4 ms·

Any issues with Ubuntu? or did it all just work out of the box? I'm really interested in the XPS 13/15, but don't want to end up with a brick.

by s_kilk 10y ago

seanp2k2 10y ago
XPS 15 9550 here. Got mine on eBay for ~$1k with no SSD. Mine has the i7-6700HQ, 4K IGZO touchscreen, bigger battery (which takes up the 2.5" SSD space, so M.2 SSD only which is fine by me), and GTX 960. Follow http://seb.mamessier.com/dell-xps-15-9550-ubuntu-16-04/ http://seb.mamessier.com/dell-xps-15-9550-ubuntu-16-04/ + http://malachisoord.com/2016/09/10/xps-15-9550-ubuntu-setup/ http://malachisoord.com/2016/09/10/xps-15-9550-ubuntu-setup/ and it's OK. Graphics switching doesn't work flawlessly. Powertop requires some messing about to get the fans to totally stop. Battery life is worse than under Windows. Palm detection on the touchpad is wonky and requires blacklisting a kernel mod to get working properly (the touchpad shows up as two devices). My keyboard had a cable under the spacebar not properly glued down, so I had to get a replacement KBD (~$15 on ebay, parts are readily available). Plextor M8Pe works fine but I had to mess with the BIOS a bit to get the UEFI boot stuff working correctly. Wifi works fine. Bluetooth works as well as it does on Windows, which is to say not that well, but I don't think it's the fault of the hardware or Ubuntu. Configuring X to play nice with the proprietary drivers + power settings + stupid Synaptic touchpad daemon + graphics switching + Arc theme took a few days to get more or less working. The screen is also terrific and very noticeably better than my work mid-2014 15" rMBP. I wouldn't have optioned the touchscreen if I had a choice, but the 4K IGZO is only available as a touchscreen. I actually use it sometimes, and the hinge is good enough that it doesn't flop around and it feels solid when tapping on it. I only really use that for casual browsing. My past few personal laptops have been Dell Latitudes since they're typically made from metal and have nicer parts (keyboard, hinges, touchpad, etc) than stuff like the Inspiron series. Parts are cheap and easy to find (e.g. an extra power adapter is $35 shipped in bulk packaging) and they're generally easy to repair, with repair guides, service manuals, and Dell's great service code look-up readily available. If it blows a motherboard or drains a battery tomorrow, I know that I can keep it running for relatively little money. Dell also has great business warranties if you can find a used one with a year or so of warranty left. TL;DR it's still a huge PITA to get even the latest Ubuntu working right with a top-of-the-line Windows laptop, and even then it's less nice and doesn't "just work" as well as a Mac, but I paid about 1/3rd of what a comparable MBP would cost, and since it's just a personal laptop for my side projects and electronics hobby stuff (microcontrollers, audio measurement, open source, etc) it's totally fine.
- s_kilk 10y ago
  Interesting, thanks! It seems like a lot of effort. I think I may just snap up a 2014 MBP and install Ubuntu on that.
dlgeek 10y ago
You can buy the XPS 13 with Ubuntu pre-loaded on it by Dell. It used to be branded the "Developer Edition" but now it's just part of the normal lineup (but you have to buy from the SOHO-branded storefront because wow is Dell's site a mess). I wiped their Ubuntu install and put on Debian and that's been working fine for me.
tannhaeuser 10y ago
Had to upgrade bios/firmware (with Dell-provided download, via bios-integrated flash utilities, so no Windows or DOS boot necessary). Had to use a custom kernel for skylake/nvme; 4.5-rc7 for wily run ok for me, though there are some boot warnings. Still having (rare, like once a month) problems with the touchpad. Battery charge lasts much shorter than Apple notebooks. I believe Dell's developer edition has the slightly more expensive Intel WLAN option, but I have no trouble with mine (Broadcom?). If you're looking for a developer notebook for Linux and can wait until it's delivered (1-2 weeks or more?) I think Dell's developer edition XPS 13 with preinstalled Ubuntu 16.04 LTS is one of the best, if not the best, option available. Back when I needed one, this offering wasn't available in Germany, but cyperport.de had a plain XPS 13 available in retail store, and I needed it asap. I liked that cyperport.de shops had the XPSs and various Lenovos available in store (unlike eg. big retailers here which have hundreds of cheap/crap notebooks with glare screens etc. but not a single pro notebook), so they got my money. I have the non-touchscreen variant (I hate glare screens). But I believe next time I have to reconsider because a notebook in that price range shoud have HiDPI today.

Any issues with Ubuntu? or did it all just work out of the box? I'm really interested in the XPS 13/15, but don't want to end up with a brick.

by s_kilk 10y ago

Any issues with Ubuntu? or did it all just work out of the box? I'm really interested in the XPS 13/15, but don't want to end up with a brick.

seanp2k2 10y ago

XPS 15 9550 here. Got mine on eBay for ~$1k with no SSD. Mine has the i7-6700HQ, 4K IGZO touchscreen, bigger battery (which takes up the 2.5" SSD space, so M.2 SSD only which is fine by me), and GTX 960. Follow http://seb.mamessier.com/dell-xps-15-9550-ubuntu-16-04/ http://seb.mamessier.com/dell-xps-15-9550-ubuntu-16-04/ + http://malachisoord.com/2016/09/10/xps-15-9550-ubuntu-setup/ http://malachisoord.com/2016/09/10/xps-15-9550-ubuntu-setup/ and it's OK. Graphics switching doesn't work flawlessly. Powertop requires some messing about to get the fans to totally stop. Battery life is worse than under Windows. Palm detection on the touchpad is wonky and requires blacklisting a kernel mod to get working properly (the touchpad shows up as two devices). My keyboard had a cable under the spacebar not properly glued down, so I had to get a replacement KBD (~$15 on ebay, parts are readily available). Plextor M8Pe works fine but I had to mess with the BIOS a bit to get the UEFI boot stuff working correctly. Wifi works fine. Bluetooth works as well as it does on Windows, which is to say not that well, but I don't think it's the fault of the hardware or Ubuntu. Configuring X to play nice with the proprietary drivers + power settings + stupid Synaptic touchpad daemon + graphics switching + Arc theme took a few days to get more or less working. The screen is also terrific and very noticeably better than my work mid-2014 15" rMBP. I wouldn't have optioned the touchscreen if I had a choice, but the 4K IGZO is only available as a touchscreen. I actually use it sometimes, and the hinge is good enough that it doesn't flop around and it feels solid when tapping on it. I only really use that for casual browsing. My past few personal laptops have been Dell Latitudes since they're typically made from metal and have nicer parts (keyboard, hinges, touchpad, etc) than stuff like the Inspiron series. Parts are cheap and easy to find (e.g. an extra power adapter is $35 shipped in bulk packaging) and they're generally easy to repair, with repair guides, service manuals, and Dell's great service code look-up readily available. If it blows a motherboard or drains a battery tomorrow, I know that I can keep it running for relatively little money. Dell also has great business warranties if you can find a used one with a year or so of warranty left. TL;DR it's still a huge PITA to get even the latest Ubuntu working right with a top-of-the-line Windows laptop, and even then it's less nice and doesn't "just work" as well as a Mac, but I paid about 1/3rd of what a comparable MBP would cost, and since it's just a personal laptop for my side projects and electronics hobby stuff (microcontrollers, audio measurement, open source, etc) it's totally fine.

s_kilk 10y ago
Interesting, thanks! It seems like a lot of effort. I think I may just snap up a 2014 MBP and install Ubuntu on that.

dlgeek 10y ago

You can buy the XPS 13 with Ubuntu pre-loaded on it by Dell. It used to be branded the "Developer Edition" but now it's just part of the normal lineup (but you have to buy from the SOHO-branded storefront because wow is Dell's site a mess). I wiped their Ubuntu install and put on Debian and that's been working fine for me.

tannhaeuser 10y ago

Had to upgrade bios/firmware (with Dell-provided download, via bios-integrated flash utilities, so no Windows or DOS boot necessary). Had to use a custom kernel for skylake/nvme; 4.5-rc7 for wily run ok for me, though there are some boot warnings. Still having (rare, like once a month) problems with the touchpad. Battery charge lasts much shorter than Apple notebooks. I believe Dell's developer edition has the slightly more expensive Intel WLAN option, but I have no trouble with mine (Broadcom?). If you're looking for a developer notebook for Linux and can wait until it's delivered (1-2 weeks or more?) I think Dell's developer edition XPS 13 with preinstalled Ubuntu 16.04 LTS is one of the best, if not the best, option available. Back when I needed one, this offering wasn't available in Germany, but cyperport.de had a plain XPS 13 available in retail store, and I needed it asap. I liked that cyperport.de shops had the XPSs and various Lenovos available in store (unlike eg. big retailers here which have hundreds of cheap/crap notebooks with glare screens etc. but not a single pro notebook), so they got my money. I have the non-touchscreen variant (I hate glare screens). But I believe next time I have to reconsider because a notebook in that price range shoud have HiDPI today.