4 ms·

The most important quote: "What should you buy instead of all these bad computers? I have no earthly idea." Does anybody here had experience with XPS 15 or an

The most important quote: "What should you buy instead of all these bad computers? I have no earthly idea." Does anybody here had experience with XPS 15 or anything of similar form factor of MacBook Pro 15?

daxsa2 9y ago
I too desperately need to replace mine and have been looking at the XPS. The only complaint I have from my very brief use is that the screen has a bit of glare under certain conditions.
Amezarak 9y ago
So far, I think the XPS 15 is a great laptop. Things I don't like: - No ethernet port. I guess most people think this is great, nowadays. Unfortunately, I go a lot of places without wifi so I have to carry a dongle around. Drives me crazy that the trend is towards removing ports and I can't understand how anyone thinks adding yet another layer (usb/thunderbolt) to the network stack is sane. - Fn keys default to alternate behavior;, e.g, brightening and dimming screen instead of F11 and F12. There is a BIOS setting to change this, but it's confusingly named. You have to turn the opposite one of what you'd think on. - I got the 4k screen. It's very, very glossy. - The arrow keys are very small. I would highly recommend it so far, but I know people are picky about their macbooks. I've also only had it for a few months. I like laptops that last ten years, and I don't know if this one will make it.
- fusiongyro 9y ago
  Fn + Esc on my Precision 5520 seems to switch it into function key mode, or something. Found out about this yesterday, it may work for you too since these are almost the same laptop. It also came with the ethernet dongle, but I never really need it.
  - Amezarak 9y ago
    Yes, this works, but you have to do it on every boot, right? I had also just found out about it recently and it worked but I was poking around in the bios for the permanent solution.
fusiongyro 9y ago
I switched from a MacBook Pro to a Precision 5520, which is sort of like what a developer edition XPS 15 would be, if it existed. I have exactly one complaint about this laptop, which is the touchpad under Linux. Initially, Ubuntu used the synaptics driver, which I simply could not lower the sensitivity enough to make it bearable. I have uninstalled the synaptics driver and now it's using xinput. This is a marked improvement, but I still can't use touch-to-click or I will get too many erroneous clicks around the screen while I'm typing. Also, and somewhat more annoyingly, I can't right-click without tap-to-click. I'm not sure what to do about that at all. Overall, I think the problems are software. The keyboard is great, the screen is great, the battery life is very decent.
madeuptempacct 9y ago
I have the XPS. It's the best laptop I have had. All my co-workers bought one and couldn't be happier with it: * Yes, the screen is glossy as hell * My computer blue screens once or twice a day and more frequently if I watch videos / play games * It heats pretty heavily if not on a fan or a stand. Handles multiple instance of VS and WebStorm like a champ. A coworker of ours has the MacBook Pro. We call him "Mac bitch", since we need him for troubleshoot Angular 5 date pipe issues.
Steltek 9y ago
I have an XPS 15 running Debian. I got the 1080 screen for better battery life (but I also run plugged in to a 4K monitor most times anyway). It's a great machine. I have no complaints. Well, I blew out the speakers doing something rather dumb but there are simple (T1.5) screws on the bottom; it was a trivial $10, 15 minute repair.

daxsa2 9y ago

I too desperately need to replace mine and have been looking at the XPS. The only complaint I have from my very brief use is that the screen has a bit of glare under certain conditions.

Amezarak 9y ago

So far, I think the XPS 15 is a great laptop. Things I don't like: - No ethernet port. I guess most people think this is great, nowadays. Unfortunately, I go a lot of places without wifi so I have to carry a dongle around. Drives me crazy that the trend is towards removing ports and I can't understand how anyone thinks adding yet another layer (usb/thunderbolt) to the network stack is sane. - Fn keys default to alternate behavior;, e.g, brightening and dimming screen instead of F11 and F12. There is a BIOS setting to change this, but it's confusingly named. You have to turn the opposite one of what you'd think on. - I got the 4k screen. It's very, very glossy. - The arrow keys are very small. I would highly recommend it so far, but I know people are picky about their macbooks. I've also only had it for a few months. I like laptops that last ten years, and I don't know if this one will make it.

fusiongyro 9y ago
Fn + Esc on my Precision 5520 seems to switch it into function key mode, or something. Found out about this yesterday, it may work for you too since these are almost the same laptop. It also came with the ethernet dongle, but I never really need it.
- Amezarak 9y ago
  Yes, this works, but you have to do it on every boot, right? I had also just found out about it recently and it worked but I was poking around in the bios for the permanent solution.

fusiongyro 9y ago

I switched from a MacBook Pro to a Precision 5520, which is sort of like what a developer edition XPS 15 would be, if it existed. I have exactly one complaint about this laptop, which is the touchpad under Linux. Initially, Ubuntu used the synaptics driver, which I simply could not lower the sensitivity enough to make it bearable. I have uninstalled the synaptics driver and now it's using xinput. This is a marked improvement, but I still can't use touch-to-click or I will get too many erroneous clicks around the screen while I'm typing. Also, and somewhat more annoyingly, I can't right-click without tap-to-click. I'm not sure what to do about that at all. Overall, I think the problems are software. The keyboard is great, the screen is great, the battery life is very decent.

madeuptempacct 9y ago

I have the XPS. It's the best laptop I have had. All my co-workers bought one and couldn't be happier with it: * Yes, the screen is glossy as hell * My computer blue screens once or twice a day and more frequently if I watch videos / play games * It heats pretty heavily if not on a fan or a stand. Handles multiple instance of VS and WebStorm like a champ. A coworker of ours has the MacBook Pro. We call him "Mac bitch", since we need him for troubleshoot Angular 5 date pipe issues.

Steltek 9y ago

I have an XPS 15 running Debian. I got the 1080 screen for better battery life (but I also run plugged in to a 4K monitor most times anyway). It's a great machine. I have no complaints. Well, I blew out the speakers doing something rather dumb but there are simple (T1.5) screws on the bottom; it was a trivial $10, 15 minute repair.