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The flip side is that I needed a laptop to take with me to events, so I got a $750 dell xps13. If I were a college student, I'd be eyeing the $1200 version extr

The flip side is that I needed a laptop to take with me to events, so I got a $750 dell xps13. If I were a college student, I'd be eyeing the $1200 version extremely hard versus an equivalent specced macbook pro at $1700 Or, the $750 version (which is what I have) versus a $1000 macbook that's significantly less powerful.

jerven 10y ago
I just got myself a Dell precision 5510 with Ubuntu out of the box. A lot more capable than the most power full current macbook pro, weighs slightly less then the macbook pro from 2009 I am typing this on (moving files across to the new dell) After 16 years of Mac use I don't regret the switch.
- bostand 10y ago
  Is this a 15" laptop? I recently realized that a modern 15" can be much more ergonomic yet almost as small and light as a 13" from a couple of years back.
  - iSnow 10y ago
    I've seen the precision 5510 and while I wouldn't say it is beautiful, it is really small for a 15". At 2Kg (with the large battery), it is still heavy, though.
    - bostand 10y ago
      What is the battery life of the smaller-battery configuration? I wouldn't care less about its beauty if it has a good keyboard, a good screen and not awful battery life... With that said, you are the first one ive heard saying the new dell is not good looking.
  - jerven 10y ago
    It is 15" screen wise. Lighter than a 2009-2013 13" MacBookPro.
nickjj 10y ago
You can spend about $350 and get a high quality 13" IPS 1080p display Chromebook that weighs under 3 pounds if you're willing to spend 5 minutes putting in an SSD and installing Linux natively on it. I've been using the above set up for half a year now roughly and it's great. I can do all of my development work, writing, browsing, etc. without feeling like I'm giving up much for those sorts of tasks and the price is very reasonable. Details can be found at: https://nickjanetakis.com/blog/transform-a-toshiba-chromebook-cb35-into-a-linux-development-environment-with-galliumos https://nickjanetakis.com/blog/transform-a-toshiba-chromeboo... Its physical profile is really small too. Perfect for putting into a backpack and doing some traveling with it.
- chadgeidel 10y ago
  I've switched out HDDs and installed Linux a few times and it's never taken me 5 minutes. Not even 50 minutes. Sure, it's a one-time "cost" and nearly insignificant over the course of the lifetime of the machine, but please be honest about the time spent.
  - nickjj 10y ago
    It's 5 minutes to unscrew a couple of screws, slide out the SSD card, put in the new SSD card and screw it back together. The GalliumOS installer is also really straight forward. You pretty much run 2 commands and hit ok a few times. This part is more than 5 minutes, but it's mainly just twiddling your thumbs waiting for things to download and install. Then you boot up and you're in.
    - Ezhik 10y ago
      From experience, it's just annoying to have to do things like that. It really is nice to have a machine that I can just use out of the box without tweaks and such, not worrying about updates breaking my drivers, things like that. However at this point it's not worth paying Apple for that pleasure, when I can get a Windows machine from Microsoft that gives me all that. Hell, I can even get that Developer Edition Dell XPS with Linux.
    - 10y ago

jerven 10y ago

I just got myself a Dell precision 5510 with Ubuntu out of the box. A lot more capable than the most power full current macbook pro, weighs slightly less then the macbook pro from 2009 I am typing this on (moving files across to the new dell) After 16 years of Mac use I don't regret the switch.

bostand 10y ago
Is this a 15" laptop? I recently realized that a modern 15" can be much more ergonomic yet almost as small and light as a 13" from a couple of years back.
- iSnow 10y ago
  I've seen the precision 5510 and while I wouldn't say it is beautiful, it is really small for a 15". At 2Kg (with the large battery), it is still heavy, though.
  - bostand 10y ago
    What is the battery life of the smaller-battery configuration? I wouldn't care less about its beauty if it has a good keyboard, a good screen and not awful battery life... With that said, you are the first one ive heard saying the new dell is not good looking.
- jerven 10y ago
  It is 15" screen wise. Lighter than a 2009-2013 13" MacBookPro.

nickjj 10y ago

You can spend about $350 and get a high quality 13" IPS 1080p display Chromebook that weighs under 3 pounds if you're willing to spend 5 minutes putting in an SSD and installing Linux natively on it. I've been using the above set up for half a year now roughly and it's great. I can do all of my development work, writing, browsing, etc. without feeling like I'm giving up much for those sorts of tasks and the price is very reasonable. Details can be found at: https://nickjanetakis.com/blog/transform-a-toshiba-chromebook-cb35-into-a-linux-development-environment-with-galliumos https://nickjanetakis.com/blog/transform-a-toshiba-chromeboo... Its physical profile is really small too. Perfect for putting into a backpack and doing some traveling with it.

chadgeidel 10y ago
I've switched out HDDs and installed Linux a few times and it's never taken me 5 minutes. Not even 50 minutes. Sure, it's a one-time "cost" and nearly insignificant over the course of the lifetime of the machine, but please be honest about the time spent.
- nickjj 10y ago
  It's 5 minutes to unscrew a couple of screws, slide out the SSD card, put in the new SSD card and screw it back together. The GalliumOS installer is also really straight forward. You pretty much run 2 commands and hit ok a few times. This part is more than 5 minutes, but it's mainly just twiddling your thumbs waiting for things to download and install. Then you boot up and you're in.
  - Ezhik 10y ago
    From experience, it's just annoying to have to do things like that. It really is nice to have a machine that I can just use out of the box without tweaks and such, not worrying about updates breaking my drivers, things like that. However at this point it's not worth paying Apple for that pleasure, when I can get a Windows machine from Microsoft that gives me all that. Hell, I can even get that Developer Edition Dell XPS with Linux.
  - 10y ago