19 ms·

New XPS 15 Laptop

226 points by Sui 10y ago

farresito 10y ago
The only reason why I regret buying a Thinkpad is that I see good machines like the XPS, but I'm not willing to buy them because I have been spoiled by Thinkpad's keyboards.
- creshal 10y ago
  Rumours have it that next year's line-up will return to having slim bezels like the current XPS series has (and Thinkpads had a decade ago…).
  - chx 10y ago
    A cautious promise included a Thinkpad Retro hopefully with the old keyboard next year. If it happens, I am buying it and I am not going to look at the price tag.
    - dgudkov 10y ago
      If only they return the ThinkLight -- that would be great.
dm03514 10y ago
ubuntu!?
- ngoldbaum 10y ago
  It usually takes them several months after the product is released to come out with developer edition versions.
  - abrowne 10y ago
    Not this time with the Kaby Lake XPS 13 — they were available immediately. I think it helped that the hardware is exactly the same, since all versions have a Killer (Qualcomm) wifi card rather than "Dell" (= Broadcom) for Windows and Intel for Ubuntu.
- johnward 10y ago
  Does "available with Windows 10" mean you have a choice? I don't follow Dell close enough to know the wording for Ubuntu products.
  - phreenet 10y ago
    In the past they have referred to the Ubuntu pre-installed models as 'Developer Edition'.
- Lio 10y ago
  This is something I'd really like to know too. About a month ago I contacted Dell's chat session thing to ask about Linux support on the XPS13 ...the Dell representative gave a hand wavey reply and terminated the session. I got the impression he'd not heard of either Sputnik or the Developer Edition.
  - sliken 10y ago
    Try again, or just google XPS13 developer edition.
Roritharr 10y ago
Internet Archive to the Rescue: http://web.archive.org/web/20161220095136/http://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/productdetails/xps-15-9560-laptop http://web.archive.org/web/20161220095136/http://www.dell.co...
- Roritharr 10y ago
  Most important tid-bid for me: 7th Gen Intel® Quad Core™ processors optional 4GB GeForce® GTX 1050 Supports up to 32GB of memory Killer™ Wireless: The Killer 1535 Wireless-AC
  - sliken 10y ago
    Nice, I don't need a fire breathing gtx 1080 and the noise and terrible battery life. However the GTX 1050 might well justified. Very curious how long the battery lasts.
  - Roritharr 10y ago
    I just wish they'd give me this in a 13inch package. (like the Alienware 13, just with a more mature chassis)
    - sliken 10y ago
      Wouldn't that be the XPS13?
      - sethhochberg 10y ago
        Can't get an XPS 13 with a discrete GPU, however
        sliken 10y ago
        Correct, but if you get the 2015 you can get the Iris 540 which is a pretty decent GPU (at least compared to anything else intel ships). Beats some of the low/medium range chipsets. Sadly dell makes makes you pick on the XPS13: Lousy CPU No iris graphics 8GB ram small disk Great battery nice matte display And: Nice CPU Iris 540 graphics 16GB ram 3200x1800 shiny/reflective display (that halves your battery life) Sadly I was looking for the Iris 540, 1080P display, and 16GB ram. A very rare combination. Hopefully the new dell makes the 1080P option independ of the rest of the laptop. Sadly the kaby lake + iris graphics won't be out for a few more months. So the 2015 XPS13 is WAY faster at graphics than the 2016 kaby lake.
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tener 10y ago
The large display was precisely what is missing for me in XPS 13. Looks really great - I'll be looking to get one if my budget allows it!
- robert_foss 10y ago
  The larger display? A 15" version has been available most of 2016.
  - tener 10y ago
    Did it have 3840 x 2160 resolution (4K)? If so, my bad, I should have looked closer.
    - Roritharr 10y ago
      Yup, we have one here, it's a beast of a machine when fully decked out.
      - ohyoutravel 10y ago
        How is the battery? I got a 13 because of the supposed bad battery life of the 15.
        jonathantm 10y ago
        Get the lower resolution 1920x1080 without touchscreen and it's better than the 4k touchscreen.
valarauca1 10y ago
I am mildly excited for Kaby Lake for laptops. I was excited to buy a Kaby Lake Mac Book Pro. Especially when the Dell XPS13 is showing off >10 hours of 4k video playback on battery [1]. I can get about 12-14 hours on my 2014/2015 MBP (coding with a dark background, low brightness) I really enjoy the added flexibility longer battery life gives me. [1] http://www.pcworld.com/article/3127250/hardware/intel-kaby-lake-review-what-optimization-can-do-for-a-14nm-cpu.html http://www.pcworld.com/article/3127250/hardware/intel-kaby-l...
- rhodysurf 10y ago
  The colors on your screen will not affect battery life (Unless it is AMOLED)
  - valarauca1 10y ago
    Huh, thanks for pointing out this misconception I was harboring :D
    - peller 10y ago
      Colors, I don't think explicitly shorten battery life, but greater brightness and higher resolutions, yes.
    - dkersten 10y ago
      If anything, dark background will use more power as the pixels need to be fully powered to block out the backlight. Not sure if this is still the case, but it used to be afaik. CRT's were the opposite in that black meant the beam was off or somesuch and therefore white used more power. But that's not been true for a long time.
dreistdreist 10y ago
Did they fix the coil whine?
- irontoby 10y ago
  I sure as hell hope so. Typing this on a 2015 XPS 15 as we speak, and the incessant "chirp chirp chirp" any time it's in a non-horizontal position (such as when docked) drives me insane. Finally convinced support to take it in for warranty (expires in a few weeks), which means I'll be without it for a while, but hopefully they at least can swap out the mobo with a non-chirpy version...
- haspok 10y ago
  They did not fix that either. You might be lucky to receive a device that doesn't exhibit it, or you may not notice it, or you may not even bother about it. Dell doesn't really care - they still sell loads, and as long as the online reviewers don't complain loudly enough so that their sales are affected it is just not worth the cost.
  - karussell 10y ago
    Wow how lame of Dell. That was the reason I went with a Lenovo T460 (which I do not regret btw ;))
    - dreistdreist 10y ago
      Lenovo is much worse than Dell though... They deserve to go bankrupt after superfish and all that other crap they did.
bdwalter 10y ago
I'd love to hear how this laptop runs Ubuntu or Mint.
- caleblloyd 10y ago
  One of my co-workers has the current gen (9550) and Ubuntu 16.04 runs great on it. I think he's got an intel wifi card, I'd just check Linux compatibility with the Killer wifi card before going that route. It's easy enough to change a WiFi card out aftermarket if there is issues though, an Intel 8260 card will run you $30.
  - bdwalter 10y ago
    Does that include good working power management and a fully functioning touchpad? I went down the XPS13 Sputnik path and had endless disappointment with constant fixes.
    - aoloe 10y ago
      I have bought an XPS13 Sputnik this spring, have put Debian Testing on it, and had no single issue related to the the machine itself. At least, I think so... And, well, I'm not too picky...
    - caleblloyd 10y ago
      I think that Skylake Power Management got better in the Kernel after the original XPS13 Sputnik launch, but yes the XPS13 touchpad was a pain in the ass. The XPS15 touchpad on Linux is better than the XPS13. My biggest complaint about the XPS15 I had a little over a year ago was the spacebar. There was a manufacturing defect in mine where the touchpad ribbon cable pressed up against the spacebar and was causing unregistered keystrokes. I read internet forums where multiple people had this issue. Maybe Dell has fixed the manufacturing issue by now, but it was bad enough that I returned the XPS15.
  - drewg123 10y ago
    Is it really that easy to swap them out? Or does Dell lock-out non-whitelisted wifi in the BIOS like Lenovo does with thinkpads?
IanCal 10y ago
I wonder if this will have the coil whine issues the 13 has (had? I've got the last gen).
- rcatajar 10y ago
  I have a precision 5510 (pro version of the XPS15) Skylake gen and it doesn't have the annoying coil whine of my previous XPS13 (Haswell gen)
  - IanCal 10y ago
    Very useful to know, thanks. I'm somewhat torn about whether to keep or replace mine, apart from the whine it's a lovely little machine.
    - socksy 10y ago
      From what I've read the coil whine is related to having the keyboard backlight on. Is that important enough to trade-off for the noise? I always turn off backlights when using a computer on battery anyway (it's not like I'll be looking at the keyboard much...).
      - IanCal 10y ago
        I'd happily turn off the backlight, I'll try that. I've turned off the c6 processor states as apparently the switching there causes some of it. I can hear the changes as things visually change on screen, so scrolling and videos are quite bad.
        IanCal 10y ago
        Ah no dice. I think it's inherent in all of these laptops but some are worse than others. This is a refurb, so I wonder if it was returned due to this... I'll talk to the support.
proyb2 10y ago
Something wrong with this picture? http://i.dell.com/sites/imagecontent/products/PublishingImages/xps-15-9560-laptop/laptop-xps-15-pdp-polaris-05.jpg http://i.dell.com/sites/imagecontent/products/PublishingImag...
- anotheryou 10y ago
  photoshop sucks at scaling down "smart-objects". You need to scale destructively to make it look ok.
3adawi 10y ago
i bought the older version about 10 days ago (still within window to return), apart from the CPU, what changes have they made?
- anotheryou 10y ago
  same, but didn't want to wait any longer. New CPU and GPU it seems
- akmittal 10y ago
  New GPU and killer wireless instead of Intel.
  - ProAm 10y ago
    Is the killer wireless worth it? I cant find too much info on it speaking to pros & cons?
    - akmittal 10y ago
      According to notebookcheck it is second to MacBook only http://www.notebookcheck.net/Dell-XPS-13-9360-QHD-i5-7200U-Notebook-Review.178844.0.html http://www.notebookcheck.net/Dell-XPS-13-9360-QHD-i5-7200U-N...
sliken 10y ago
Does the tiny bezel mean a nostril cam like the XPS13?
- erelde 10y ago
  Honestly I'd be (more than) fine with an XPS 13 without webcam and mic. Actually I'd be so happy with a laptop like that. An XPS 13 without webcam and mic.
- caleblloyd 10y ago
  Sure does, the 9550 has the nostril cam and this appears to be the same form factor. Definitely one of the worst parts of the XPS 13/15 line, otherwise they're solid choices.
- talideon 10y ago
  You see that little dot to the left of the Dell logo? That's the camera.
ZanyProgrammer 10y ago
Where in the world is the price on this page?
skizm 10y ago
I might be missing it, but does it say when these will be available?
alltakendamned 10y ago
What's the release date for this machine ?
mamon 10y ago
Unfortunately, supported version of Display Port is 1.2 not 1.3. Any idea how to connect 5k display to it? Will "made for Apple" LG UltraFine 5k work?
- dogma1138 10y ago
  Thunderbolt 3 :) FYI the LG UF 5K doesn't come with Displayport 1.3 support either, it uses 2 DP 1.2 streams side by side (which sometimes can have screen tearing in the middle) hence it's a tiled display just like early 60hz 4K monitors. To work with the 5K monitor you either have to connect 2 DP1.2 cables or a single Thunderbolt 3 cable. In both cases you'll see 2 monitors connected on your machine which can cause some issues in some cases (e.g. full screen exclusive mode). P.S. What Apple device actually supports DP1.3? The new Mac's don't for sure, neither is the old Mac Pro unless you can hack some upgraded GPU into it...
mozumder 10y ago
Why would developers get a Windows laptop that don't have touch-screens? It seems the entire purpose of Windows laptops would be to test out touch-screen capabilities for your Windows apps. If you want to get a laptop without a touch screen, a Mac Book Pro would be the way to go. Especially with the great trackpad. But otherwise it looks great. It just needs that touch-screen for developing touch-enabled apps. Edit: Found that the touch-screen is an upgrade option.
- arcticfox 10y ago
  Maybe because not everyone prefers Mac like you? I have a 2016 Windows laptop and it performs brilliantly at half the price of an equivalent Mac.
- tartuffe78 10y ago
  Because very few consumers are using touch screens, let alone touch screen optimized apps.
  - rhinoceraptor 10y ago
    What consumers are even paying for Windows apps to begin with?
- Kihashi 10y ago
  Apple's hardware upgrades recently have not been super popular.
- sliken 10y ago
  Because you replace a nice matte screen that's very power efficient and replace it with a shiny/reflective display that halves your battery life. Are you willing to halve your battery life and see your face reflected in a fingerprint ridden screen... just to touch it?
mtrimpe 10y ago
So can it run triple 4K displays when combined with a dock or not? That's the only feature for which I still need a desktop computer and I would loooove to do without one.
- joosters 10y ago
  Thunderbolt™ 3 multi-use port allows you to charge your laptop, connect to multiple devices (including support for up to two 4K displays) and Featuring a single-cable connection for power, Ethernet, audio and video. Add the optional Dell Thunderbolt™ Dock for faster data transfers and support for up to three Full HD displays or two 4k displays. ...which is a little confusing. Does that mean two external 4K displays without a dock, and one with the thunderbolt dock? Do the display counts include the laptop display?
- slantyyz 10y ago
  Many of the new, slightly chunky gaming laptops with the 1060 will let you drive three 4K monitors without a dongle.
ndesaulniers 10y ago
Looks like they upgraded the 13" as well: http://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/productdetails/xps-13-9360-laptop/dncwt5122hv2 http://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/productdetails/xps-13-9360-la... Someone else noted there's no discrete Nvidia GPU: http://www.dell.com/learn/us/en/19/help-me-choose/hmc-nvidia-graphics-xps-lt http://www.dell.com/learn/us/en/19/help-me-choose/hmc-nvidia... I did not see the New XPS 12 that second link references.
- sahaskatta 10y ago
  The XPS 13 does not have a dGPU, but the XPS 15 does have one.
  - sliken 10y ago
    Sadly the XPS 13 2015 has IRIS 540 graphics available, which is pretty good, doubly so if you get the 1080P screen. The XPS13 2016 does not have IRIS available, yet. Intel should have them available feb/march or so.
StavrosK 10y ago
Am I missing a price on that page? Can anyone see where it is, or know how much it costs?
- Sui 10y ago
  I don't think it's an official page. It is still under construction I think.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
StavrosK 10y ago
Speaking of laptops, what would you recommend to someone running Ubuntu? My 2013 MacBook Air is feeling it, with its non-upgradable 4 GB RAM. A discrete graphics card so I could play DotA2 once in a while would be nice, even if it's at medium graphics quality.
- zarkov99 10y ago
  the XPS 13 runs linux perfectly.
- pilooch 10y ago
  I ve switched from air running Ubuntu to XPS 13 dev edition with Ubuntu. Not everything beautiful but a decent switch, great power, autonomy and screen.
  - StavrosK 10y ago
    Thank you! What are some things you don't like about it? Looking for a laptop is pretty frustrating, there are a ton of models and each has a ton of versions, it's really hard to know what to get :(
    - varlock 10y ago
      Not OP, but got the same laptop. "Jumpy trackpad" [1] and "stuck key" [2] problems are the ones I feel most. They should have been fixed by the latest firmware (apparently still in 2015) but I can still experience them sometimes. I believe I have the latest fw (I'm surely >= 06A), but can't check ATM, so chances are I'm not on the latest. Then again, I admit I can work with it almost seamlessly (dev-work from CLI mainly). [1] http://en.community.dell.com/techcenter/os-applications/f/4613/t/19637021 http://en.community.dell.com/techcenter/os-applications/f/46... [2] en.community.dell.com/techcenter/os-applications/f/4613/t/19637021
    - lazarus101 10y ago
      One issue would be the webcam placement, it's below the screen. If you get the XPS 13 don't make the same mistake I've made, don't waste your money on this POS http://accessories.euro.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?c=uk&l=en&s=bsd&cs=ukbsdt1&sku=452-BBOO http://accessories.euro.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?c=uk... Linux support is very bad, it uses a proprietary technology. Get a USB-C to HDMI adapter instead.
gressquel 10y ago
anyone else here thinking dell designs are kinda boring? I bought macbook to run win10 because it had great design. I am thinking of buying surface book next. Why can't Dell focus on a creative design?
- stonecodegump 10y ago
  Out of curiosity, what makes a design interesting for you? To me a laptop is two rectangular bits, with a screen on one and a keyboard on another. My macbook has silver rectangular bits, that Dell has black rectangular bits. I don't really see any other significant difference between the two..
  - gressquel 10y ago
    simply the design make it look like oozes class. (im getting downvoted soon, but i can take it :) )
- swozey 10y ago
  I personally think my coworkers XPS 13 is far, far cooler looking and thoughtfully designed than my MBPr. It has soft spots where you'd carry it. I think they're gorgeous. The only thing tying me to OSX at this point is 1passwords chrome plugin (doesn't work without hackery in Linux) but now that that's going web based I may be able to switch next year. Also the crazy resolutions aren't really a selling point to me at all. I can barely read the text when those things are cranked up.
  - toyg 10y ago
    > I can barely read the text when those things are cranked up. They are not supposed to be "cranked up". You're supposed to use hi-dpi to smooth everything, not to get more screen estate. Apple has been doing it correctly for almost 5 years now, one would hope Windows and Linux had caught up by now.
obtino 10y ago
The webcam is still awkwardly positioned. Have they fixed the coil noise issue yet?
obtino 10y ago
The webcam is still awkwardly positioned. Have they fixed the coil noise issue yet?
procyon82 10y ago
A 1050???? What a huge disappointment. I was gonna buy this as I was expecting a 1060.
- sliken 10y ago
  Get a stealth. The faster GPUs have a significant power, battery life, and noise compromise. Thus they are popular on gaming laptops.
  - ersii 10y ago
    "Get a stealth"? What's "a stealth"?
    - jessechahal 10y ago
      possible referring to one of razor's laptops http://www.razerzone.com/ca-en/gaming-systems/razer-blade-stealth http://www.razerzone.com/ca-en/gaming-systems/razer-blade-st...
    - mamon 10y ago
      I think GP meant this: http://www.razerzone.com/gaming-systems/razer-blade http://www.razerzone.com/gaming-systems/razer-blade But there's some confusion here, Razer Blade Stealth is actually the model with integrated GPU (Intel HD 620)
  - procyon82 10y ago
    The stealth is great but it's not 15". I think I'll get the base model of the new XPS 15 or ASUS UX501 and then add an eGPU through Thunderbolt.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
procyon82 10y ago
A 1050???? What a huge disappointment. I was gonna buy this as I was expecting a 1060.
codewiz 10y ago
No USB Type-C, seriously?
- alasdairnicol 10y ago
  There is one Thunderbolt 3 port.
- adrusi 10y ago
  It has thunderbolt 3, which is compatible with all type-c devices.
- whamlastxmas 10y ago
  Honestly it might be a deal killer for me. A regular USB with Thunderbolt isn't enough. I'm ready to move on from regular USB. Didn't the previous one have a Type C port?
andrewvijay 10y ago
Looks nice but their customer service will fuck you over if you have a hardware problem serious enough to replace some vital part. There was a huge thread here only recently by some poor guy being harassed by them.
- nix0n 10y ago
  In my experience a few years ago, Dells are much easier to open up and work on than most other laptops. If you are the sort of person to build your own desktop PC you might consider doing your own laptop repair rather than deal with warranty support.
- solidangle 10y ago
  That's not my experience with Dell (in the Netherlands). One of the keys didn't work correctly, I called them and the next day one of their mechanics replaced the keyboard at my home.
- yellowstuff 10y ago
  Not in my experience. I bought an XPS 15 earlier this year. It was a fairly new model and there were a lot of complaints online about quality control issues, but overwhelmingly they were happy with Dell's response. I got one and blew out the speakers (partly my fault), but Dell send me a replacement quickly.
- bsclifton 10y ago
  I've never had that experience with them in over 10 years of using Dell products. I had a first gen XPS13 (I miss that thing) and 2 years down the road, I had a motherboard issue. The support was actually great and knocked out the repair quickly. Sure, I had to do it over phone/mail versus going into a physical store, but it was painless.
- markdog12 10y ago
  In my experience, I had an issue and they showed up at my door next day and replaced the motherboard. This was about 7 years ago though.
- rstuart4133 10y ago
sisk 10y ago
Tangential but I figure the folks who will know the answer will wander into this thread. I need to buy a decent but lightweight 15" for a family member who is undergoing cancer treatments and has gotten too weak for his current behemoth 17". Light work (browsing, some streaming) but definitely a windows machine. Any recommendations? I've been keeping an eye on this exact machine (previous model now)—anything better?
- morganvachon 10y ago
  Even though I flagged the HN post as it's pretty much spam (a direct link to Dell's product page and not a review or analysis of the device), I have to say that in my experience Dell's XPS line is pretty much the gold standard for Windows alternatives to the MacBook and MacBook Air. The only other lightweight notebook that comes close is the Asus ZenBook, which directly competes with the MBA and is a pretty amazing machine for the price.
- pythonaut_16 10y ago
  Check out the Thinkpad T400 series (e.g. T460s) and X1 series (e.g. X1 Carbon and X1 Yoga). They're lightweight and durable with big screens at pretty reasonable prices.
- alkonaut 10y ago
  Whenever you look at a XPS you should always peek at the equivalent Precision machine (e.g. Precision 5510), there might be deals available. Also, although perhaps not applicable to your situation, the Precisions are usually more configurable than the XPS.
  - rplst8 10y ago
    I did this exact thing two weeks ago. I think the Precision adds the Premier Color display too.
hatsunearu 10y ago
GTX 1050 for the laptop? Why aren't there more laptops with this SKU...
- caleblloyd 10y ago
  The current gen (9550) graphics run in NVidia Optimus. There is no way to change to Only Integrated or Only Dedicated graphics in the BIOS. This means that you depend on the NVidia driver to switch to the graphics card based off which application you are running in Windows. It's a big pain in the ass for linux. You have to fool around with nouveau or Bumblebee to get Optimus working. Even then I was never sure the graphics card was doing anything in Linux. I wish all manufacturers would put a hardware mux on the graphics so that it could be switched from Optimus to Only Integrated or Only Dedicated. It seems to be going the other way where they don't and only offer Optimus though.
  - pkolaczk 10y ago
    The proprietary Nvidia driver supports Optimus with nvidia-prime. No need for Bumblebee. There are still a few bits missing there, though, like external display support in low-power mode. So, basically I agree - it is still PITA.
- sliken 10y ago
  Nvidia does top down, so 1080 first, 1070, then 1060 on the desktop. Then a few months later on laptops. The 1050 was recently announced for desktops, and is now about to hit laptops. I expect to see many more 1050s, likely a ton will be announced at CES in Jan.
- MikusR 10y ago
  Maybe because it's only coming out in january.
vladharbuz 10y ago
Anyone else getting an access denied error? Access Denied You don't have permission to access "http://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/productdetails/xps-15-9560-laptop" on this server. Reference #18.f4741602.1482244883.2126641
- fortytw2 10y ago
  It seems like they block access to the US store from outside the US? No VPN here, just a DE IP and it's blocked. Incredible to see the price differential between the US and DE stores though, on top of the 18% VAT you expect
  - thirdsun 10y ago
    That seems to be the case here. Visiting http://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/ http://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/ from my german IP yields the same result. Unbelievable. Frankly, the whole site looks like a mess to me.
    - reustle 10y ago
      I'm not having a problem viewing in Japan
      - mrcarrot 10y ago
        Yeah, I can access the URL from Austria, but I'm not sure I'm actually seeing info about the new XPS. There don't seem to be any specs anywhere, so it's hard to be sure.
    - hussong 10y ago
      Seeing the same here (German IP), maybe GeoIP blocking?
    - deong 10y ago
      The Dell site is absolutely terrible. For a while, perhaps still, there was no way to show the tech specs for at least the XPS laptop I was looking at. The marketing speak would say something like "XPS 13 with 6th Generation Intel Core processors" and then just a series of prices. You couldn't tell what CPU it had, how much memory, nothing. There's a Q/A box on the page, and there were dozens of unanswered questions like "how big is the hard drive" with no answers. I bought my XPS 13 from Costco, which was a nicer experience in pretty much every way.
pluglus 10y ago
Trackpad. How is the trackpad on this one? I keep buying Apple HW for my Windows as every time I try new PC, trackpad experience doesn't yield itself to the change. Period.
- FreakyT 10y ago
  Apple's trackpad drivers for Windows are some of the worst on the market. They just don't care.
- DocG 10y ago
  XPS 15 and 13 have (one of the) best trackpads on windows. I finally understand how people live without mouse. Apparently not the same as mac, but the closest experience available.
  - dogma1138 10y ago
    IBM/Lenovo always had great trackpads for the "Thinkpad" line, and the nipple/clit was always my favorite pointing device, I actually missing it as typing this on an MBP15.
  - jonathantm 10y ago
    But that it's not centered relative to the keyboard!!! ARG!!
- treehau5 10y ago
  My right index finger is ruined from constant use of an Apple trackpad for about 3 years now. Screw trackpads. Get a mouse.
  - themckman 10y ago
    I presume this is because you actually click the trackpad rather than turn on tap-to-click. Gotta turn on that tap-to-click. It doesn't take too long for my wrist to start hurting whenever I used someone's MB without tap to click.
trzeci 10y ago
I have "old" one 9550 i7, 4K, 32GB - as a device for this money I wouldn't expect that I will have: - unaligned Jack socket, so that only one channel plays - Flickering backlight, where only one rescue is to downgrade BIOS: http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/laptop/f/3519/t/19662532 http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/laptop/f/3519/t/... - random freezes: Whole computer hangs, there is no error in Windows log, it's not related to nVidia card, it's not related to load.
- MikusR 10y ago
  That's why things you buy usually come with warranties.
  - 1wd 10y ago
    Time to wait five weeks until it's "repaired", just to have it randomly freeze again all the time.
  - trzeci 10y ago
    Yes, you're totally right. Unfortunately I have two obstacles: - This is my device for work, just setting up environment on different PC is problematic, and extra time of waiting for it being repaired. - I bought it in a different country that currently I'm living. Frankly I don't know if I can use local support, guys from DellSweden didn't reply my question yet. Problem is that, when you spend pretty decent amount of money for a device, you do have an expectation in terms of quality, partially you're paying for that.
    - Const-me 10y ago
      Cloning a Windows laptop takes less than an hour, given you have a USB 3.0 hard drive. The imaging tool is part of Windows. Also included in the installer so you can restore on a clean HDD.
    - e2kp 10y ago
      This is my experience too, when buying a high-end laptop, I expect it to just work. If my time was worth dealing with shitty QA, I'd buy a low end laptop.
merb 10y ago
> Available with Windows 10 so sad > Dell Thunderbolt™ Dock | TB16 I wonder if they fixed all the issues? I doubt they didn't.
dbg31415 10y ago
Man, the only thing I can say against this is that it doesn't have a MagSafe power plug.
- softawre 10y ago
  Neither does the new macbooks, outside of the air.
gok 10y ago
So compared to the new MacBook Pro, it's the same weight and has 25% less battery capacity.
- lukaszkups 10y ago
  and 500% more ports :D
- notheguyouthink 10y ago
  With a sane keyboard and trackpad size, as well. (ie, the trackpad isn't massive and under your palms, and the keyboard actually has travel rather than the weird no-travel PoS Apple put out)
bronz 10y ago
i feel like a new trend is emerging with these nice, 15 inch non-apple laptops. i say non-apple because they are attracting the pro crowd that used to buy apple exclusively. my personal fantasy is a laptop that isnt shy about being thick, affording it a huge battery, tons of ports, OLED screen and solid state trackpad like the macbook. with very reliable linux drivers for all the hardware. a very utilitarian machine.
- ohyoutravel 10y ago
  Speaking of battery, I picked up an XPS 13 recently and am very happy with it. The battery seems to last forever, the 2016 model increases the battery size from 56(?) to 60w. The only reason I didn't go with the XPS 15 was that the battery life is supposed to be terrible, and it appears that even this newly announced model only has a 56w battery, which is surprising.
  - bronz 10y ago
    out of all the laptops that are around right now, the xps series seems to be the closest to my fantasy -- this is due largely to their developer models which come with linux and linux supported hardware. when you say w do you mean Wh? ive heard murmurs of the legal limit for battery capacity in a laptop being 100Wh so that is very disappointing that the new xps would not even approach that anemic cap. i was in a mall the other day and happened across a windows store. i was very pleased to see they had a range of xps laptops on display. i found them to be very attractive and well made. IIRC some of them had a power button on the side of the laptop instead of the top of the keyboard. my current laptop has a power button like this and i cannot fucking stand it. i press it by accident at least twice a day. any sane person would realize what a terrible idea that is -- it totally baffles me why they do this. its very sad to see such an obvious flaw on these otherwise great laptops.
    - creshal 10y ago
      The biggest battery capacity I've had in a laptop was 160Wh with the Thinkpad X220, I'm curious where that supposed 100Wh limit comes from.
projectramo 10y ago
How does one tell which XPS 15 one is ordering? Suppose you order one through Amazon, other than doing a feature by feature comparison, can you tell it is the "latest" one?
- volent 10y ago
  There are different models, you can check a given laptop model under XPS logo under the keyboard.
- meritt 10y ago
  Look at the specific model number. 9560 is the latest XPS 15" (and 9360 is the latest XPS 13", from Oct 2016)
  - projectramo 10y ago
    Thanks. I was looking for the model number but could not find it on the page.
- spikej 10y ago
  The cpu model number is usually listed and the cpu generation gives an indication as well...
andlarry 10y ago
Folks considering this should also check out the HP ZBook Studio G3. It has Quadro M1000M 4GB graphics, 32 GB of ECC RAM, quad core, Linux certified by HP, 4k screen, can handle two external 4k monitors and drive the panel at about 4.5 pounds.
- chx 10y ago
  Sniff, that's a Maxwell chip not Pascal. But it came out early 2016 so perhaps early 2017 we will see a G4 with Kaby Lake and Pascal quad core. Would be nice.
  - andlarry 10y ago
    > Sniff, that's a Maxwell chip not Pascal. Is there a substantial difference? This is a development laptop so I only cared about it being able to push enough pixels. Perhaps there's a difference for gamers?
    - dijit 10y ago
      Buying a quadro card for gaming is like buying a truck for racing.
    - chx 10y ago
      Largely depends on whether you want 3D performance or not (that's not only for gamers). The performance/watt ratio is significantly higher on Pascal.
- heroprotagonist 10y ago
  This is probably a trivial complaint to some, but after using a Precision 5510 for a while I really wouldn't want to go back to a laptop screen with a wide bezel again. It's up to personal aesthetic choice, mostly, I guess. edit: It's also unclear whether the SSD in the ZBook is PCIe or not. It isn't stated, so I assume it's not, as PCIe performance is a differentiator.
  - 10y ago
stanislavb 10y ago
It's a decent laptop; however, having the camera at the bottom of the screen is a bit annoying :/ - ppl will be looking into your nose :)
- Todd 10y ago
  This is the biggest design flaw with this laptop. It is a very unflattering angle and makes the video essentially useless. It's the one reason I can't recommend it to people (or I recommend it with a caveat, if they use the camera often).
up_and_up 10y ago
Where are the buttons to `Buy Now` or `Customize`? Seems like a sales funnel mistake.
- irontoby 10y ago
  It's apparently not meant to be live yet; if you go to "XPS Laptops" from the main product page you're still taken to the 9550.
talideon 10y ago
It's basically the Precision 5510, which is a nice piece of kit.
AndyKelley 10y ago
Did they fix the keyboard debounce issue? I'd like to try typing on the keyboard before purchasing.
- haspok 10y ago
  They did not fix it, but the latest BIOSes (on the XPS13) make it better. Some people still complain though. I don't notice it, maybe I'm not typing fast enough :) The real annoyance for me about the input devices is that the palm detection doesn't work for the touchpad (on Ubuntu), at least I couldn't get it working. So either typing suffers, or have to disable "tap to click", which is so weird I can't get used to it.
  - AndyKelley 10y ago
    Even with the latest BIOS on the XPS13, I can reliably type "asdf" and get "asdasfdf"
tom-_- 10y ago
Any opinions on a System76 running Ubuntu? XPS is just too far outside of my price range.
smoyer 10y ago
I have Xubuntu running on one of these and, for the most part, love this machine. There is one design defect and a couple of nitpicks I have: - The webcam is below the screen ... I don't want to join a video conference when the primary view is my nose hair. - Why do "modern" slim devices only have two USB ports? There is room on the chassis for more (I don't know about the interior layout). - We've tried several of the Dell docks with these ... while I love the fact that the laptop charges through the same cable that's used for everything else (video, audio, HID devices), it's a bit buggy. Two examples are that: 1) you have to plug speakers into the computer's audio jack after the computer is attached to the dock and booted and 2) you have to be careful the magnetic switch doesn't tell the laptop/dock your lid is closed - in my case the keyboard and mouse connected to the dock become disabled even when the laptop wakes back up.
canterburry 10y ago
Now if Lenovo would just build something that remotely competes with this I'd be begging them to take my money. I haven't found anything quad core and 15 inches from Lenovo that doesn't weigh a ton...oh...and that off center keyboard on Lenovo's 15 inch models! WTF?! Lenovo is completely behind on offering anything remotely pro dev which competes with XPS 15 or MacBook Pro. I got the XPS 15 9550 for my dad and he loves it.
- blauditore 10y ago
  What are you missing in Lenovo laptops? I've been using the Yoga 2 Pro for years and am happy with it. It's a great trade-off between size, weight, performance and comfort, and I'm actually happier with it than with the MBPs i've worked with so far. Now that it's aged I've been looking for a replacement and skimmed through lots of laptops. Even now, the Yoga 910 seems to be closest to what I want and I'll probably buy this one. Edit: I just saw you updated your comment - maybe the difference is that I prefer smaller screen sizes in favor of portability.
laurentdc 10y ago
Does anyone know if there's still coil whine issue? I had the same issue on a old ThinkPad and couldn't tolerate it.
mixmastamyk 10y ago
Page is empty for me.
mixmastamyk 10y ago
Page is empty for me, tried both Firefox and Chrome on Linux.
nkkollaw 10y ago
Access Denied You don't have permission to access "http://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/productdetails/xps-15-9560-laptop" http://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/productdetails/xps-15-9560-la... on this server. Reference #18.36d61202.1482271177.71b1881 Why (I'm in Germany).
voycey 10y ago
I had the XPS L502X and it was hands down the best laptop I have ever owned: JBL Speakers that were genuinely excellent - I work at home and listen to music quite loudly so these were a huge selling point for me Plenty of Ports Easy to upgrade / repair - I think by the end of its life I had replaced or upgraded everything except the motherboard All of the XPS systems since this one have paled in comparison, shitty speakers and an ultra book type. The L502X was a chunky workhorse but it survived a years backpacking around Asia with me and then 4 years in Australia as my main work computer until it finally died enough that I couldn't be bothered to fix it (Would power on for half a second and die). It also ran Linux like a dream - no incompatibilities! On an Alienware 17 R3 now and it is a beast.... but it's speakers are no match for the L502X's :( Also absolutely cant get Linux to run on it so I am using Virtualbox with a dual head setup which has its share of issues

226 points by Sui 10y ago

The only reason why I regret buying a Thinkpad is that I see good machines like the XPS, but I'm not willing to buy them because I have been spoiled by Thinkpad's keyboards.

creshal 10y ago
Rumours have it that next year's line-up will return to having slim bezels like the current XPS series has (and Thinkpads had a decade ago…).
- chx 10y ago
  A cautious promise included a Thinkpad Retro hopefully with the old keyboard next year. If it happens, I am buying it and I am not going to look at the price tag.
  - dgudkov 10y ago
    If only they return the ThinkLight -- that would be great.

dm03514 10y ago

ubuntu!?

ngoldbaum 10y ago
It usually takes them several months after the product is released to come out with developer edition versions.
- abrowne 10y ago
  Not this time with the Kaby Lake XPS 13 — they were available immediately. I think it helped that the hardware is exactly the same, since all versions have a Killer (Qualcomm) wifi card rather than "Dell" (= Broadcom) for Windows and Intel for Ubuntu.
johnward 10y ago
Does "available with Windows 10" mean you have a choice? I don't follow Dell close enough to know the wording for Ubuntu products.
- phreenet 10y ago
  In the past they have referred to the Ubuntu pre-installed models as 'Developer Edition'.
Lio 10y ago
This is something I'd really like to know too. About a month ago I contacted Dell's chat session thing to ask about Linux support on the XPS13 ...the Dell representative gave a hand wavey reply and terminated the session. I got the impression he'd not heard of either Sputnik or the Developer Edition.
- sliken 10y ago
  Try again, or just google XPS13 developer edition.

Roritharr 10y ago

Internet Archive to the Rescue: http://web.archive.org/web/20161220095136/http://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/productdetails/xps-15-9560-laptop http://web.archive.org/web/20161220095136/http://www.dell.co...

Roritharr 10y ago
Most important tid-bid for me: 7th Gen Intel® Quad Core™ processors optional 4GB GeForce® GTX 1050 Supports up to 32GB of memory Killer™ Wireless: The Killer 1535 Wireless-AC
- sliken 10y ago
  Nice, I don't need a fire breathing gtx 1080 and the noise and terrible battery life. However the GTX 1050 might well justified. Very curious how long the battery lasts.
- Roritharr 10y ago
  I just wish they'd give me this in a 13inch package. (like the Alienware 13, just with a more mature chassis)
  - sliken 10y ago
    Wouldn't that be the XPS13?
    - sethhochberg 10y ago
      Can't get an XPS 13 with a discrete GPU, however
      - sliken 10y ago
        Correct, but if you get the 2015 you can get the Iris 540 which is a pretty decent GPU (at least compared to anything else intel ships). Beats some of the low/medium range chipsets. Sadly dell makes makes you pick on the XPS13: Lousy CPU No iris graphics 8GB ram small disk Great battery nice matte display And: Nice CPU Iris 540 graphics 16GB ram 3200x1800 shiny/reflective display (that halves your battery life) Sadly I was looking for the Iris 540, 1080P display, and 16GB ram. A very rare combination. Hopefully the new dell makes the 1080P option independ of the rest of the laptop. Sadly the kaby lake + iris graphics won't be out for a few more months. So the 2015 XPS13 is WAY faster at graphics than the 2016 kaby lake.

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tener 10y ago

The large display was precisely what is missing for me in XPS 13. Looks really great - I'll be looking to get one if my budget allows it!

robert_foss 10y ago
The larger display? A 15" version has been available most of 2016.
- tener 10y ago
  Did it have 3840 x 2160 resolution (4K)? If so, my bad, I should have looked closer.
  - Roritharr 10y ago
    Yup, we have one here, it's a beast of a machine when fully decked out.
    - ohyoutravel 10y ago
      How is the battery? I got a 13 because of the supposed bad battery life of the 15.
      - jonathantm 10y ago
        Get the lower resolution 1920x1080 without touchscreen and it's better than the 4k touchscreen.

valarauca1 10y ago

I am mildly excited for Kaby Lake for laptops. I was excited to buy a Kaby Lake Mac Book Pro. Especially when the Dell XPS13 is showing off >10 hours of 4k video playback on battery [1]. I can get about 12-14 hours on my 2014/2015 MBP (coding with a dark background, low brightness) I really enjoy the added flexibility longer battery life gives me. [1] http://www.pcworld.com/article/3127250/hardware/intel-kaby-lake-review-what-optimization-can-do-for-a-14nm-cpu.html http://www.pcworld.com/article/3127250/hardware/intel-kaby-l...

rhodysurf 10y ago
The colors on your screen will not affect battery life (Unless it is AMOLED)
- valarauca1 10y ago
  Huh, thanks for pointing out this misconception I was harboring :D
  - peller 10y ago
    Colors, I don't think explicitly shorten battery life, but greater brightness and higher resolutions, yes.
  - dkersten 10y ago
    If anything, dark background will use more power as the pixels need to be fully powered to block out the backlight. Not sure if this is still the case, but it used to be afaik. CRT's were the opposite in that black meant the beam was off or somesuch and therefore white used more power. But that's not been true for a long time.

dreistdreist 10y ago

Did they fix the coil whine?

irontoby 10y ago
I sure as hell hope so. Typing this on a 2015 XPS 15 as we speak, and the incessant "chirp chirp chirp" any time it's in a non-horizontal position (such as when docked) drives me insane. Finally convinced support to take it in for warranty (expires in a few weeks), which means I'll be without it for a while, but hopefully they at least can swap out the mobo with a non-chirpy version...
haspok 10y ago
They did not fix that either. You might be lucky to receive a device that doesn't exhibit it, or you may not notice it, or you may not even bother about it. Dell doesn't really care - they still sell loads, and as long as the online reviewers don't complain loudly enough so that their sales are affected it is just not worth the cost.
- karussell 10y ago
  Wow how lame of Dell. That was the reason I went with a Lenovo T460 (which I do not regret btw ;))
  - dreistdreist 10y ago
    Lenovo is much worse than Dell though... They deserve to go bankrupt after superfish and all that other crap they did.

bdwalter 10y ago

I'd love to hear how this laptop runs Ubuntu or Mint.

caleblloyd 10y ago
One of my co-workers has the current gen (9550) and Ubuntu 16.04 runs great on it. I think he's got an intel wifi card, I'd just check Linux compatibility with the Killer wifi card before going that route. It's easy enough to change a WiFi card out aftermarket if there is issues though, an Intel 8260 card will run you $30.
- bdwalter 10y ago
  Does that include good working power management and a fully functioning touchpad? I went down the XPS13 Sputnik path and had endless disappointment with constant fixes.
  - aoloe 10y ago
    I have bought an XPS13 Sputnik this spring, have put Debian Testing on it, and had no single issue related to the the machine itself. At least, I think so... And, well, I'm not too picky...
  - caleblloyd 10y ago
    I think that Skylake Power Management got better in the Kernel after the original XPS13 Sputnik launch, but yes the XPS13 touchpad was a pain in the ass. The XPS15 touchpad on Linux is better than the XPS13. My biggest complaint about the XPS15 I had a little over a year ago was the spacebar. There was a manufacturing defect in mine where the touchpad ribbon cable pressed up against the spacebar and was causing unregistered keystrokes. I read internet forums where multiple people had this issue. Maybe Dell has fixed the manufacturing issue by now, but it was bad enough that I returned the XPS15.
- drewg123 10y ago
  Is it really that easy to swap them out? Or does Dell lock-out non-whitelisted wifi in the BIOS like Lenovo does with thinkpads?

IanCal 10y ago

I wonder if this will have the coil whine issues the 13 has (had? I've got the last gen).

rcatajar 10y ago
I have a precision 5510 (pro version of the XPS15) Skylake gen and it doesn't have the annoying coil whine of my previous XPS13 (Haswell gen)
- IanCal 10y ago
  Very useful to know, thanks. I'm somewhat torn about whether to keep or replace mine, apart from the whine it's a lovely little machine.
  - socksy 10y ago
    From what I've read the coil whine is related to having the keyboard backlight on. Is that important enough to trade-off for the noise? I always turn off backlights when using a computer on battery anyway (it's not like I'll be looking at the keyboard much...).
    - IanCal 10y ago
      I'd happily turn off the backlight, I'll try that. I've turned off the c6 processor states as apparently the switching there causes some of it. I can hear the changes as things visually change on screen, so scrolling and videos are quite bad.
      - IanCal 10y ago
        Ah no dice. I think it's inherent in all of these laptops but some are worse than others. This is a refurb, so I wonder if it was returned due to this... I'll talk to the support.

proyb2 10y ago

Something wrong with this picture? http://i.dell.com/sites/imagecontent/products/PublishingImages/xps-15-9560-laptop/laptop-xps-15-pdp-polaris-05.jpg http://i.dell.com/sites/imagecontent/products/PublishingImag...

anotheryou 10y ago
photoshop sucks at scaling down "smart-objects". You need to scale destructively to make it look ok.

3adawi 10y ago

i bought the older version about 10 days ago (still within window to return), apart from the CPU, what changes have they made?

anotheryou 10y ago
same, but didn't want to wait any longer. New CPU and GPU it seems
akmittal 10y ago
New GPU and killer wireless instead of Intel.
- ProAm 10y ago
  Is the killer wireless worth it? I cant find too much info on it speaking to pros & cons?
  - akmittal 10y ago
    According to notebookcheck it is second to MacBook only http://www.notebookcheck.net/Dell-XPS-13-9360-QHD-i5-7200U-Notebook-Review.178844.0.html http://www.notebookcheck.net/Dell-XPS-13-9360-QHD-i5-7200U-N...

sliken 10y ago

Does the tiny bezel mean a nostril cam like the XPS13?

erelde 10y ago
Honestly I'd be (more than) fine with an XPS 13 without webcam and mic. Actually I'd be so happy with a laptop like that. An XPS 13 without webcam and mic.
caleblloyd 10y ago
Sure does, the 9550 has the nostril cam and this appears to be the same form factor. Definitely one of the worst parts of the XPS 13/15 line, otherwise they're solid choices.
talideon 10y ago
You see that little dot to the left of the Dell logo? That's the camera.

ZanyProgrammer 10y ago

Where in the world is the price on this page?

skizm 10y ago

I might be missing it, but does it say when these will be available?

alltakendamned 10y ago

What's the release date for this machine ?

mamon 10y ago

Unfortunately, supported version of Display Port is 1.2 not 1.3. Any idea how to connect 5k display to it? Will "made for Apple" LG UltraFine 5k work?

dogma1138 10y ago
Thunderbolt 3 :) FYI the LG UF 5K doesn't come with Displayport 1.3 support either, it uses 2 DP 1.2 streams side by side (which sometimes can have screen tearing in the middle) hence it's a tiled display just like early 60hz 4K monitors. To work with the 5K monitor you either have to connect 2 DP1.2 cables or a single Thunderbolt 3 cable. In both cases you'll see 2 monitors connected on your machine which can cause some issues in some cases (e.g. full screen exclusive mode). P.S. What Apple device actually supports DP1.3? The new Mac's don't for sure, neither is the old Mac Pro unless you can hack some upgraded GPU into it...

mozumder 10y ago

Why would developers get a Windows laptop that don't have touch-screens? It seems the entire purpose of Windows laptops would be to test out touch-screen capabilities for your Windows apps. If you want to get a laptop without a touch screen, a Mac Book Pro would be the way to go. Especially with the great trackpad. But otherwise it looks great. It just needs that touch-screen for developing touch-enabled apps. Edit: Found that the touch-screen is an upgrade option.

arcticfox 10y ago
Maybe because not everyone prefers Mac like you? I have a 2016 Windows laptop and it performs brilliantly at half the price of an equivalent Mac.
tartuffe78 10y ago
Because very few consumers are using touch screens, let alone touch screen optimized apps.
- rhinoceraptor 10y ago
  What consumers are even paying for Windows apps to begin with?
Kihashi 10y ago
Apple's hardware upgrades recently have not been super popular.
sliken 10y ago
Because you replace a nice matte screen that's very power efficient and replace it with a shiny/reflective display that halves your battery life. Are you willing to halve your battery life and see your face reflected in a fingerprint ridden screen... just to touch it?

mtrimpe 10y ago

So can it run triple 4K displays when combined with a dock or not? That's the only feature for which I still need a desktop computer and I would loooove to do without one.

joosters 10y ago
Thunderbolt™ 3 multi-use port allows you to charge your laptop, connect to multiple devices (including support for up to two 4K displays) and Featuring a single-cable connection for power, Ethernet, audio and video. Add the optional Dell Thunderbolt™ Dock for faster data transfers and support for up to three Full HD displays or two 4k displays. ...which is a little confusing. Does that mean two external 4K displays without a dock, and one with the thunderbolt dock? Do the display counts include the laptop display?
slantyyz 10y ago
Many of the new, slightly chunky gaming laptops with the 1060 will let you drive three 4K monitors without a dongle.

ndesaulniers 10y ago

Looks like they upgraded the 13" as well: http://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/productdetails/xps-13-9360-laptop/dncwt5122hv2 http://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/productdetails/xps-13-9360-la... Someone else noted there's no discrete Nvidia GPU: http://www.dell.com/learn/us/en/19/help-me-choose/hmc-nvidia-graphics-xps-lt http://www.dell.com/learn/us/en/19/help-me-choose/hmc-nvidia... I did not see the New XPS 12 that second link references.

sahaskatta 10y ago
The XPS 13 does not have a dGPU, but the XPS 15 does have one.
- sliken 10y ago
  Sadly the XPS 13 2015 has IRIS 540 graphics available, which is pretty good, doubly so if you get the 1080P screen. The XPS13 2016 does not have IRIS available, yet. Intel should have them available feb/march or so.

StavrosK 10y ago

Am I missing a price on that page? Can anyone see where it is, or know how much it costs?

Sui 10y ago
I don't think it's an official page. It is still under construction I think.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]

StavrosK 10y ago

Speaking of laptops, what would you recommend to someone running Ubuntu? My 2013 MacBook Air is feeling it, with its non-upgradable 4 GB RAM. A discrete graphics card so I could play DotA2 once in a while would be nice, even if it's at medium graphics quality.

zarkov99 10y ago
the XPS 13 runs linux perfectly.
pilooch 10y ago
I ve switched from air running Ubuntu to XPS 13 dev edition with Ubuntu. Not everything beautiful but a decent switch, great power, autonomy and screen.
- StavrosK 10y ago
  Thank you! What are some things you don't like about it? Looking for a laptop is pretty frustrating, there are a ton of models and each has a ton of versions, it's really hard to know what to get :(
  - varlock 10y ago
    Not OP, but got the same laptop. "Jumpy trackpad" [1] and "stuck key" [2] problems are the ones I feel most. They should have been fixed by the latest firmware (apparently still in 2015) but I can still experience them sometimes. I believe I have the latest fw (I'm surely >= 06A), but can't check ATM, so chances are I'm not on the latest. Then again, I admit I can work with it almost seamlessly (dev-work from CLI mainly). [1] http://en.community.dell.com/techcenter/os-applications/f/4613/t/19637021 http://en.community.dell.com/techcenter/os-applications/f/46... [2] en.community.dell.com/techcenter/os-applications/f/4613/t/19637021
  - lazarus101 10y ago
    One issue would be the webcam placement, it's below the screen. If you get the XPS 13 don't make the same mistake I've made, don't waste your money on this POS http://accessories.euro.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?c=uk&l=en&s=bsd&cs=ukbsdt1&sku=452-BBOO http://accessories.euro.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?c=uk... Linux support is very bad, it uses a proprietary technology. Get a USB-C to HDMI adapter instead.

gressquel 10y ago

anyone else here thinking dell designs are kinda boring? I bought macbook to run win10 because it had great design. I am thinking of buying surface book next. Why can't Dell focus on a creative design?

stonecodegump 10y ago
Out of curiosity, what makes a design interesting for you? To me a laptop is two rectangular bits, with a screen on one and a keyboard on another. My macbook has silver rectangular bits, that Dell has black rectangular bits. I don't really see any other significant difference between the two..
- gressquel 10y ago
  simply the design make it look like oozes class. (im getting downvoted soon, but i can take it :) )
swozey 10y ago
I personally think my coworkers XPS 13 is far, far cooler looking and thoughtfully designed than my MBPr. It has soft spots where you'd carry it. I think they're gorgeous. The only thing tying me to OSX at this point is 1passwords chrome plugin (doesn't work without hackery in Linux) but now that that's going web based I may be able to switch next year. Also the crazy resolutions aren't really a selling point to me at all. I can barely read the text when those things are cranked up.
- toyg 10y ago
  > I can barely read the text when those things are cranked up. They are not supposed to be "cranked up". You're supposed to use hi-dpi to smooth everything, not to get more screen estate. Apple has been doing it correctly for almost 5 years now, one would hope Windows and Linux had caught up by now.

obtino 10y ago

The webcam is still awkwardly positioned. Have they fixed the coil noise issue yet?

obtino 10y ago

The webcam is still awkwardly positioned. Have they fixed the coil noise issue yet?

procyon82 10y ago

A 1050???? What a huge disappointment. I was gonna buy this as I was expecting a 1060.

sliken 10y ago
Get a stealth. The faster GPUs have a significant power, battery life, and noise compromise. Thus they are popular on gaming laptops.
- ersii 10y ago
  "Get a stealth"? What's "a stealth"?
  - jessechahal 10y ago
    possible referring to one of razor's laptops http://www.razerzone.com/ca-en/gaming-systems/razer-blade-stealth http://www.razerzone.com/ca-en/gaming-systems/razer-blade-st...
  - mamon 10y ago
    I think GP meant this: http://www.razerzone.com/gaming-systems/razer-blade http://www.razerzone.com/gaming-systems/razer-blade But there's some confusion here, Razer Blade Stealth is actually the model with integrated GPU (Intel HD 620)
- procyon82 10y ago
  The stealth is great but it's not 15". I think I'll get the base model of the new XPS 15 or ASUS UX501 and then add an eGPU through Thunderbolt.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]

procyon82 10y ago

A 1050???? What a huge disappointment. I was gonna buy this as I was expecting a 1060.

codewiz 10y ago

No USB Type-C, seriously?

alasdairnicol 10y ago
There is one Thunderbolt 3 port.
adrusi 10y ago
It has thunderbolt 3, which is compatible with all type-c devices.
whamlastxmas 10y ago
Honestly it might be a deal killer for me. A regular USB with Thunderbolt isn't enough. I'm ready to move on from regular USB. Didn't the previous one have a Type C port?

andrewvijay 10y ago

Looks nice but their customer service will fuck you over if you have a hardware problem serious enough to replace some vital part. There was a huge thread here only recently by some poor guy being harassed by them.

nix0n 10y ago
In my experience a few years ago, Dells are much easier to open up and work on than most other laptops. If you are the sort of person to build your own desktop PC you might consider doing your own laptop repair rather than deal with warranty support.
solidangle 10y ago
That's not my experience with Dell (in the Netherlands). One of the keys didn't work correctly, I called them and the next day one of their mechanics replaced the keyboard at my home.
yellowstuff 10y ago
Not in my experience. I bought an XPS 15 earlier this year. It was a fairly new model and there were a lot of complaints online about quality control issues, but overwhelmingly they were happy with Dell's response. I got one and blew out the speakers (partly my fault), but Dell send me a replacement quickly.
bsclifton 10y ago
I've never had that experience with them in over 10 years of using Dell products. I had a first gen XPS13 (I miss that thing) and 2 years down the road, I had a motherboard issue. The support was actually great and knocked out the repair quickly. Sure, I had to do it over phone/mail versus going into a physical store, but it was painless.
markdog12 10y ago
In my experience, I had an issue and they showed up at my door next day and replaced the motherboard. This was about 7 years ago though.
rstuart4133 10y ago

sisk 10y ago

Tangential but I figure the folks who will know the answer will wander into this thread. I need to buy a decent but lightweight 15" for a family member who is undergoing cancer treatments and has gotten too weak for his current behemoth 17". Light work (browsing, some streaming) but definitely a windows machine. Any recommendations? I've been keeping an eye on this exact machine (previous model now)—anything better?

morganvachon 10y ago
Even though I flagged the HN post as it's pretty much spam (a direct link to Dell's product page and not a review or analysis of the device), I have to say that in my experience Dell's XPS line is pretty much the gold standard for Windows alternatives to the MacBook and MacBook Air. The only other lightweight notebook that comes close is the Asus ZenBook, which directly competes with the MBA and is a pretty amazing machine for the price.
pythonaut_16 10y ago
Check out the Thinkpad T400 series (e.g. T460s) and X1 series (e.g. X1 Carbon and X1 Yoga). They're lightweight and durable with big screens at pretty reasonable prices.
alkonaut 10y ago
Whenever you look at a XPS you should always peek at the equivalent Precision machine (e.g. Precision 5510), there might be deals available. Also, although perhaps not applicable to your situation, the Precisions are usually more configurable than the XPS.
- rplst8 10y ago
  I did this exact thing two weeks ago. I think the Precision adds the Premier Color display too.

hatsunearu 10y ago

GTX 1050 for the laptop? Why aren't there more laptops with this SKU...

caleblloyd 10y ago
The current gen (9550) graphics run in NVidia Optimus. There is no way to change to Only Integrated or Only Dedicated graphics in the BIOS. This means that you depend on the NVidia driver to switch to the graphics card based off which application you are running in Windows. It's a big pain in the ass for linux. You have to fool around with nouveau or Bumblebee to get Optimus working. Even then I was never sure the graphics card was doing anything in Linux. I wish all manufacturers would put a hardware mux on the graphics so that it could be switched from Optimus to Only Integrated or Only Dedicated. It seems to be going the other way where they don't and only offer Optimus though.
- pkolaczk 10y ago
  The proprietary Nvidia driver supports Optimus with nvidia-prime. No need for Bumblebee. There are still a few bits missing there, though, like external display support in low-power mode. So, basically I agree - it is still PITA.
sliken 10y ago
Nvidia does top down, so 1080 first, 1070, then 1060 on the desktop. Then a few months later on laptops. The 1050 was recently announced for desktops, and is now about to hit laptops. I expect to see many more 1050s, likely a ton will be announced at CES in Jan.
MikusR 10y ago
Maybe because it's only coming out in january.

vladharbuz 10y ago

Anyone else getting an access denied error? Access Denied You don't have permission to access "http://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/productdetails/xps-15-9560-laptop" on this server. Reference #18.f4741602.1482244883.2126641

fortytw2 10y ago
It seems like they block access to the US store from outside the US? No VPN here, just a DE IP and it's blocked. Incredible to see the price differential between the US and DE stores though, on top of the 18% VAT you expect
- thirdsun 10y ago
  That seems to be the case here. Visiting http://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/ http://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/ from my german IP yields the same result. Unbelievable. Frankly, the whole site looks like a mess to me.
  - reustle 10y ago
    I'm not having a problem viewing in Japan
    - mrcarrot 10y ago
      Yeah, I can access the URL from Austria, but I'm not sure I'm actually seeing info about the new XPS. There don't seem to be any specs anywhere, so it's hard to be sure.
  - hussong 10y ago
    Seeing the same here (German IP), maybe GeoIP blocking?
  - deong 10y ago
    The Dell site is absolutely terrible. For a while, perhaps still, there was no way to show the tech specs for at least the XPS laptop I was looking at. The marketing speak would say something like "XPS 13 with 6th Generation Intel Core processors" and then just a series of prices. You couldn't tell what CPU it had, how much memory, nothing. There's a Q/A box on the page, and there were dozens of unanswered questions like "how big is the hard drive" with no answers. I bought my XPS 13 from Costco, which was a nicer experience in pretty much every way.

pluglus 10y ago

Trackpad. How is the trackpad on this one? I keep buying Apple HW for my Windows as every time I try new PC, trackpad experience doesn't yield itself to the change. Period.

FreakyT 10y ago
Apple's trackpad drivers for Windows are some of the worst on the market. They just don't care.
DocG 10y ago
XPS 15 and 13 have (one of the) best trackpads on windows. I finally understand how people live without mouse. Apparently not the same as mac, but the closest experience available.
- dogma1138 10y ago
  IBM/Lenovo always had great trackpads for the "Thinkpad" line, and the nipple/clit was always my favorite pointing device, I actually missing it as typing this on an MBP15.
- jonathantm 10y ago
  But that it's not centered relative to the keyboard!!! ARG!!
treehau5 10y ago
My right index finger is ruined from constant use of an Apple trackpad for about 3 years now. Screw trackpads. Get a mouse.
- themckman 10y ago
  I presume this is because you actually click the trackpad rather than turn on tap-to-click. Gotta turn on that tap-to-click. It doesn't take too long for my wrist to start hurting whenever I used someone's MB without tap to click.

trzeci 10y ago

I have "old" one 9550 i7, 4K, 32GB - as a device for this money I wouldn't expect that I will have: - unaligned Jack socket, so that only one channel plays - Flickering backlight, where only one rescue is to downgrade BIOS: http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/laptop/f/3519/t/19662532 http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/laptop/f/3519/t/... - random freezes: Whole computer hangs, there is no error in Windows log, it's not related to nVidia card, it's not related to load.

MikusR 10y ago
That's why things you buy usually come with warranties.
- 1wd 10y ago
  Time to wait five weeks until it's "repaired", just to have it randomly freeze again all the time.
- trzeci 10y ago
  Yes, you're totally right. Unfortunately I have two obstacles: - This is my device for work, just setting up environment on different PC is problematic, and extra time of waiting for it being repaired. - I bought it in a different country that currently I'm living. Frankly I don't know if I can use local support, guys from DellSweden didn't reply my question yet. Problem is that, when you spend pretty decent amount of money for a device, you do have an expectation in terms of quality, partially you're paying for that.
  - Const-me 10y ago
    Cloning a Windows laptop takes less than an hour, given you have a USB 3.0 hard drive. The imaging tool is part of Windows. Also included in the installer so you can restore on a clean HDD.
  - e2kp 10y ago
    This is my experience too, when buying a high-end laptop, I expect it to just work. If my time was worth dealing with shitty QA, I'd buy a low end laptop.

merb 10y ago

> Available with Windows 10 so sad > Dell Thunderbolt™ Dock | TB16 I wonder if they fixed all the issues? I doubt they didn't.

dbg31415 10y ago

Man, the only thing I can say against this is that it doesn't have a MagSafe power plug.

softawre 10y ago
Neither does the new macbooks, outside of the air.

gok 10y ago

So compared to the new MacBook Pro, it's the same weight and has 25% less battery capacity.

lukaszkups 10y ago
and 500% more ports :D
notheguyouthink 10y ago
With a sane keyboard and trackpad size, as well. (ie, the trackpad isn't massive and under your palms, and the keyboard actually has travel rather than the weird no-travel PoS Apple put out)

bronz 10y ago

i feel like a new trend is emerging with these nice, 15 inch non-apple laptops. i say non-apple because they are attracting the pro crowd that used to buy apple exclusively. my personal fantasy is a laptop that isnt shy about being thick, affording it a huge battery, tons of ports, OLED screen and solid state trackpad like the macbook. with very reliable linux drivers for all the hardware. a very utilitarian machine.

ohyoutravel 10y ago
Speaking of battery, I picked up an XPS 13 recently and am very happy with it. The battery seems to last forever, the 2016 model increases the battery size from 56(?) to 60w. The only reason I didn't go with the XPS 15 was that the battery life is supposed to be terrible, and it appears that even this newly announced model only has a 56w battery, which is surprising.
- bronz 10y ago
  out of all the laptops that are around right now, the xps series seems to be the closest to my fantasy -- this is due largely to their developer models which come with linux and linux supported hardware. when you say w do you mean Wh? ive heard murmurs of the legal limit for battery capacity in a laptop being 100Wh so that is very disappointing that the new xps would not even approach that anemic cap. i was in a mall the other day and happened across a windows store. i was very pleased to see they had a range of xps laptops on display. i found them to be very attractive and well made. IIRC some of them had a power button on the side of the laptop instead of the top of the keyboard. my current laptop has a power button like this and i cannot fucking stand it. i press it by accident at least twice a day. any sane person would realize what a terrible idea that is -- it totally baffles me why they do this. its very sad to see such an obvious flaw on these otherwise great laptops.
  - creshal 10y ago
    The biggest battery capacity I've had in a laptop was 160Wh with the Thinkpad X220, I'm curious where that supposed 100Wh limit comes from.

projectramo 10y ago

How does one tell which XPS 15 one is ordering? Suppose you order one through Amazon, other than doing a feature by feature comparison, can you tell it is the "latest" one?

volent 10y ago
There are different models, you can check a given laptop model under XPS logo under the keyboard.
meritt 10y ago
Look at the specific model number. 9560 is the latest XPS 15" (and 9360 is the latest XPS 13", from Oct 2016)
- projectramo 10y ago
  Thanks. I was looking for the model number but could not find it on the page.
spikej 10y ago
The cpu model number is usually listed and the cpu generation gives an indication as well...

andlarry 10y ago

Folks considering this should also check out the HP ZBook Studio G3. It has Quadro M1000M 4GB graphics, 32 GB of ECC RAM, quad core, Linux certified by HP, 4k screen, can handle two external 4k monitors and drive the panel at about 4.5 pounds.

chx 10y ago
Sniff, that's a Maxwell chip not Pascal. But it came out early 2016 so perhaps early 2017 we will see a G4 with Kaby Lake and Pascal quad core. Would be nice.
- andlarry 10y ago
  > Sniff, that's a Maxwell chip not Pascal. Is there a substantial difference? This is a development laptop so I only cared about it being able to push enough pixels. Perhaps there's a difference for gamers?
  - dijit 10y ago
    Buying a quadro card for gaming is like buying a truck for racing.
  - chx 10y ago
    Largely depends on whether you want 3D performance or not (that's not only for gamers). The performance/watt ratio is significantly higher on Pascal.
heroprotagonist 10y ago
This is probably a trivial complaint to some, but after using a Precision 5510 for a while I really wouldn't want to go back to a laptop screen with a wide bezel again. It's up to personal aesthetic choice, mostly, I guess. edit: It's also unclear whether the SSD in the ZBook is PCIe or not. It isn't stated, so I assume it's not, as PCIe performance is a differentiator.
- 10y ago

stanislavb 10y ago

It's a decent laptop; however, having the camera at the bottom of the screen is a bit annoying :/ - ppl will be looking into your nose :)

Todd 10y ago
This is the biggest design flaw with this laptop. It is a very unflattering angle and makes the video essentially useless. It's the one reason I can't recommend it to people (or I recommend it with a caveat, if they use the camera often).

up_and_up 10y ago

Where are the buttons to `Buy Now` or `Customize`? Seems like a sales funnel mistake.

irontoby 10y ago
It's apparently not meant to be live yet; if you go to "XPS Laptops" from the main product page you're still taken to the 9550.

talideon 10y ago

It's basically the Precision 5510, which is a nice piece of kit.

AndyKelley 10y ago

Did they fix the keyboard debounce issue? I'd like to try typing on the keyboard before purchasing.

haspok 10y ago
They did not fix it, but the latest BIOSes (on the XPS13) make it better. Some people still complain though. I don't notice it, maybe I'm not typing fast enough :) The real annoyance for me about the input devices is that the palm detection doesn't work for the touchpad (on Ubuntu), at least I couldn't get it working. So either typing suffers, or have to disable "tap to click", which is so weird I can't get used to it.
- AndyKelley 10y ago
  Even with the latest BIOS on the XPS13, I can reliably type "asdf" and get "asdasfdf"

tom-_- 10y ago

Any opinions on a System76 running Ubuntu? XPS is just too far outside of my price range.

smoyer 10y ago

I have Xubuntu running on one of these and, for the most part, love this machine. There is one design defect and a couple of nitpicks I have: - The webcam is below the screen ... I don't want to join a video conference when the primary view is my nose hair. - Why do "modern" slim devices only have two USB ports? There is room on the chassis for more (I don't know about the interior layout). - We've tried several of the Dell docks with these ... while I love the fact that the laptop charges through the same cable that's used for everything else (video, audio, HID devices), it's a bit buggy. Two examples are that: 1) you have to plug speakers into the computer's audio jack after the computer is attached to the dock and booted and 2) you have to be careful the magnetic switch doesn't tell the laptop/dock your lid is closed - in my case the keyboard and mouse connected to the dock become disabled even when the laptop wakes back up.

canterburry 10y ago

Now if Lenovo would just build something that remotely competes with this I'd be begging them to take my money. I haven't found anything quad core and 15 inches from Lenovo that doesn't weigh a ton...oh...and that off center keyboard on Lenovo's 15 inch models! WTF?! Lenovo is completely behind on offering anything remotely pro dev which competes with XPS 15 or MacBook Pro. I got the XPS 15 9550 for my dad and he loves it.

blauditore 10y ago
What are you missing in Lenovo laptops? I've been using the Yoga 2 Pro for years and am happy with it. It's a great trade-off between size, weight, performance and comfort, and I'm actually happier with it than with the MBPs i've worked with so far. Now that it's aged I've been looking for a replacement and skimmed through lots of laptops. Even now, the Yoga 910 seems to be closest to what I want and I'll probably buy this one. Edit: I just saw you updated your comment - maybe the difference is that I prefer smaller screen sizes in favor of portability.

laurentdc 10y ago

Does anyone know if there's still coil whine issue? I had the same issue on a old ThinkPad and couldn't tolerate it.

mixmastamyk 10y ago

Page is empty for me.

mixmastamyk 10y ago

Page is empty for me, tried both Firefox and Chrome on Linux.

nkkollaw 10y ago

Access Denied You don't have permission to access "http://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/productdetails/xps-15-9560-laptop" http://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/productdetails/xps-15-9560-la... on this server. Reference #18.36d61202.1482271177.71b1881 Why (I'm in Germany).

voycey 10y ago

I had the XPS L502X and it was hands down the best laptop I have ever owned: JBL Speakers that were genuinely excellent - I work at home and listen to music quite loudly so these were a huge selling point for me Plenty of Ports Easy to upgrade / repair - I think by the end of its life I had replaced or upgraded everything except the motherboard All of the XPS systems since this one have paled in comparison, shitty speakers and an ultra book type. The L502X was a chunky workhorse but it survived a years backpacking around Asia with me and then 4 years in Australia as my main work computer until it finally died enough that I couldn't be bothered to fix it (Would power on for half a second and die). It also ran Linux like a dream - no incompatibilities! On an Alienware 17 R3 now and it is a beast.... but it's speakers are no match for the L502X's :( Also absolutely cant get Linux to run on it so I am using Virtualbox with a dual head setup which has its share of issues