5 ms·

In addition to Lenovo, consider the XPS 13 and 15. While Dell's quality has been somewhat inconsistent as they launched the line, they stepped up and took care

In addition to Lenovo, consider the XPS 13 and 15. While Dell's quality has been somewhat inconsistent as they launched the line, they stepped up and took care of the problem I encoutered with my XPS 13 and it's quickly become my favorite laptop ever. Great battery life, super portable, an external battery for long flights and an AMAZING screen. It even supports touch, which I don't use all the time, but find nice to have. With either the Lenovo or Dell, make certain to add multi-year same or next day service. With Dell, it's easier to do that from their small business sections than from the home section. If you forget, just call and buy separately. I got my laptop from MS Store due to a sale then called and added 4 years to the warranty. While many rave about the genius bar, I find the "come to my home or office and fix this" experience far preferable.

oldmanjay 10y ago
That's a heck of a sales pitch out of nowhere, extended warranty and everything!
junnan 10y ago
+1 for XPS 13. I installed Archlinux on it, just to get rid of those Windows bloatware.
fluxsauce 10y ago
Edit - never mind, found it. Dell has some dead links. I've been keeping an eye on the XPS 13, but it looks like the "Developer Edition" has gone away. Do you know what the current equivalent is?
- callahad 10y ago
  For others: The XPS 13 "Developer Edition" has been rolled into the mainline XPS 13, and only appears under the "Shop for Work" facet of their online store. For folks in the US, visit http://www.dell.com/us/business/p/xps-13-9360-laptop/pd http://www.dell.com/us/business/p/xps-13-9360-laptop/pd and filter by Operating System -> Ubuntu
  - sliken 10y ago
    Be warned that all the kaby lake XPS13 have MUCH slower GPUs then the previous edition with the IRIS 540 graphics.
    - walterbell 10y ago
      Why, will this affect other models and OEMs?
  - stock_toaster 10y ago
    Huh. Looks like you still have to get the touchscreen model to get a configuration with 16gb ram. I was hoping they would allow that by now, but it still looks like 8gb soldered in ram is the only option for the FHD (non-touch) display.
barongrounds 10y ago
Make sure you replace the worthless Broadcom wifi chip with an Intel. It's puzzling that Dell would cheap out on an otherwise excellent machine. At least swapping them out is an easy job.
- mschuster91 10y ago
  At least the Broadcom chipsets can do soft-AP mode on Linux, something that IIRC even the top-notch Intel chipsets can't.
  - vetinari 10y ago
    Are you sure about that? In the past, I've used Centrino N6205 in AP mode to share internet connection of the Thinkpads T430s 3G modem. iw info also says, that it supports AP mode.
- jtbarrett 10y ago
  You could also consider the Precision 5510 [1] if a Quadro GPU works for you. Essentially an XPS 15 but it includes Intel wifi. Recently got one from work and I've been pretty happy with it. [1] http://www.dell.com/us/business/p/precision-m5510-workstation/pd http://www.dell.com/us/business/p/precision-m5510-workstatio...
- gtaylor 10y ago
  Fwiw, the broadcom chip is supported and works fine with Linux on my XPS 15. No extra work required.
  - barongrounds 10y ago
    It works, but "works fine" is a long stretch. Takes a long time to connect, particularly after suspend, sometimes several minutes or longer. This is true of both windows and Linux.
    - marklyon 10y ago
ceor4 10y ago
How's linux support in the XPS 15?
- jerf 10y ago
  I'm currently running Ubuntu 16.04 on it, and everything I've tried works. But it has taken some fiddling. (I have swapped the wireless for [1] on the advice of a coworker that didn't even like the way the stock one worked on Windows.) I can't vouch for the USB3, Thunderbolt, or Bluetooth because I haven't tried it. Also stock Ubuntu can't control the backlight brightness but xbacklight can, so it seems to be an Ubuntu issue rather than Linux. It also installed next to Windows pretty well, once I turned off Secure Boot in the Bios. Grub worked without hassle. You may also have some fiddling with the AHCI vs. RAID sections in the BIOS; google around for info on that. You may also need to reinstall Windows 10 from scratch to avoid issues with "locked blocks" on the main hard drive so you can shrink partitions, and to deal with the switch from "RAID" to "AHCI" (not strictly necessary but if you're going to reinstall anyhow it works). Depends on the line up. I do recommend that if you get one, you figure out whether you're going to dual-boot immediately, before you "move into" Windows. It's much easier to put together a dual-boot setup with a fresh install of Windows 10, I found. (And it's actually Window's fault, not Linux's, for refusing to evacuate enough of the drive.) If you do plan to reinstall windows, go to the Dell driver page, grab all the relevant ones, and stick them on the Windows 10 installation USB stick you make. (There's a tool from Microsoft that just lets you download the Windows 10 install media, then picks up the license off the motherboard.) Also, I found you will have to install a particular BIOS to make sure you don't get this weird and very annoying screen flicker where it dims for a couple of frames every ten seconds or so; A06 I think from the BIOS page. It has not been the smoothest trip. But then, getting Linux running on a laptop perfectly never is. But I have ended up with a satisfactory primarily-Linux system. (I boot into Windows for games. Dual-boot is less frustrating when booting is so fast; I counted 32 seconds to hibernate Linux, reboot into Windows, and have Steam up and functioning. It's actually faster for me to do that from Linux than to start up my PS3 and be playing a game from a cold AV system start.) [1]: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0167N9R8E/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0167N9R8E/ref=oh_aui_sear...
  - 10y ago
intopieces 10y ago
If you go with Dell, go with either Developer Edition or Windows Signature Edition. I too had an issue with my Dell XPS 9343 (128GB/8GB/"4K" Touch) and a Dell rep came to my house and fixed it. I have two of these now, one for work (FHD) and one for personal (Touch).
- sliken 10y ago
  Dell claims the 3200x1800 screen takes the battery life of the new XP13 from 22 hours to 12. Have you noticed similar?
  - intopieces 10y ago
    I'm running the Skylake version, not Kaby Lake, but yes the battery life is significantly less (8 hours vs about 12, Touch vs FHD). If battery life is your concern, definitely go with the FHD Kaby Lake. It has a matte screen that is absolutely beautiful in 1080p. I had issues with a loose trackpad on the Touch but not the 1080p.
jlgaddis 10y ago
> ... it's easier to do that from their small business sections ... For the last few years, I've recommended to anyone buying a "personal" laptop to order it from the "small business" portals/sites instead of the normal "consumer/home" ones. You usually get better support (or better support options), including US-based phone tech support (personally, that doesn't really matter to me as long as I can understand the support agent but, honestly, it does matter to a lot of people) and sometimes better warranties as well. It may cost a few bucks extra but it's well worth it when the time comes that you need it.
cm2187 10y ago
And if you want an ethernet port, the lattitude E7470. Just don't bother with the fingerprint reader which is pretty much useless.

oldmanjay 10y ago

That's a heck of a sales pitch out of nowhere, extended warranty and everything!

junnan 10y ago

+1 for XPS 13. I installed Archlinux on it, just to get rid of those Windows bloatware.

fluxsauce 10y ago

Edit - never mind, found it. Dell has some dead links. I've been keeping an eye on the XPS 13, but it looks like the "Developer Edition" has gone away. Do you know what the current equivalent is?

callahad 10y ago
For others: The XPS 13 "Developer Edition" has been rolled into the mainline XPS 13, and only appears under the "Shop for Work" facet of their online store. For folks in the US, visit http://www.dell.com/us/business/p/xps-13-9360-laptop/pd http://www.dell.com/us/business/p/xps-13-9360-laptop/pd and filter by Operating System -> Ubuntu
- sliken 10y ago
  Be warned that all the kaby lake XPS13 have MUCH slower GPUs then the previous edition with the IRIS 540 graphics.
  - walterbell 10y ago
    Why, will this affect other models and OEMs?
- stock_toaster 10y ago
  Huh. Looks like you still have to get the touchscreen model to get a configuration with 16gb ram. I was hoping they would allow that by now, but it still looks like 8gb soldered in ram is the only option for the FHD (non-touch) display.

barongrounds 10y ago

Make sure you replace the worthless Broadcom wifi chip with an Intel. It's puzzling that Dell would cheap out on an otherwise excellent machine. At least swapping them out is an easy job.

mschuster91 10y ago
At least the Broadcom chipsets can do soft-AP mode on Linux, something that IIRC even the top-notch Intel chipsets can't.
- vetinari 10y ago
  Are you sure about that? In the past, I've used Centrino N6205 in AP mode to share internet connection of the Thinkpads T430s 3G modem. iw info also says, that it supports AP mode.
jtbarrett 10y ago
You could also consider the Precision 5510 [1] if a Quadro GPU works for you. Essentially an XPS 15 but it includes Intel wifi. Recently got one from work and I've been pretty happy with it. [1] http://www.dell.com/us/business/p/precision-m5510-workstation/pd http://www.dell.com/us/business/p/precision-m5510-workstatio...
gtaylor 10y ago
Fwiw, the broadcom chip is supported and works fine with Linux on my XPS 15. No extra work required.
- barongrounds 10y ago
  It works, but "works fine" is a long stretch. Takes a long time to connect, particularly after suspend, sometimes several minutes or longer. This is true of both windows and Linux.
  - marklyon 10y ago

ceor4 10y ago

How's linux support in the XPS 15?

jerf 10y ago
I'm currently running Ubuntu 16.04 on it, and everything I've tried works. But it has taken some fiddling. (I have swapped the wireless for [1] on the advice of a coworker that didn't even like the way the stock one worked on Windows.) I can't vouch for the USB3, Thunderbolt, or Bluetooth because I haven't tried it. Also stock Ubuntu can't control the backlight brightness but xbacklight can, so it seems to be an Ubuntu issue rather than Linux. It also installed next to Windows pretty well, once I turned off Secure Boot in the Bios. Grub worked without hassle. You may also have some fiddling with the AHCI vs. RAID sections in the BIOS; google around for info on that. You may also need to reinstall Windows 10 from scratch to avoid issues with "locked blocks" on the main hard drive so you can shrink partitions, and to deal with the switch from "RAID" to "AHCI" (not strictly necessary but if you're going to reinstall anyhow it works). Depends on the line up. I do recommend that if you get one, you figure out whether you're going to dual-boot immediately, before you "move into" Windows. It's much easier to put together a dual-boot setup with a fresh install of Windows 10, I found. (And it's actually Window's fault, not Linux's, for refusing to evacuate enough of the drive.) If you do plan to reinstall windows, go to the Dell driver page, grab all the relevant ones, and stick them on the Windows 10 installation USB stick you make. (There's a tool from Microsoft that just lets you download the Windows 10 install media, then picks up the license off the motherboard.) Also, I found you will have to install a particular BIOS to make sure you don't get this weird and very annoying screen flicker where it dims for a couple of frames every ten seconds or so; A06 I think from the BIOS page. It has not been the smoothest trip. But then, getting Linux running on a laptop perfectly never is. But I have ended up with a satisfactory primarily-Linux system. (I boot into Windows for games. Dual-boot is less frustrating when booting is so fast; I counted 32 seconds to hibernate Linux, reboot into Windows, and have Steam up and functioning. It's actually faster for me to do that from Linux than to start up my PS3 and be playing a game from a cold AV system start.) [1]: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0167N9R8E/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0167N9R8E/ref=oh_aui_sear...
- 10y ago

intopieces 10y ago

If you go with Dell, go with either Developer Edition or Windows Signature Edition. I too had an issue with my Dell XPS 9343 (128GB/8GB/"4K" Touch) and a Dell rep came to my house and fixed it. I have two of these now, one for work (FHD) and one for personal (Touch).

sliken 10y ago
Dell claims the 3200x1800 screen takes the battery life of the new XP13 from 22 hours to 12. Have you noticed similar?
- intopieces 10y ago
  I'm running the Skylake version, not Kaby Lake, but yes the battery life is significantly less (8 hours vs about 12, Touch vs FHD). If battery life is your concern, definitely go with the FHD Kaby Lake. It has a matte screen that is absolutely beautiful in 1080p. I had issues with a loose trackpad on the Touch but not the 1080p.

jlgaddis 10y ago

> ... it's easier to do that from their small business sections ... For the last few years, I've recommended to anyone buying a "personal" laptop to order it from the "small business" portals/sites instead of the normal "consumer/home" ones. You usually get better support (or better support options), including US-based phone tech support (personally, that doesn't really matter to me as long as I can understand the support agent but, honestly, it does matter to a lot of people) and sometimes better warranties as well. It may cost a few bucks extra but it's well worth it when the time comes that you need it.

cm2187 10y ago

And if you want an ethernet port, the lattitude E7470. Just don't bother with the fingerprint reader which is pretty much useless.