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The Dell XPS 13 is great. It runs Linux very well. The WiFi is excellent. It's got an aluminum chassis. The part where your hands rest is carbon-fiber composite

The Dell XPS 13 is great. It runs Linux very well. The WiFi is excellent. It's got an aluminum chassis. The part where your hands rest is carbon-fiber composite so it isn't cold in the morning. The HiDPI touch screen is incredible, and the performance is pretty amazing. There is a single hinge stretching across most of the laptop for the screen (like the Macbook), unlike the flimsy set of two hinges on most laptops. Most laptops I've seen have broken at the hinge. I customized mine by maxing out the processor, screen, 16 GB RAM, and 512 GB SSD. The unboxing experience was very well-designed and it really felt premium. In short, this is the good non-Apple laptop that you're looking for.

s_kilk 10y ago
> It runs Linux very well. I've been researching into the XPS series, and online there are plenty of reports of problems with Linux. Can anyone here confirm first-hand that they have an XPS 13/15 that's running Linux flawlessly?
- pascalo 10y ago
  Got the previous generation (9333) running Ubuntu 16.04, no troubles.
- FireBeyond 10y ago
  I have an XPS 13 (9360) - the Kaby Lake Developer Edition. With Ubuntu 16.04 (or more specifically kernel < 4.8) the only issue I had was dynamically adding a Thunderbolt 3 (to DP) monitor. With Fedora 25, Ubuntu 16.10? No issues. Wifi is great. Sound. Performance. Display (I have the QHD version).
- ageofwant 10y ago
  I have the XPS 13 9350 (dmidecode c&p). The only issue is the BCM4350 Wifi card, and its a biggie. Do not buy the BCM, get the Intel Wifi card fitted. Or replace it yourself with this one: https://www.amazon.com/Intel-Generation-Wireless-Computer-Notebook/dp/B00RCZ4I6S?tag=wpcentralb-20&ascsubtag=UUwpUdUnU41865 https://www.amazon.com/Intel-Generation-Wireless-Computer-No..., they cost about $15. I also had suspend/resume issues occasionally, a recent bios upgrade fixed that, I think. Apart from the original WiFi, I'm very happy with the XPS 13.
  - hedora 10y ago
    Slightly off topic, but has anyone had luck with a (preferably intel) 3x3 wifi adaptor? I want one for a desktop. The linked one is 2x2, and amazon has a m.2->pcie wifi adaptor for $17. I have a 3x3 broadcom now, but it occasionally disassociates with the access point (and the box suffers from undiagnosed kernel hangs whether I plug an nvidia or amd video card into it...)
    - ageofwant 10y ago
      Linux Intel support is the best of all vendors, as far as I can tell. They have dedicated Linux driver devs and their specs are open. The quality of their drivers reflects this. In future I'll walk wide circles around anything broadcom.
      - djdmngz 10y ago
        Qualcomm Atheros also has dedicated devs for their Linux driver. Broadcomm stopped making wireless cards for the PC market earlier this year.
        hedora 10y ago
        It looks like this may be a winner: AEX-QCA9880-NX Except maybe they explicitly removed linux support: http://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-wireless/msg110852.html http://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-wireless/msg110852.html I can't find a hardware rev number on on the amazon page (was 1.0 ever sold to the public?). Also, the amazon page says it is for engineering samples only / contact vendor before ordering. Hmm.
      - hedora 10y ago
        According to Intel, installing Intel wifi adapters in computers or laptops "may be illegal": https://communities.intel.com/thread/108092 https://communities.intel.com/thread/108092 I'll probably buy one anyway.
- lunchables 10y ago
  They actually make an XPS 13 Developer Edition preloaded with Ubuntu. http://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/productdetails/xps-13-linux http://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/productdetails/xps-13-linux
  - djdmngz 10y ago
    That's the URL for one of the older versions. In general dell.com/sputnik (same as dell.com/developers) will get you to the current systems.
  - djdmngz 10y ago
    Oh, and we've moved the XPS 13 Developer Edition to be in the same place as the Windows version. One side affect is that this (well, the internal details of how that's done in our catalog) makes it easier for us to change up the Dev Ed config options. You can use the OS filter drop-down just above the config carousel to narrow down to only the Ubuntu configs.

s_kilk 10y ago

> It runs Linux very well. I've been researching into the XPS series, and online there are plenty of reports of problems with Linux. Can anyone here confirm first-hand that they have an XPS 13/15 that's running Linux flawlessly?

pascalo 10y ago
Got the previous generation (9333) running Ubuntu 16.04, no troubles.
FireBeyond 10y ago
I have an XPS 13 (9360) - the Kaby Lake Developer Edition. With Ubuntu 16.04 (or more specifically kernel < 4.8) the only issue I had was dynamically adding a Thunderbolt 3 (to DP) monitor. With Fedora 25, Ubuntu 16.10? No issues. Wifi is great. Sound. Performance. Display (I have the QHD version).
ageofwant 10y ago
I have the XPS 13 9350 (dmidecode c&p). The only issue is the BCM4350 Wifi card, and its a biggie. Do not buy the BCM, get the Intel Wifi card fitted. Or replace it yourself with this one: https://www.amazon.com/Intel-Generation-Wireless-Computer-Notebook/dp/B00RCZ4I6S?tag=wpcentralb-20&ascsubtag=UUwpUdUnU41865 https://www.amazon.com/Intel-Generation-Wireless-Computer-No..., they cost about $15. I also had suspend/resume issues occasionally, a recent bios upgrade fixed that, I think. Apart from the original WiFi, I'm very happy with the XPS 13.
- hedora 10y ago
  Slightly off topic, but has anyone had luck with a (preferably intel) 3x3 wifi adaptor? I want one for a desktop. The linked one is 2x2, and amazon has a m.2->pcie wifi adaptor for $17. I have a 3x3 broadcom now, but it occasionally disassociates with the access point (and the box suffers from undiagnosed kernel hangs whether I plug an nvidia or amd video card into it...)
  - ageofwant 10y ago
    Linux Intel support is the best of all vendors, as far as I can tell. They have dedicated Linux driver devs and their specs are open. The quality of their drivers reflects this. In future I'll walk wide circles around anything broadcom.
    - djdmngz 10y ago
      Qualcomm Atheros also has dedicated devs for their Linux driver. Broadcomm stopped making wireless cards for the PC market earlier this year.
      - hedora 10y ago
        It looks like this may be a winner: AEX-QCA9880-NX Except maybe they explicitly removed linux support: http://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-wireless/msg110852.html http://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-wireless/msg110852.html I can't find a hardware rev number on on the amazon page (was 1.0 ever sold to the public?). Also, the amazon page says it is for engineering samples only / contact vendor before ordering. Hmm.
    - hedora 10y ago
      According to Intel, installing Intel wifi adapters in computers or laptops "may be illegal": https://communities.intel.com/thread/108092 https://communities.intel.com/thread/108092 I'll probably buy one anyway.
lunchables 10y ago
They actually make an XPS 13 Developer Edition preloaded with Ubuntu. http://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/productdetails/xps-13-linux http://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/productdetails/xps-13-linux
- djdmngz 10y ago
  That's the URL for one of the older versions. In general dell.com/sputnik (same as dell.com/developers) will get you to the current systems.
- djdmngz 10y ago
  Oh, and we've moved the XPS 13 Developer Edition to be in the same place as the Windows version. One side affect is that this (well, the internal details of how that's done in our catalog) makes it easier for us to change up the Dev Ed config options. You can use the OS filter drop-down just above the config carousel to narrow down to only the Ubuntu configs.