I am bit disappointed. Dell has similar sized laptop, with bigger display, smaller bezel and higher resolution.
If I was Dell, I would just sit down my entire design and marketing team and make a plan for redesigning and rebranding. Their website look exactly like it did 10 years ago when Dell computers were cool.
The one thing that could change my mind about patent trolls is if one of them were to pop up and banish those unsolicited floating chat windows by suing everyone who uses them.
I have a M3800 and am not unhappy with it, although the touchpad is too touchy and the fan is too fanny. Somebody needs to get their shit together and actually push Apple.
In the end, you can look at the 12 inch MacBook as being a new notebook for people who care about running Mac OS/don't want to switch to Windows. It's a big deal because the Dell isn't an option most people want to consider :)
I still actually used that laptop until recently. Now I'm in the market and have been eying the XPS 13 and waiting for details about the Macbook Air.
Any idea/rumors about when the Ubuntu edition will launch?
I'd really like to spend less than a thousand bucks, because I just want something light that I can carry in addition to my work Macbook Pro. I like to use my commute-time on the train for side projects, but I'm concerned about using my work machine for various reasons.
The new offerings from Apple today are certainly appealing, but I'm still on the fence. I don't draw arbitrary allegiances with corporations, so I have no blind brand loyalty...
Based on the latest update from Project Sputnik lead Barton George, it sounds like the release is drawing near: http://bartongeorge.net/2015/02/23/update-2-dell-xps-13-lapt...
If I bought either the Windows model or the official Linux one I'd wipe it and install Debian or Arch or Mint, but I'd still prefer to wait for the Linux one so that I don't contribute money and a +1 sales statistic to Microsoft for something I don't want.
I'm definitely waiting for the developer edition, precisely for the reason you mentioned, to do my part in signalling to Dell and the industry that Windows vs OS X is a false dilemma.
Also, I notice that this XPS is 0.6-0.8 pounds heavier than the new MacBook, and as far as I can tell the XPS has a fan.
It's noisy as hell though, I can't say that battery life is great and I have some weird problems with music stuttering when I compile, also Visual Studio ocassionally locks up on deploy for some reason.
If I could have a Zenbook with the same screen thought I'd take that any day.
It is difficult if not impossible to output a macbook to a tv over hdmi and also send audio. Also the dongle that does hdmi conversion breaks all the time. Our office has gone through like 4-5 of them.
It is/was very difficult to disable your laptop display when plugged into a monitor in MacOS(I doubt they have fixed this issue). Also the macbook is crazily overpriced.
Never tried that second part, but the multi monitor support in the last couple releases of MacOS have been amazing.
Can't you just do clamshell mode? I haven't had any issues with that with my Macbook Air.
In contrast: By friend who owns a mac tried to set up a appointment because her hard drive was making the sound of a grinder. They told her that they could not make an appointment on the phone, she needed to use the iPhone app to do that. Well, she doesn't have an iPhone so the only option she had was to stand in line at the apple store 40 minutes away and wait. She spend two days doing this since it closed before they got to her on the first day and then the took her hard drive and replaced it while erasing all her personal data. It's a good thing I made a backup first.
Great Customer Service for sure almost as good as Comcast.
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0%2c2817%2c2452946%2c00.asp http://blog.laptopmag.com/tech-support-showdown http://www.thestreet.com/story/11366677/1/the-best-and-worst... http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/news/2013/04/apple-is-top...
I've dealt with Dell, Microsoft, Acer, Asus, and HP in the past on multiple occasions for each, and it was always a headache. With Apple, it was always as simple as walking into the store and walking out with my issues resolved. I've even had them fix a keyboard that broke due to my fault on an out of warranty machine for just the cost of parts. The fact that you can go to a physical location and get service puts them on a different level.
PS: You can get a 512GB desktop SSD drive for under 180$ so cost wise it's a non issue. And 30$ micro SD cards are at 64GB so 512GB would not be a space issue.
Anyway, you will also note they did not actually send the i7 versions off for testing as the battery life would tank. IMO, there are three basic classes of laptop ultra-portable trade power for awesome battery life and light weight, desktop replacements which are meant to be used on a desk, and gaming machines. You can dump a large SSD into an ultra-portable without issue but dells approach of bumping RAM, CPU, HDD, etc. in lockstep just means their ultra-portables are stuck with tiny disks for little reason.
You might want to read that whole review if you haven't already. They found that the XPs 13 had excellent battery life, to the point that they tested it and it was exactly what was advertised. That is, for the low-end screen (1080p) they got over 15 hours of light usage. Dell provides battery life estimates for different configurations (visible in the review[1]), so it's not inconceivable that i7 light usage might get over 11 hours as Dell claims.
http://www.howtogeek.com/196582/why-you-probably-dont-want-t...
And an i7 would drop down to around 4.5 brand new under heavy usage. And around 2 before you start looking for a charger once the battery ages a little.
PS: The only reason I bring this up is their base numbers are rather low and they don't seem to have a way to configure the systems before checkout. Overall the i5 version seems like a real mackbook competitor, but their low end model seems to be designed more for halo effect (battery life, and price) vs an actual reasonable choice.
I'm not sure why you think it's fishy. As long as Anandtech has kept their benchmark tests consistent across different units tested, it should be fine. I'm not sure how you got HD video viewing as a light benchmark test, I've never heard of that before. Generally, decoding a highly compressed chunk of data and using it to constantly update the display seems close to a worst case scenario to me, unless you are doing serious data crunching (e.g. encoding) which while more common than it used to be, I wouldn't consider common enough to include as a regular benchmark in a general purpose review.
According to Anandtech's article, the 13-inch Macbook Air has a 54 Wh battery and the Dell has a 52 Wh battery, so the XPS battery is slightly smaller. The hardware drawing power from the battery is different through (Broadwell-U @ 14 nm vs Haswell @ 22nm), so extrapolating numbers in that way is not likely to yield very accurate results.
Anandtech then just displayed numbers for useage levels vs hms.
Anandtech then just displayed numbers for useage levels vs hours:minutes.
Yeah, the "Choose Options" menu under the "Hard Drive" section. Currently, the $999.99 and $1299.99 models can upgrade from a 128GB to a 256GB SSD for +$100, and the high end $1599.99 model can upgrade from a 256GB SSD to a 512GB SSD for +$300. Available options may vary at times.
Though I'd rather just replace the SSD myself, especially for the 512GB upgrade. Looks very easy to do do, based on YouTube videos.
It's like comparing the value of two watches using the slag value of melting them down. If that's how you shop, the device isn't for you.
Metro is largely insignificant on non-touch devices. Most days I only see it in the brief period during "Windows Key -> 'chr' -> Enter".
I never understood the Metro hate mainly because I find it such an unimportant part of the OS in non-touch day-to-day use.
Personally I would love to have a Linux laptop with the same design and build quality as the MacBooks, and I'm pretty sure plenty of fashion conscious folks would like something more exclusive now that Macs are everywhere.
The fact that the XPS 13 is the only machine that comes anywhere close is kinda sad.
Though it won't work as seamlessly with the hardware as OS X can.
http://www.cultofmac.com/162823/linux-creator-linus-torvalds...
The thing about Apple is that you don't have to worry about it, you can focus on the task and purpose of the tool rather than the hardware or it's specs.
Given Apple's nature of maximizing profits of their product line, there's still room for the next major update of MBP line to include the same kinds of edge-less screen, and people will collectively loose their minds over it. Are people going to be satisfied with just another incremental upgrade of specs and inclusion of the same technologies as the Mac? I think they will have to put some bling in their flagship devices.
This is very subjective to define. It's true, if you like apple, and all you are going to choose is stuff from apple, then you don't have to worry about examining choices in depth because there aren't very many. But quality is a subjective thing.
I personally find almost every computer that exists today horrifically boring, compared to when I was growing up. The jump from no computer to computer has been much more exciting than each iteration of slightly better computer. That's really what I call 'miles ahead'.
Smartphones with unlimited data were slightly revolutionary for me, in a "I can listen to music and walk anywhere I want without getting lost" kind of thing, but honestly, I haven't felt anything close to the feelings I used to feel as a kid. Trying to figure out how the entire internet is structured and comparing that to a giant computer is slightly more exciting. Comparing data models to the human brain is slightly exciting. But miles ahead sounds like we're making leaps when we aren't. And you can go ahead and argue that every leap is made up of tiny steps, but when you fade in and out of technology enough, even then, some things really feel like leaps, and other things really feel like steps. And I think that's subjective, so I'm biased, but I find it very hard to have opinions without bias, if not impossible.
Apple simply doesn't offer a device that can compete with this, so not only are they not miles ahead, I can't even see them in my rear-view.
If you did your research, I'm pretty sure you would find that you can do all of these things on a macbook.
Check out this Dell 8 inch tablet that does all of these things - http://www.amazon.com/Dell-Venue-Series-Windows-Tablet/dp/B0...
Instead what Dell do is release a 3000 model, with no digitizer and 1GB of ram. I have to assume that Dell are far too afraid of cannibalising their mid-range laptops to produce something truly great in the small tablet space, a very foolish and short-sighted position I think.
UPDATE: Here's an image gallery that I just made showing it in the jacket I'm wearing today, in the pants I'm wearing today and again in a pair of pants that I grabbed out my laundry pile - http://imgur.com/a/hFeDo
Not only does it fit in my pockets, but there's room to spare. Maybe it won't fit in some skinny jeans, but I don't wear tight pants because I'd rather be comfortable. In any case, whether it fits in your pocket or not isn't the point - it is true that Apple doesn't offer a highly portable device that runs a full OS for over 10 hours
I love my retina MBP but that statement is pretty biased. There are plenty of PCs more powerful than any mac, often for less money. Even Windows 10 isn't so bad, i think that OSX Yosemite is pretty flawed as well. Apple is still superior when it comes to the whole package, most importantly trackpad, battery life and overall experience, but if you don't fall exactly into Apples demographic you are pretty much out of luck.
Edit: which is not to say that the new MacBook is better; I'm just saying there are tradeoffs here. They both look pretty good to me.
There are different target audiences here, and thankfully, there are different products from different competitors to choose from.
The GP comment compares devices based on a couple of specs (e.g., bezel size). The isolate-on-a-couple-of-specs approach has been proven to (a) not capture where the market will go, and (b) not capture how well the device works.
It also tends to (c) come off as a justification for the speaker's own past purchases, or alternatively, a justification to view a new device as not quite worth purchasing yet.
It sucks that, 20 years on, the same retort ("... Lame.") is just as relevant as a critique of the specmanship game practiced in these forums.
I was also hoping for a touch screen. While I don't use it a ton on my Windows machines with a touch screen I constantly finding myself to use it for scrolling.
For that you get another inch on your screen and 73% more pixels (3200x1800).
That depth difference could feel pretty significant when the thing is razor thin.
Comparison article: http://www.theverge.com/2015/3/9/8177065/apple-macbook-specs...
EDIT: aluminium bends too easily compared to other material. It does not have best structural integrity for its weight. Magnesium alloy, carbon fiber reinforced plastic or titanium composite usually has better parameters for weight.
But I am not saying that polished aluminium is bad or looks bad.
Plastic can flex to absorb the stress without permanently deforming, aluminum not so much. Even the panasonic toughbooks are plastic, and those are probably the most durable laptops I know of by a large margin.
It didn't boot or do much of anything after she had traipsed all over it.
That being said, I am not saying the MB would fare much better, but those Toughbooks are not as tough as they are advertised.
The corner itself was obliterated, leaving a small hole where it used to be, but that was the only damage the laptop sustained.
Unibody metal laptops are nice, but I think the structural advantage of them is heavily oversold. Plastic laptops with metal frames can be amazingly durable.
It will be interesting to see how much RAM the base configuration of the new Macbook will ship with, because the XPS 13 at $1299 comes with 8 GB.
[1] http://images.apple.com/live/2015-mar-event/images/d02cd9e29...
Does the Dell have a camera? I don't see it mentioned on that page, so maybe not.
a) that marketing page compares against a processor that is 4 years old, i.e. the processor in the 2011 MBA?
b) Intel has made new core i5's in the last 4 years (or even 3 years, 2 years, last year...)
c) we're not at a point where physics allows us to make hardware that consumes < 1/3 the power, but performs better, using the same manufacturing processes.