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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
by 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 agoInteresting, thanks! It seems like a lot of effort. I think I may just snap up a 2014 MBP and install Ubuntu on that.