. Gnome on Wayland provides great mouse pad gesture support, but X Org definitely still works, though I permanently moved to Wayland over a year ago.
I can't comment on Dell support, because I've never actually had to contact them.
Happy to answer any questions anyone has.
[1] https://linrunner.de/en/tlp/docs/tlp-linux-advanced-power-ma...
My XPS-13 crashed twice this morning. This is a 2019 model.
Its battery life is about 4 hours, idling.
Multimonitor support is impossible to get functioning properly.
Dell updates don't work through the system update UI (it straight up fails, various permissions errors). I need to sudo apt-get upgrade.
Do we have different computers? I think the machine itself is awesome, the display and touch pad are great (although the keyboard has a bit too much flex for a $2k laptop) - but the OS is crazy finicky. I'm still sticking with this machine because all the problems I have point to having something fucky in a dependency, but it's tough to know what that is.
Outside chance here, but do you have the GLFW/GTK development libraries installed?
What version of Ubuntu are you running? Did you reinstall Ubuntu from scratch at some point? I'm on 19.10 stable and just run apt update && apt upgrade. I got a firmware update a couple weeks ago I think. No issues here.
Is TLP installed, running, and _configured_? You can take a look at my config file[1]. I really didn't change a whole lot from the default file. Also, I wouldn't copy and paste my file, but you can diff the two and try to make sure yours conforms closely and that might help. Do you have the 4k screen or the 1080p? I opted for the 1080p, because 4k will inevitably cost more battery life to drive all those pixels and I didn't feel the need for the 4k. If I run powertop[2] and check the tunables tab, there 2 things that say 'Bad' and the rest are good. One of them is something about VM writeback, which TLP actually sets to a more efficient value by default and another random one about a port that doesn't seem critical. Check out how many are 'Bad' on this list.
Tbh, I don't use multi-monitor support, because I have a desktop as well. But apparently there's some folks elsewhere in this thread that are running Arch without multi-monitor issues. Perhaps there's some patches you need to get things working properly?
I'm not sure what you mean about Dell updates failing. All updates should go through the "Software Updater" and for firmware the "Ubuntu Software" applications. There are no Dell specific repos for the anything beyond the last Ubuntu 18 LTS release as far as I can tell, but I haven't actually needed them so far. Make sure fwupd[3] is working. This is the software that handles your firmware updates and is the main important thing that should run when you open the "Ubuntu Software" application.
As far as I know I don't have any GLFW/GTK libs installed. Though I have a SWE background, my day job has been data scientist for the past couple years, so I'm mostly doing Python + ML on GCP with my personal machine, though I do have a working Rust dev environment setup.
[1] https://pastebin.com/Scf9A8jH
[2] https://01.org/sites/default/files/page/powertop_users_guide...
I'm starting to think that the display drivers might be the problem, if they're different between the 4k and 1080p models.
The update issue now that I recall was this:
https://github.com/fwupd/fwupd/wiki/LVFS-Triaged-Issue:-AC-p...
But plugging in the charger to a USB port wouldn't register as "AC Connected" and the error would persist. Appears to be working now however.
Try setting up TLP and see how your battery life changes. I've tried doing without and the difference is huge.
The late 2019 4k is a lemon. I tried to return it and they wouldn't take it back. I got it in mid Dec, figured they would update the drivers and tweak it to get better battery, but it never happened by mid jan. then it was too late.
It feels... Amazing.
Gnome Wayland on Arch gets SO many things right.
- HiDpi scaling works, and it works well
- The touchpad is actually a joy to use (VASTLY different than the same machine on X)
- Suspend/resume/all keyboard functions work correctly out of the box
- Battery life is excellent (11-13 hours for simple dev/browsing: Admittedly, I have the external GPU disabled and usually keep it that way)
- Usb-c/Thunderbolt port works without any configuration by default
- My usb-c dock works as expected for multiple external displays, and for usb devices (it does not work for charging, but I can live with that)
- multi-monitor works GREAT with 2 4k displays. It properly changes the resolution to 1920x1080 for each display to support both monitors through a single usb-c port, and if I use the hdmi out and usb-c, I get both at native resolution.
- Wifi is stable and consistent (I'm on the killer ac module)
- It NEVER gets hot. Even when I'm running our full stack. (Admittedly, if I turn the external gpu on, it does, but I just don't need it for my work)
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This thing has been a complete joy to use. I was genuinely blown away at how good the experience is compared to even just 3 years ago when I last tried.
It's become my new favorite machine during the last 3 months or so I've been on it.
It makes Catalina on the MBP 15 feel like dogshit.
I've been thinking about maybe getting a usb-c dock as well. Would you mind dropping a link to yours please?
It also works without any sort of driver installation across all three platforms (windows, osx, linux).
https://www.amazon.com/Elgato-Thunderbolt-Dock-Ethernet-alum...
I talked my office into buying me one a year or two back, and ended up liking it enough to buy the Pro version for my home office.
With the dock and a usb-switcher (something like https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MXXQKGM - don't get that one, though - I linked the usb 2 version and they have one for usb 3) I can swap my whole workstation from my windows PC to my laptop by plugging in a single cable and pressing a button, since I have the desktop machine using the display port inputs on my monitors and the dock using the hdmi.
I think it's just some people are really sensitive to these noises. I can literally hear when my wife's phone is charged, because the charger starts to have insanely high-pitched coil whine (and I have to unplug it because I can't sleep with that noise).
I can hear my Carbon X1's coil whine when I'm scrolling in Firefox, for example, on Linux. It's driving me nuts. From what I've heard and seen on youtube on Dell, I literally could not use the XPS line.
It may be confusing to you that things changed. I have the last 2019 xps, and it has terrible battery life. Something went wrong along the way, but the reviews mentioned 18 hour battery life, and also talked about 4k. I have the 4k screen and it gets less than 5 hours. I hate it. I regret buying it. This isn't because I want to bash dell. It's because they built something that gets about 30% of the claimed battery life. There are other software problems that I can live with, but the battery life is completely unacceptable.
It's a good machine but it's a pain in the ass to use regularly.
No port scarcity, adding extra RAM is just popping open the back panel and sticking it in there. It even has physical trackpad buttons which I like very much. Got it for less than $300, upgraded the RAM to 32GB DDR4 for another $100 and now I have a beast of machine for $400 that can easily handle anything.
The only gripe I would have against this machine is there is only one slot for a NVMe drive. And the screen has some really chunky bezels but personally I don't mind that at all ;)
For personal use I buy cheaper, less powerful Asus netbooks (Zenbook 13 something something is my last one) and they have always worked perfectly for me.
It was a bit of a hassle to install Linux (Ubuntu MATE 18.04), requiring me to disable FastBoot and BitLocker to even get Ubuntu Installer to recognize the SSD (it initially said the USB drive was the only volume found.) That said, I merely assume this is how it is with any modern Windows laptop. As a long-time Linux user I expect to have to hold my tongue just right and hop on one foot a few times.
After installation, I found that the WiFi chip needed a backported driver. I managed to tether to my phone for 4G, and apt-updated my way to a working network driver.
I have experienced some system errors (reported every time) and have had a few black screens/crashes. I don't blame this on Dell, as I've often had system issues, especially on newer hardware.
Overall, I am in love with the XPS 13 hardware. Any gripes I have with it are either my own fault, related to software, or inherent to 13" laptops. It's an awesome machine and I am happy to be using something this slick without a fruit logo on it.
I have completed replaced my 2015 MBP with this Dell XPS13 DE and been exclusively it using since Dec. I had also ordered a MBP 16 inch and System 76 to do a comparative evaluation for our entire company.
I haven't tweaked anything from the default setup with came with.
What is great about the machine:
* The display resolution on a 4K monitor screen just beats MBP (with a scaling factor) - my MBP colleagues are jealous of the resolution I get. The ubuntu font looks nice and crisp!
* The hardware/build quality is just strong - it is compact
* Very light 2.6lb (MBP 16 is almost 4.3lb/2kg!)
* Keyboard feels great and sturdy (even compared to the new MBP 16)
All the below work out of box:
* Airpod/bluetooth devices just works
* Zoom meetings
* Wifi switching / Personal hotspot while traveling
* Sleep/awake
What is not so good:
* Trackpad really sucks compared to MBPs - it took me few weeks to get used to it.
* For work requiring windows VPN client etc I have to use a VirtualBox
* At one point my zoom meeting and entire computer froze. Never had this with MBP for past 5 years.
* Battery is not as good as MBP.
* The screen size is small even compared to MBP 13inch to work for long hours.
https://www.laptopmag.com/reviews/laptops/acer-aspire-e5-575...
Dedicated GPU with dual video out (HDMI, VGA) up to 32 GB of RAM and easily upgradeable SSD.
might as well get a purism then. the openness of the hardware/software means that there aren't any issues getting set up with e.g. wifi, the trackpad is decently ok, and you're financially supporting values that are extremely important.
I now have serious reservations about Dell build quality and QA process. Sadly, for linux users there are not that many choices.
> Restocking Fees: Unless the product is defective or the return is a direct result of a Dell error, Dell may charge a restocking fee of up to 15% of the purchase price paid, plus any applicable sales tax.
That'd be close to $700 on a $3000 laptop if one ends up not liking it. The sales rep in the chat said it wouldn't apply unless the unit was damaged but that's not what their official policy states. With such an unfriendly return policy, I will not even consider them. Lenovo has no restocking fees although they seem unable to ship out anything in less than many months. I guess it's back to Apple until some other company that cares about consumers decides to make a mostly Linux compatible laptop. My experiences with most laptops running Linux is that they don't work for long. I had no idea the customer service and policies were so bad at Dell (or Lenovo).
> That'd be close to $700
So your calculated purchase price was close to $5000 including sales tax on your $3000 laptop?
Disclaimer: I own a 2018 XPS15 running Ubuntu which has been very reliable for me.
And just so know you - going from picky shopper to entitled does not require fitting through the eye of a needle. While what you're arguing isn't entitlement, your posts reek of it.
I'm really hoping for the next DE offering to have first class Zen 4xxx support. If they do, it's a done deal. Otherwise, maybe I'll go with a Thinkpad if they have a good offering, and if none of the above, I think I'd honestly go with an off brand. It's time to move on from Intel and their never ending stream of speculative execution bugs and plateaued performance curve. I'm over it.
I'm willing to tinker around with wonky hardware on a cheaper laptop if the performance is right and it kicks the Enterprise-y vendors (Dell XPS, Thinkpad, HP Spectre) into getting their act together. It's time already.
Performance is great, battery is amazing, weight is unbelievably light.
The only thing that doesn't have a driver yet is the fingerprint reader (which I wouldn't use even if it did work).