23 ms·
Dell’s gamble on Linux laptops has paid off
- Hextinium 9y agoCan someone explain to me why it is so difficult to produce hardware that is identical to current offerings but with software that is different? Is it driver conflicts and BIOS problems?
- zootboy 9y agoBecause there are lots and lots of chipsets that work somewhere in the range of horribly to not-at-all in Linux (Realtek and Broadcom spring to mind for poor Linux support with their WiFi chipsets). And any driver that hasn't been upstreamed creates a boatload of work for the support engineers, since kernel updates tend to break out-of-tree drivers on a semi-regular basis.
- AstralStorm 9y agoYou have a bit outdated info here. Both are generally fine considering recent hardware. The drivers are upstream now. (The problem is nonredistributable blobs.) Ralink is fine too. In fact most trouble is with new Atheros chips after their latest corporate takeover.
- thomastjeffery 9y agoManufacturers are obsessed with the word "proprietary". For that reason alone, they tend to keep their drivers closed-source, which means that manufacturer must keep that driver up to date without any help from the outside world. This works with Windows until a new version of Windows is released that breaks functionality. This does not work with Linux, which is monolithic, and requires drivers to be built into the kernel.
- NiklasMort 9y agomeanwhile in Thinkpad land... honestly I never understand why people go for Macbooks or XPS. X/T model user since 7 generations. I did look at the XPS but there are so many disadvantages with those modern one-body-all-closed-no-mods laptops. Before you down vote me, I still applaud Dells decision to get Ubuntu Laptops out there. But I don't really see what the big game changer is whether a laptop comes preinstalled with Ubuntu or if I do it myself.
- pmontra 9y agoProbably it means that everything works well since day 0. I bought a HP ZBook in 2014. I wiped out Windows and installed Ubuntu. It worked but there were some problems with the backlight control keys. There were workarounds and everything got fixed after a few months with some new version of the kernel. I expect zero problems if the pc came with Linux.
- unhammer 9y ago> I don't really see what the big game changer is whether a laptop comes preinstalled with Ubuntu or if I do it myself. It means a certain level of support. They're actively trying to make this thing run Linux well, instead of leaving it up to "the community". And you don't have to go reading forums or blog posts before buying just to figure out if it will have some stupid UEFI bug or whatever that makes installing Linux on it a real hassle. Although I prefer Thinkpads, I very much understand why people want Macbook-like computers – they look quite nice! You shouldn't have to fit into some black-and-blue mold just to run Linux.
- NiklasMort 9y agoLenovo did the same in the early days at least, they were very aware of having to produce high compatibility laptops. Not so much for the point of open source but for business usage which sometimes required non-windows OS's. But sure I applaud Dell. The world should rid of Windows.
- castle-bravo 9y agoNo longer, apparently. A colleague if mine has had some headaches with ubuntu on his legion Y520, including no wifi connectivity at work. My T430 has no problems though.
- pritambaral 9y agoAFAIK, the Y-series line is not a ThinkPad line. What the parent said applied to the ThinkPad line, which is treated differently by Lenovo to their consumer lines.
- deadprogram 9y agoI had the first version, currently on am on my second version of the Dell XPS 13 developer edition, and about to order a brand new one to replace it. It is a really great package. Not to mention having HW from a major company like Dell with all the drivers already in the Linux kernel means you can pretty much run any distro you want and it "just works".
- kupiakos 9y agoI'm currently waiting on the 8th gen CPU version (9370) of the Developer Edition to come out.
- sofaofthedamned 9y agoYeah, love my 9360 but the CPU has a serious lack of grunt sometimes. I'd prefer a Ryzen version with AMD GPU though, and HP have just announced one.
- luka-birsa 9y agoAs a 20 year Linux user I really appreciate Dells support in proving the market exists. This improved support across all manufacturers. I've recently acquired a HP Envy 13 2017 laptop with Windows preinstalled. I've really wanted to try Windows out, but after installing Google Chrome and Docker (1hr after starting it up) it stopped working - windows boot up into a blank black screen. In a hurry I've downloaded Ubuntu 17.10, clicked yes and I had a working OS in 15 minutes time. With everything (suspend, broadcom card, USBC video,...) working out of the box. Super impressed. If you're a developer there's no UX reason to go Windows anymore.
- maccard 9y agoI’ve a dual boot set up on one of my machines with Ubuntu 17.04. I’m consistently having Ethernet issues related to having two network cards, and the multi monitor support is lacking. I can’t use my triple monitor setup, and if I forget to disconnect my third monitor I have to reboot with only one monitor attached to get it work. Meanwhile, on the same machine, windows handles it in its stride. There’s still some improvements to be made
- reacweb 9y agoethernet ? It is the most stable part of Linux since 25 years. Do you have a link to the bug report ?
- mamon 9y agoIt's funny that you say that, because I'm constantly having problems with e1000e driver on my Intel NUC. Ethernet card stops working and dmesg shows "hardware unit hung" message. Tried to upgrade driver to latest version, compiled from sources - didn't fix it.
- maccard 9y agoI don’t, because I haven’t even investigated the issue myself. I get times where I can’t see the device, and have no connectivity. My solution: use windows.
- 9y ago
- shermozle 9y agoI bought a Thinkpad specifically because Dell refuse to sell me their Linux laptop here in Australia. Thinkpad was better hardware for the money, but I would've bought the Dell if they'd supported it.
- oskenso 9y agoI bought an XPS 13 9360 and immediately installed linux on it and it's been running flawlessly. After shopping around for a good linux-compatible laptop, I found that nothing beat the dell in terms of support. I couldn't be happier! I love what Dell has done with their premium laptops and I hope to replace this machine with a future XPS when the time comes. (I bought the windows version because it was $50 less than the developer edition for some reason.)
- lowry 9y agoThey should have taken the Latitude 6 or 7 series for Linux laptops. XPS is a toy, the other two are mid-range and high-end workhorses, exactly the kind professional developers and corporate buyers acquire.
- CaptainDecisive 9y agoI have a Macbook Pro (2015 15") at work and a Dell XPS 15 (9550) at home, and personally feel that I'm a very lucky lad to have the two best laptops in the world. My previous job I had a couple of high-end Dell Precision laptops and while they were nice enough machines they were bricks compared to my current laptops, which look far better, feel much nicer, slip unnoticeably into my backpack for my bike commute, and yet have all the heavy hitting hardware I need for my GIS development work. For me, the "toys" win hands down.
- ploek 9y agoI couldn't find it on Dell's generally available web shop, but in the punchout shop I get from Dell via my employer, it is possible to configure Latitudes with Ubuntu 16.04. A colleague recently got a Latitude 5480 with Ubuntu 16.04 that way.
- colordrops 9y agoGot the XPS 9560 from Costco, which they sell at the max configuration (32gb ram, 1tb SSD, 4k touch screen, nvidia 1050) for a few hundred dollars cheaper than Dell, and it's a beast. Got Ubuntu running on it without too much trouble, though it required a bit of tweaking. Only thing that doesn't have a driver is the fingerprint scanner. I'm extremely happy with it so far. Have had no stability issues at all. Only real issue is not the laptop so much as Linux with patchy software support for 4k screens. I run Xmonad as my desktop so I have to configure several things manually to work with HiDPI.
- jorgemf 9y agoIn arch that laptop works pretty well without tweaks. Don't try to use the GPU and the CPU at the same time for longer than 5 minutes or you will be very disappointed (I own the same model).
- colordrops 9y agoWhat are you referring to? Does it overheat? Battery run down?
- quincunx 9y agoI don't know what jorgemf is referring to but I own the same laptop. It's bad at switching between the intel and nvidia GPUs, most notably in Chrome it even causes lockups. Pretty sad they haven't resolved it yet, out of the box Chrome is now locked down to Intel on Win10.
- jorgemf 9y agoYou need to use Bumblebee for this, and then launch the apps with primusrun or optirun. Some programs like steam doesn't need anything, and work without issues.
- jorgemf 9y agoThe thermal zone of the VRMs gets hot pretty quickly and it causes power throlling which decreases the CPU to 700Mhz. It is even much worse in windows due to some drivers.
- linux-user 9y agoIs Dell still offering those? I cannot find anything. For example this dell page has no current offerings: http://www.dell.com/learn/us/en/555/campaigns/dell-linux-ubuntu-en http://www.dell.com/learn/us/en/555/campaigns/dell-linux-ubu...
- majewsky 9y agoYeah, I'm puzzled as well. Upon reading the article, I tried to find Linux notebooks via their homepage (i.e. by starting at dell.com), but found nothing.
- marsRoverDev 9y agoAre you on the US site or another? If I go to the US site, the option for an ubuntu flavour isn't there. If you go to the UK version: http://www.dell.com/en-uk/shop/laptop-and-2-in-1-pcs/xps-13/spd/xps-13-9360-laptop http://www.dell.com/en-uk/shop/laptop-and-2-in-1-pcs/xps-13/... They are available at the end of the carousel showing the fitout options.
- bubblethink 9y agoGo to dell.com/developers . Dell's site is quite a disaster in general. It boggles the mind how hard it is for this giant corporations (Dell, Lenovo, HP) to make a halfway usable website.
- pbkhrv 9y agoNone of the 15" Precision series laptops linked from that page seem to be available with Linux on their dedicated sales pages... Weird. Edit: they don't list Linux as being available until you go to "Customize and Buy".
- bubblethink 9y agoYes, poor websites. It's also hard to find a xeon-m + ecc memory without nvidia being added as a punishment. 7520 is the only one with such a config, and even that is a bad fit with other compromises.
- macco 9y agoI wonder how many machines Dell is really selling. Or if project Sputnik is more of marketing ploy, to get popular with developers. Linux users are very tough customers in my experience. And the strategy to have plain Ubuntu installed makes them very vulnarable to competitors. The should have developed their own flavor like System76 is doing with PopOS, imo.
- jhasse 9y ago> And the strategy to have plain Ubuntu installed makes them very vulnarable to competitors. The should have developed their own flavor like System76 is doing with PopOS, imo. For me it's a plus, similar to manufacturers shipping stock Android. I'd replace anything pre-installed with Fedora anyway though.
- bevax 9y agoFurthermore, it is a big effort to maintain a distribution, started from maintaining infrastructure, doing QA, especially ensure security, get releases out… while in the end the buyer typically has his own choice (or requirement) of distribution. Therefore, I think it is more then reasonable to pick out one, but also ensure drivers for all the used hardware make it into the kernel.
- swalsh 9y agoI didn't even know System76 existed, this looks exactly like what I wanted when I bought my XPS.
- thomastjeffery 9y ago> And the strategy to have plain Ubuntu installed makes them very vulnarable to competitors. How so? They are selling hardware, not software. Ubuntu is very well-supported.
- loeg 9y agoIronically enough, inside Dell there is an initiative to push everyone onto Windows, no Mac or Linux. With no exception for engineering.
- CamTin 9y agoHow did you hear this?
- humblebee 9y agoI can actually confirm this, through a third party. I use to work for EMC, and left in early 2017, but still have a lot of friends still working there. Going forward employees were no longer going to be able to connect to the VPN with anything other than the Dell official Windows img. This mostly just meant that any work laptop must run Windows. Developer workstations could still run Linux, at least in the office I worked in as the IT there was not EMC or Dell, but our own internal that originated prior to our EMC acquisition many years ago. I could see other organizations which were not so disconnected from Dell EMC being force further down Windows. Their solution is to run Linux in a VM, which is just unfortunate given the work and the product.
- loeg 9y agoDirectly from an employee.
- smhg 9y agoIf you don't need the portability of a laptop and want a similar package to the Dell XPS for a lot less money: an Intel NUC might be an idea. I've been using one for almost a year after my XPS 13 9343 got stolen. Dell's significant price increase on the newer models made me try out the NUC and it's been great so far. If you stick to these 'mainstream' components (the XPS and NUC have very similar hardware), Linux support really isn't an issue. "It just works".
- zmix 9y agoI just entered "linux" on Dell's german site and "nothing found". Great!
- datboihereitcom 9y agoHere you go: http://www.dell.com/de-de/shop/dell-notebooks/xps-13-developer-edition/spd/xps-13-9350-laptop-ubuntu http://www.dell.com/de-de/shop/dell-notebooks/xps-13-develop...
- GvS 9y agoSame in Ireland. You can't buy Dell Linux laptops anymore.
- microcolonel 9y agoThe Dell Precision 5520 can have a 97Wh battery, that's pretty slick (though it'd be slicker if it were hot swappable, with a small internal battery like you get on the ThinkPad X2xx and T4xx[s]). It'd also be nice if the site didn't just redirect me to the homepage when I connect from Canada. The only way to even look at the specs on a Canadian IP is to download the PDF spec sheets.
- madengr 9y agoThe dumb thing is that it was cheaper for me to buy my XPS 13 from Microcenter and delete Windows, than get the Developers Edition from Dell. Had to sticker over the damned Windows logo on the bottom with a Tux sticker; didn’t feel right.
- AdmiralAsshat 9y agoSimilar thing happened to me--was just browsing Craigslist one night (looking for a cheap ThinkPad, actually), and stumbled across a listing for a fully decked-out XPS 13, lightly used, for $800. I really had no choice. Wiped Windows, replaced the Broadcom wifi with an Intel chip, and loaded Fedora onto it. That model was a 9343, however, and when my extended warranty runs out for it in 2019, I will likely buy a new Developer Edition. The Dell guys have said that loading Linux after purchase doesn't help their numbers--you need to buy the Developer Edition from them in order for their marketing people to gauge interest in Linux.
- oliwarner 9y agoI wanted to throw my money at Dell last year. I wanted the top of the line XPS laptop with Linux. But I needed it quick. At that point, at least, Dell were building them to order in China. Two weeks plus shipping for the UK market. I'm not sure if this is the same for their other models but I bet there's a big pile of Windows machines sitting in an EU warehouse. To add insult to injury, I asked if they could improve the price in a web chat and the guy botched it so hard he added an extra £93 onto the price. Outsourced, off-shored support at its very worst. In the end I dropped a fraction of the money on a next-day-delivered Thinkpad 13, tore Windows off it and raised another flag for glorious penguin.
- _Codemonkeyism 9y agoNo, same with Win10 machines. Bought an XPS13 maxed out from Dell. Website deceivably back then said 2 days shipping, but I didn't realize it meant 2 days to deliver it to the carrier and the 3 weeks to Germany from China. Website made it look like it was in Europe when I ordered. BIOS gives smoke detection loudness (!) level alarms at night when some hardware part fails and laptop reboots. Beside that, hardware is crappy, get's too hot, also hardware gives load pitching and buzzing noises when under load. Keyboard has problems too. I can't run Linux b/c I've stupidly ordered NVMe. Would never again buy Dell, I'm back with Apple for my next laptop.
- plq 9y agoFWIW, my Lenovo T460s also has NVMe and it works just fine via /dev/nvme*. Eg. my boot partition is /dev/nvme0n1p1
- oliwarner 9y agoYeah I'm using nvme on a few machines. No issue.
- craftkiller 9y agoHow is NVMe preventing you from running Linux? Linux has had NVMe support since 2012 (3.3). I use NVMe on a Dell XPS 13 9350 Developer Edition as my daily driver with no issue.
- NightlyDev 9y agoThere are still issues using Linux on XPS laptops from Dell, but funny enough Windows has had both huge touchpad and audio issues for a couple of years(probably a lot of changes with Win10). Heck, I've bought one of each of the three latest(?) XPS 13 laptops, all with windows even though it has been replaced by Ubuntu the day I got them. Dell does show windows versions on the website before the Linux alternative shows up, and I guess the Linux version would sell even better if we didn't just buy one with windows as we know Dell is working on ensuring Linux support. Good job Dell, I hope this stuff continues!
- gargravarr 9y agoAt my company, most of the developers use Ubuntu end-user machines, all from Dell. Not only does this avoid us having to pay for Windows licenses we never use, but we know the hardware is actually going to work fine with it. There's some quirks, of course - Ubuntu doesn't much like the 4k screens in our 13" XPSen so there's a lot of tweaking involved, but we're getting some very good hardware at a good price, and stuff just works. It's the right choice to target the high-end of the market, since the users are likely highly Linux-knowledgeable and so far we've never had to contact Dell for any software issues, which is going to improve their profits while our stuff just keeps working. The only issue is the long lead times between actually ordering a batch of laptops and them being dispatched. It can be a fortnight or more. Currently I (as the sysadmin) keep a cupboard full of them ready for use, but I never look forward to ordering more.
- bunderbunder 9y agoFWIW, Windows has problems with 4K screens, too. Most apps work fine, some display at the size of a postage stamp.
- erikbye 9y agoNot Windows' fault, though. It's up to developers to update their apps to handle DPI scaling.
- AsyncAwait 9y agoWell, that's the same for Linux really, both GTK3 and Qt5 support 4K screens.
- erikbye 9y agoAbsolutely it is. Such a simple fix too, at least in terms of avoiding things becoming too small. In terms of clarity and scaling up pixel-based GUI elements like icons you need to do a bit more work (new icons, double the res).
- 9y ago
- eli_gottlieb 9y agoSorry, I'm gonna have to flame Dell out here. I own a Dell XPS 13 9365, a 2-in-1 laptop. Dell have decided, arbitrarily, not to support Linux on this machine, but you can still actually make it run by disabling Secure Boot and setting the SATA mode to AHCI. Even then, Ubuntu doesn't seem to detect when you've rotated the screen for tablet mode or stuff like that -- but that's probably Ubuntu's driver support. The machine also can't wake up from suspend mode, which I suspect is a driver thing. Problem is, if you then apply a typical, recommended firmware upgrade from your Ubuntu Software Manager, it bricks the laptop. The problem being, "applying" the firmware upgrade in Ubuntu just primes it to run when you restart the computer. When you restart the computer, the BIOS detects a present firmware upgrade and applies it, without apparently double-checking that, you know, this isn't gonna brick the computer. I now have to wait for a technician to arrive today and replace my motherboard, then figure out how to change those BIOS settings again so that I can boot back into Linux. Maybe Ubuntu could have stopped this by detecting compatibility issues between the firmware package and the hardware. Dell's BIOS definitely should have stopped this by detecting the compatibility issue between its own settings and the firmware package. Alternately, if the issue is that, for instance, the BIOS won't check these packages because I've disabled Secure Boot, the BIOS needs to bloody well differentiate between Secure Boot for operating systems (which we want off, because we own our laptops, thank you very much) and for BIOS/firmware packages (which we want on, because why brick a good machine?). Overall, great machine, but bad Dell, no cookie.
- bobowzki 9y agoI had a Dell XPS 13 i7 with Ubuntu pre installed that I sent back within a day because of lack of support for qhd display and horrible electrical "coil whining".
- beavis2 9y agoDid you check for Linux support before you purchased it? If not, you can't blame Dell for your choice. (I'm the type of person to buy the car before choosing the tyres)
- eli_gottlieb 9y ago
- YSS_i3wm 9y agoI'm using Linux with i3wm and one thing that Windows keep beating Linux over is font rendering. Font rendering just sucks on Linux, if you like it or not. Microsoft got a few patents end of the 90s and their fonts clearness are just the best. End of story.
- erikbye 9y agoDepending on the distro you use there are various hoops to jump through to improve font rendering. Check out FreeType.
- thomastjeffery 9y agoThat as been the opposite of my experience for the last 5+ years. In my experience, Windows has been the worst at font rendering, and Linux (freetype) the best, with OS X somewhere in the middle (closer to Linux). Of course, there are edge cases, especially if you are trying to use Windows' fonts, but I very rarely run into them.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- techspring 9y agoI bought a Precision laptop preloaded with Ubuntu about 8 months ago and it's been awesome. The only problem I've run into is that I completely lose audio every time I reboot. A quick visit to alsamixer resolves the issue though, so not a huge deal.
- mcs_ 9y agoI bought a precision with ubuntu (replaced by mint) in January, xeon plus an ocean of ram. An incredible fast machine. Thanks dell. Next time I will probably try system76.
- swalsh 9y agoI recently bought an XPS 13 developers edition from the website after my macbook's screen randomly died (it was old, and ready for an upgrade anyways) looking at new macbooks, I was unhappy with the lack of a USB slot, thought the fancy bar on the top was unnecessary, and generally you just seemed to get less for the same money. I NEEDED the laptop right away. The website said it would take 4 days or so. So I waited, then they delayed the order. I couldn't wait, so I decided to cancel the order. I found Microcenter had an XPS 15, which for all practical purposes seemed like the same thing just slightly "better". So I bought that and threw Ubuntu on it. More or less, it works fine. But I'm not "Wow this is the best laptop ever". I have 1 big complaint. While I'm typing, every once in a while the cursor will skip around. It is infuriating. I'm not sure if it's a hardware or driver issue. My second issue is probably more of an ubuntu issue... but the 4k resolution of the screen (which is actually pretty great) can make some windows scaled super small. From a softer point of view, I don't feel like the frame around this laptop is as durable as the macbook's. I'm very careful when I handle it, because I'm certain one accidental drop, and it's all gone. I dropped my macbook (accidentally!) probably 50 times. No issue. I really like running ubuntu as my main machine, but this doesn't feel like the "high-end" machine I dreamed about.
- Omnius 9y agoYMMV - I have the Dell Precision 7510 and i have installed linux and then back to windows 10 about 20 times because i WANT linux to workout but it ends up being to much work to get everything working. This is including the latest ubuntu release. Each attempt i try a different distro. I recently tried again and throw manjaro gnome on the machine and everything just worked. Like zero effort on my part and its awesome.
- arachnophobe 9y agoI had the cursor skip on an older Dell model (not Ubuntu, Windows), but the cause might be the same - the Nub mouse buton (if that makes sense - the little finger mouse? What ever it's called) in the middle of the keyboard would pick up the slightest tap and move the cursor - I ended up disabling it and the problem went away; I've never really experienced it on any other laptop.
- 9y ago
- chatmasta 9y agoIt's funny how a primary criticism of consumer linux is "you'll have trouble running it on any laptop you pick at random." Isn't this an unfair criticism? If you apply the same logic to MacOS (only works on one laptop!) or Windows (only works on laptops specifically designed for it), Linux begins to look extremely compatible in comparison. Linux has demonstrated itself to be compatible with nearly any hardware combination imaginable, to various degrees of usability. It runs on everything from tiny embedded microcontrollers to supercomputers. MacOS and Windows cannot say the same. It is perfectly valid to criticize the frequency of driver incompatibility. However, this criticism should not be leveled at Linux. It should be directed at the hardware manufacturers who do not release Linux drivers for their products, or the software vendors like Microsoft and Apple, who forego open standards in favor of proprietary protocols. The fact that hardware vendors can successfully produce and market a "Linux first" laptop shows that those vendors are responsible for any incompatibility in their other products. They've proved they can make compatible hardware, so why don't they do it by default?
- LeifCarrotson 9y ago> or Windows (only works on laptops specifically designed for it) Windows also works well on laptops specifically designed for MacOS. It helps that all the commodity parts that Apple uses were designed for other Windows laptops. Plus, Apple has put some effort into Boot Camp to ensure that Windows can be loaded, and Microsoft has probably spent some effort making sure that Windows runs well on Apple hardware, but that's one example of a machine not designed for Windows which still runs it. Unfortunately, that's basically the only example of a laptop which is not designed for Windows that I can think of. Perhaps the Novena laptop [1] is an example of a laptop not designed for Windows? Are there others? [1]: https://spectrum.ieee.org/consumer-electronics/portable-devices/novena-a-laptop-with-no-secrets https://spectrum.ieee.org/consumer-electronics/portable-devi...
- chatmasta 9y agoChromeBook would be a good example.
- PopsiclePete 9y agoI need the XPS 9370 DE like right now! I have the 9350 and it’s been great. Good quality build, light, great screen, solid, works flawlessly with Debian 9.
- ordinaryperson 9y agoNot a Dell shill but I bought a Dell Linux laptop 18 months ago, a Mobile Precision 5510, and I've never been happier. When the machine arrived I had to disable UEFI Secure Boot to get it working, which seemed to fry the soundcard. I called Dell, was quickly escalated to "Level 3" support, and after a brief diagnostic they sent out a technician to my place of work to replace the motherboard on site the NEXT DAY. I've never had another problem since. Honestly, what more could they have done, give me a back rub? The only downsides are no support for Linux support for Apple iTunes and Adobe Photoshop (yes, there's GIMP, but it's not the same). Otherwise it's better in every way, IMHO.
- bluedino 9y agoWhat's the holdup on DE/WM getting hidpi support? It seems like it would be possible to handle it as Macs do, but Linux support for it is just awful. Inconsistencies all over the place. Using multiple monitors can be another pain point. It works for the most part, but full-screen a video on one monitor and you get flashing and artifacts on the others, you'll "lose" a screen, all kinds of weird stuff. And that's Fedora/Ubuntu/SuSE on two different laptops.
- Sir_Cmpwn 9y agoIt's hard, we're unpaid, and we have to do it in our free time. Consider setting up a recurring donation to desktops you want to support.
- jasondclinton 9y agoIt's largely better with Wayland because the apps can receive a previously impossible signal that they are being moved between displays with different HiDPI scaling. In GNOME 3.26, today, for example, a lot of the HiDPI pain is gone in the form of per-display, integer scaling. GNOME 3.28 (coming soon) should have the "handle it as Macs do" in the form of fractional, per-display scaling. 3.28 will be in Fedora 28 and Ubuntu 18.10. NVIDIA cards will be supported through a proxy layer even though NVIDIA is actively fighting the community's effort to standardize.
- crudfactory2 9y agoUnless you live in Canada! Then it's radio silence. Reminds me why I used to dislike Dell so much.
- netsec_burn 9y agoThe last time I went to Dell specifically to buy a Linux laptop the option wasn't available. I just had to uninstall Windows. The market is here, I'll be looking to buy an XPS with Ubuntu preloaded but please make them available!
- discordianfish 9y agoI'm using a Dell simply because it's the only option beside Thinkpads that are 'known to work' on current linux distributions. For the Thinkpad I would have had to wait 3 weeks, which again was the only reason for the Dell. Point is, nobody seems to care about linux desktop users for obvious reasons, being a niche in a shrinking market.
- ElijahLynn 9y agoGreat read, here is some wishful thinking to hoping they get a X1 Yoga-style convertible added to that list! My current dream computer is an X1 Yoga convertible.
- throw7 9y agoWhere/how do you order a linux dell laptop? On the drop down for Operating System only "Windows" options are available. If I search for "linux" I get Canonical support packages and the phrase "Dell recommends Windows" in the top right. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
- owenjones 9y agoHmm, so after reading the article I searched for: dell linux laptop and clicked the first link to dell.com On the product page for the 13 inch XPS Linux I saw a notification: "Sorry, this item is not available anymore for purchase online. Please see our recommended replacement product." And a quick Ctrl-f for 'recommended' or 'replacement' turned up nothing. When I went to the product browser and clicked Operating System the only choices were Windows 7 and Windows 10. After this experience I'm not entirely convinced Dell actually sells Linux laptops.
- jopsen 9y agoI tried XPS about a year ago. I ordered the top model with Ubuntu. But had to return it due to high frequency noise from CPU. It was also super heavy compared to my X1 carbon. And then the noise, the kind of thing not worth trying to get them to repair because it's likely a design flaw.
- solarized 9y agoI hate M$ monopoly in laptop market. So i start looking for best linux laptop 4 years ago. I use ubuntu-wiki-laptop [0] as my buying reference. The choice was Dell Vostro 5470 non-os. This is my main machine since then. As a developer i can say this type are outstanding. I start with ubuntu 14.04 + gnome-classic. At the beginning the problem just the stereo and volume drivers, solved with patch from launchpad. Almost my work done in terminal (vim, mocp, bash, psql, mysql, etc). Things that need gui just google-chrome + libreOffice suite. Battery also work great and has no issues with OS, Almost 5 hours average from full charge. Thanks Dell, thanks canonical. [0] https://wiki.ubuntu.com/HardwareSupport/Machines/Laptops https://wiki.ubuntu.com/HardwareSupport/Machines/Laptops