4 ms·

<snark>But it only has 16GB, obviously that's not enough for developers!</snark> (Typing this on the new MBP that people tell me is not a "Pro" machine -- but

by sulam 10y ago

<snark>But it only has 16GB, obviously that's not enough for developers!</snark> (Typing this on the new MBP that people tell me is not a "Pro" machine -- but it's the best laptop I've ever owned!)

rahkiin 10y ago
But wait: this XPS actually has 'only' 16GB RAM. Why doesn't this seem to be a problem now? Is it replaceable?
- IanCal 10y ago
  Dell also make laptops with far more ram, so it's not a choice of ">16GB or dell" it's just with this specific line of laptops.
- 20161112 10y ago
  The current gen XPS 15 can be upgraded to 32gb. Not sure about the 13.
  - jmkni 10y ago
    I have one of these at the moment, with 32GB of ram. Definitely the fastest machine I've ever owned/used.
    - karmajunkie 10y ago
      How's the extra ram affect the battery life? Recent HN discussions seems to point toward a heavy battery penalty because of the type of ram needed. (NB: I am not a hardware nerd, looking for actual information here, not just an idle question)
      - jmkni 10y ago
        I'm honestly not sure, good question though. I guess it's difficult to test, would also be interested to know if somebody has tested the different versions against each other.
        karmajunkie 10y ago
        Good point—I guess a better question would be "hows your battery life?" :)
robinduckett 10y ago
I've got last year's model and the ram has never been an issue for me, in fact I manage to run 6 to 7 workspaces, each with a chrome window with a few hundred tabs, terminal windows and an atom window all running really well. I do have the great suspender installed which obviously helps.
- speg 10y ago
  You have 1800 tabs? How do you cognitively manage that?
- dorfsmay 10y ago
  It becomes a problem when you need to do integration tests with several VMs and data stores + video conf.
pavanky 10y ago
An MBP with the same configuration as the Dells priciest model costs $700 more.
fekberg 10y ago
I just upgraded my XPS 15 to 32GB, 2400MHz RAM. Unfortunately with the XPS 13, it seems the RAM is soldered to the motherboard. Personally I wouldn't get the XPS 13 for work, but go for the more powerful XPS 15.
Gorbzel 10y ago
Upvote for the snark. Normally might go the other way for the trollishness, but seems fair given that a minority of HNeckbeards turn every post re: Apple into an ad for the XPS or Surface Book these days. The "...for developers" talking point is so ridiculous I'd forgotten it was really just a rehashed argument from yesteryear. Used a Mac in the mid-00s while in undergrad CS, and other than a half of one semester virtualizing Windows for Verilog, every other toolchain or need I had worked perfectly in OS X. I had more conversations with other CS folks blathering about how Macs weren't used for development than I did problems using a Mac for development. That silliness hadn't been an issue for quite some time until now, just as how most people aren't under such a severe RAM crunch anymore that 16GB isn't a deal breaker. Every machine worth its salt is going to have made design compromises (Thunderbolt ports only, a horribly placed bezelwebcam, etc) because that's what building a product is about. Making a purchase is always going to involve subjective decision-making because that's what buying a product is about.
curt15 10y ago
Is Ubuntu substantially lighter on system resources than macOS? I used a MBP for a few years during the OS X Lion/Mavericks era, and the system struggled on a 4GB/500HDD machine whereas a comparably specced Linux laptop would just fly.
- sulam 10y ago
  I haven't run Linux on my MB's, so I can't say how same-same hardware performance would compare between the two. I always have a Linux machine around, though, and have for the last 20+ years (Slackware on floppies!) -- and it always runs faster than Windows. Much of that probably has to do with the fact that it's simply running a lot less code, and that a lot of what I would do with an app you do from the shell in Linux. Regarding the narrow question of memory usage, I'd be surprised if Linux uses as much memory as MacOS, again because of the more extensive set of system services that runs in MacOS.

by sulam 10y ago

<snark>But it only has 16GB, obviously that's not enough for developers!</snark> (Typing this on the new MBP that people tell me is not a "Pro" machine -- but it's the best laptop I've ever owned!)

rahkiin 10y ago

But wait: this XPS actually has 'only' 16GB RAM. Why doesn't this seem to be a problem now? Is it replaceable?

IanCal 10y ago
Dell also make laptops with far more ram, so it's not a choice of ">16GB or dell" it's just with this specific line of laptops.
20161112 10y ago
The current gen XPS 15 can be upgraded to 32gb. Not sure about the 13.
- jmkni 10y ago
  I have one of these at the moment, with 32GB of ram. Definitely the fastest machine I've ever owned/used.
  - karmajunkie 10y ago
    How's the extra ram affect the battery life? Recent HN discussions seems to point toward a heavy battery penalty because of the type of ram needed. (NB: I am not a hardware nerd, looking for actual information here, not just an idle question)
    - jmkni 10y ago
      I'm honestly not sure, good question though. I guess it's difficult to test, would also be interested to know if somebody has tested the different versions against each other.
      - karmajunkie 10y ago
        Good point—I guess a better question would be "hows your battery life?" :)

robinduckett 10y ago

I've got last year's model and the ram has never been an issue for me, in fact I manage to run 6 to 7 workspaces, each with a chrome window with a few hundred tabs, terminal windows and an atom window all running really well. I do have the great suspender installed which obviously helps.

speg 10y ago
You have 1800 tabs? How do you cognitively manage that?
dorfsmay 10y ago
It becomes a problem when you need to do integration tests with several VMs and data stores + video conf.

pavanky 10y ago

An MBP with the same configuration as the Dells priciest model costs $700 more.

fekberg 10y ago

I just upgraded my XPS 15 to 32GB, 2400MHz RAM. Unfortunately with the XPS 13, it seems the RAM is soldered to the motherboard. Personally I wouldn't get the XPS 13 for work, but go for the more powerful XPS 15.

Gorbzel 10y ago

Upvote for the snark. Normally might go the other way for the trollishness, but seems fair given that a minority of HNeckbeards turn every post re: Apple into an ad for the XPS or Surface Book these days. The "...for developers" talking point is so ridiculous I'd forgotten it was really just a rehashed argument from yesteryear. Used a Mac in the mid-00s while in undergrad CS, and other than a half of one semester virtualizing Windows for Verilog, every other toolchain or need I had worked perfectly in OS X. I had more conversations with other CS folks blathering about how Macs weren't used for development than I did problems using a Mac for development. That silliness hadn't been an issue for quite some time until now, just as how most people aren't under such a severe RAM crunch anymore that 16GB isn't a deal breaker. Every machine worth its salt is going to have made design compromises (Thunderbolt ports only, a horribly placed bezelwebcam, etc) because that's what building a product is about. Making a purchase is always going to involve subjective decision-making because that's what buying a product is about.

curt15 10y ago

Is Ubuntu substantially lighter on system resources than macOS? I used a MBP for a few years during the OS X Lion/Mavericks era, and the system struggled on a 4GB/500HDD machine whereas a comparably specced Linux laptop would just fly.

sulam 10y ago
I haven't run Linux on my MB's, so I can't say how same-same hardware performance would compare between the two. I always have a Linux machine around, though, and have for the last 20+ years (Slackware on floppies!) -- and it always runs faster than Windows. Much of that probably has to do with the fact that it's simply running a lot less code, and that a lot of what I would do with an app you do from the shell in Linux. Regarding the narrow question of memory usage, I'd be surprised if Linux uses as much memory as MacOS, again because of the more extensive set of system services that runs in MacOS.