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I have a Dell XPS 13 as my personal machine. It runs Linux. Everything works. But, I still find myself using my MacBook Pro (provided by work) for almost every

I have a Dell XPS 13 as my personal machine. It runs Linux. Everything works. But, I still find myself using my MacBook Pro (provided by work) for almost everything even at home. Two things that keep me in the Mac land. 1. Retina Display and the 16:10 aspect ratio. 2. Smooth, and usable touchpad. XPS13's display is too rectangle and I'm not watching movies in it. It feels too cramped for looking at code. GNOME out of the box does not do fractional scaling (125%) hence everything looks either too big or too small to my taste. I dont have the patience or the know-how to tune the touchpad to be decent in Linux.

blitmap 8y ago
1) LOVE 16:10/8:5. Currently I have a 3240x2160 panel in my HP Spectre x360. I WISH it were 3240x2400. I WANT 2400p PANELS. 2) I'm far from an expert on this: I don't know why it's taken more than a decade to figure out trackpad motion.
- bitL 8y ago
  > taken more than a decade to figure out trackpad motion. Patents?
  - blitmap 8y ago
    But you don’t even see it in like an unofficial libinput patch done by someone who is hobby-passionate. I’ve never had a good trackpad experience outside of Apple and I refuse to believe it hasn’t been reversed.. It can’t be patents, can it? I legit used to no-scope people in Halo Combat Evolves on my PowerBook G4 back in the day - with the trackpad. I remember Microsoft put gpu makers through hell when they put out the driver framework thing a few years ago? I wish they took trackpads seriously (even for gaming) and forced that synaptics shit out. Maybe people laugh at the idea of gaming with a trackpad but I wish it were possible even if I’m a minority. I wish games could support trackpad gestures too. Also I meant 3840x* above.
- markmark 8y ago
  Of all the things other copy from Apple, so few copy the 16:10 screen. At least the Surface display is what, 3:2 now? But everyone else is still bloody 16:9.
mmanulis 8y ago
For touchpad, replace Synaptics with libinput and it just works (tm), including palm rejection.
- solarkraft 8y ago
  Gestures are still hard. Scrolling is becoming fine (mostly with recent apps based on GTK3/Qt5), but other gestures are still barely recognized even with hacks, at least for me on Elementary. I think it will still improve over time, but about as slowly as it has in the past.
- fusiongyro 8y ago
  This was my experience as well, on the Precision 5520.
curioussavage 8y ago
I’m not picky about the screen, but I am super picky about trackpads from using macs. My dell chrombook feels every bit as good as the Mac. Fortunately for me the Gallium os distro for Chromebooks reuses the chrome os touchpad driver. I dell Precision model at work and that touch pad sucks!
- geerlingguy 8y ago
  I'm amazed nobody else has matched Apple's glass touch input devices. Luckily the external Magic Trackpad works pretty well with the XPS 13.
  - sbr464 8y ago
    I think it’s because Apple has the patent on glass on metal trackpads https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cultofmac.com/210380/apple-wins-patent-for-glass-on-metal-trackpads/amp/ https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cultofmac.com/210380/apple-...
    - bhauer 8y ago
      Interesting. The Surface products (e.g., the Surface Book) use glass on metal.
      - sbr464 8y ago
        Maybe they licensed the tech or used a plexiglass? Not a lawyer, but was curious myself why it wasn’t used more so had just googled about it.
        mrkstu 8y ago
        Microsoft and Apple have a comprehensive cross-licensing agreement, so that would make sense.
  - deltron3030 8y ago
    Razer comes close in feel.
tamatsyk 8y ago
> I dont have the patience or the know-how to tune the touchpad to be decent in Linux. I thought it would be an issue too, however Gnome and latest ubuntu fixed issues with trackpad and screen resolution
jordache 8y ago
How hard is it for device makers to prefect the touchpad? It should be a no brainer like mouse devices by now huh?
- nkrisc 8y ago
  Someone has. It's in MacBooks.
  - slantyyz 8y ago
    I get that I'm in the extreme minority here, but I pretty much hate all touchpads, including Apple's. I hate Apple's the least, so I will concede that Apple makes the best touch pads. I wish all the PC makers would stop trying to copy the Apple model of "all touch surface, and the pad on a rocker for buttons". I'm probably being old and cranky (for context, my very first laptop was an Apple Powerbook 170 with a track ball, and it was AWESOME), but I prefer the days when you could get a consumer laptop that had a touchpad with two discrete buttons. These days, you're generally stuck choosing from some ugly business and gaming laptops if you want real touchpad buttons.
    - seanp2k2 8y ago
      Funny, I liked the trackball laptops as well. I had an old Zenith with one and later a Dell laptop with one (Latitude Xpi iirc). That Dell had MMX, so it would play mp3s in Musicmatch Jukebox without skipping like my desktop at the time would. Desktop trackballs are still a thing; I like my Kensington Expert Mouse Wireless Trackball quite a bit with my mac. The scroll ring feels kind of janky for a $100 mouse but it works.
    - nikanj 8y ago
      On the new one, it’s no longer on a rocker. If you manage to deep freeze the kernel, the trackpad stops clicking. The click is somehow created after force touch(?) deems your press to be hard enough for click.
    - Jach 8y ago
      Hello fellow minority. Though I don't like Apple's at all, albeit the last time I used one was in 2014 or 2015 so maybe they're better. I liked my really old Dell Inspiron 1000's better than the Macbooks I've tried. And I used to use a laptop with just a nub in the middle and two buttons below the space bar, that was my favorite, I could actually play FPS games with it, and it meshed well with vim usage. But these days I almost always just use a wireless mouse. It's no extra cost to carry around when I have to carry around a charger, the times I want/need to use a laptop in a suboptimal environment (like on my lap) are so minimal that I can't care too much about the quality of a touchpad. Does it let me tap once to click, tap with two fingers to right click? Good enough.
heywire 8y ago
I'd recommend testing a live image of KDE Neon. I loaded it on my Dell Latitude 7370 (distant cousin of the XPS 13) which has a 13" QHD+ touchscreen, and I'm quite impressed with the "out of the box" experience with KDE Neon. There are still a some applications that don't handle the DPI scaling well, but I had that problem on Windows too.
eksemplar 8y ago
This is the perfect description of why I’ll probably never leave Mac land. I want my technology to work out the box, and Mac does that. Sure I could probably setup the Linux trackpad to be Mac like if I threw plenty of hours at it, but I don’t want to waste my time like that, not anymore. I did in my youth, but now I’ll just buy the thing that works.
- codegladiator 8y ago
  I wish there are less people like you and more people who want to fix things. For reasons which should be obvious I guess.
  - Clubber 8y ago
    Maybe Dell should fix their trackpad.
    - grimgrin 8y ago
      Who has a useful trackpad anyways? An actually great one, besides Apple? I have no idea why this is the case? Patents or too expensive to justify? Genuinely curious
      - BounceHouse 8y ago
        De-coupling of hardware and software mainly. All kinds of 3rd parties writing drivers for the trackpad for an OS they don't have control over.
      - pdq 8y ago
        I've heard the Microsoft Surface is very good.
        tudorw 8y ago
        It is lovely, as is the Surface Book 2, the pen inking is sublime ;)
Improvotter 8y ago
The touchpad is the only reason keeping me on MacOS. If Linux had drivers for the trackpad that were on par with MacOS, I'd run Linux on my Macbook.
- jeromenerf 8y ago
  Using Linux on a Mac trackpad, I can tap with 3 fingers for a middle (button 2, the wheel button) and so open links in another tab, close tabs, execute selection ... I find that feature more interesting than gestures. Ymmv.
kellengreen 8y ago
I agree with the lack of proper touchpad support. There are ways around it, but I'd like to not have to spend a day determining if libinput, mtrack, or synaptec is the right driver for my needs.
finolex1 8y ago
Interesting, I've been using a non-touch XPS for about a year now and the feature I've unexpectedly grown to love most is the matt screen, which has great viewing angles and and much less glare.
- RachelF 8y ago
  The matte screen is one of the main reasons I got an XPS 13. In many environments I don't like the reflections of a bright window behind me or the ceiling office lights. You can buy matte stickers to put on glossy Mac screens, but they can be hard to apply well without bubbles.
k_bx 8y ago
Doesn't Ubuntu 18.04 have an ability to do fractional scaling when used under Wayland (not X.org)?

blitmap 8y ago

1) LOVE 16:10/8:5. Currently I have a 3240x2160 panel in my HP Spectre x360. I WISH it were 3240x2400. I WANT 2400p PANELS. 2) I'm far from an expert on this: I don't know why it's taken more than a decade to figure out trackpad motion.

bitL 8y ago
> taken more than a decade to figure out trackpad motion. Patents?
- blitmap 8y ago
  But you don’t even see it in like an unofficial libinput patch done by someone who is hobby-passionate. I’ve never had a good trackpad experience outside of Apple and I refuse to believe it hasn’t been reversed.. It can’t be patents, can it? I legit used to no-scope people in Halo Combat Evolves on my PowerBook G4 back in the day - with the trackpad. I remember Microsoft put gpu makers through hell when they put out the driver framework thing a few years ago? I wish they took trackpads seriously (even for gaming) and forced that synaptics shit out. Maybe people laugh at the idea of gaming with a trackpad but I wish it were possible even if I’m a minority. I wish games could support trackpad gestures too. Also I meant 3840x* above.
markmark 8y ago
Of all the things other copy from Apple, so few copy the 16:10 screen. At least the Surface display is what, 3:2 now? But everyone else is still bloody 16:9.

mmanulis 8y ago

For touchpad, replace Synaptics with libinput and it just works (tm), including palm rejection.

solarkraft 8y ago
Gestures are still hard. Scrolling is becoming fine (mostly with recent apps based on GTK3/Qt5), but other gestures are still barely recognized even with hacks, at least for me on Elementary. I think it will still improve over time, but about as slowly as it has in the past.
fusiongyro 8y ago
This was my experience as well, on the Precision 5520.

curioussavage 8y ago

I’m not picky about the screen, but I am super picky about trackpads from using macs. My dell chrombook feels every bit as good as the Mac. Fortunately for me the Gallium os distro for Chromebooks reuses the chrome os touchpad driver. I dell Precision model at work and that touch pad sucks!

geerlingguy 8y ago
I'm amazed nobody else has matched Apple's glass touch input devices. Luckily the external Magic Trackpad works pretty well with the XPS 13.
- sbr464 8y ago
  I think it’s because Apple has the patent on glass on metal trackpads https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cultofmac.com/210380/apple-wins-patent-for-glass-on-metal-trackpads/amp/ https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cultofmac.com/210380/apple-...
  - bhauer 8y ago
    Interesting. The Surface products (e.g., the Surface Book) use glass on metal.
    - sbr464 8y ago
      Maybe they licensed the tech or used a plexiglass? Not a lawyer, but was curious myself why it wasn’t used more so had just googled about it.
      - mrkstu 8y ago
        Microsoft and Apple have a comprehensive cross-licensing agreement, so that would make sense.
- deltron3030 8y ago
  Razer comes close in feel.

tamatsyk 8y ago

> I dont have the patience or the know-how to tune the touchpad to be decent in Linux. I thought it would be an issue too, however Gnome and latest ubuntu fixed issues with trackpad and screen resolution

jordache 8y ago

How hard is it for device makers to prefect the touchpad? It should be a no brainer like mouse devices by now huh?

nkrisc 8y ago
Someone has. It's in MacBooks.
- slantyyz 8y ago
  I get that I'm in the extreme minority here, but I pretty much hate all touchpads, including Apple's. I hate Apple's the least, so I will concede that Apple makes the best touch pads. I wish all the PC makers would stop trying to copy the Apple model of "all touch surface, and the pad on a rocker for buttons". I'm probably being old and cranky (for context, my very first laptop was an Apple Powerbook 170 with a track ball, and it was AWESOME), but I prefer the days when you could get a consumer laptop that had a touchpad with two discrete buttons. These days, you're generally stuck choosing from some ugly business and gaming laptops if you want real touchpad buttons.
  - seanp2k2 8y ago
    Funny, I liked the trackball laptops as well. I had an old Zenith with one and later a Dell laptop with one (Latitude Xpi iirc). That Dell had MMX, so it would play mp3s in Musicmatch Jukebox without skipping like my desktop at the time would. Desktop trackballs are still a thing; I like my Kensington Expert Mouse Wireless Trackball quite a bit with my mac. The scroll ring feels kind of janky for a $100 mouse but it works.
  - nikanj 8y ago
    On the new one, it’s no longer on a rocker. If you manage to deep freeze the kernel, the trackpad stops clicking. The click is somehow created after force touch(?) deems your press to be hard enough for click.
  - Jach 8y ago
    Hello fellow minority. Though I don't like Apple's at all, albeit the last time I used one was in 2014 or 2015 so maybe they're better. I liked my really old Dell Inspiron 1000's better than the Macbooks I've tried. And I used to use a laptop with just a nub in the middle and two buttons below the space bar, that was my favorite, I could actually play FPS games with it, and it meshed well with vim usage. But these days I almost always just use a wireless mouse. It's no extra cost to carry around when I have to carry around a charger, the times I want/need to use a laptop in a suboptimal environment (like on my lap) are so minimal that I can't care too much about the quality of a touchpad. Does it let me tap once to click, tap with two fingers to right click? Good enough.

heywire 8y ago

I'd recommend testing a live image of KDE Neon. I loaded it on my Dell Latitude 7370 (distant cousin of the XPS 13) which has a 13" QHD+ touchscreen, and I'm quite impressed with the "out of the box" experience with KDE Neon. There are still a some applications that don't handle the DPI scaling well, but I had that problem on Windows too.

eksemplar 8y ago

This is the perfect description of why I’ll probably never leave Mac land. I want my technology to work out the box, and Mac does that. Sure I could probably setup the Linux trackpad to be Mac like if I threw plenty of hours at it, but I don’t want to waste my time like that, not anymore. I did in my youth, but now I’ll just buy the thing that works.

codegladiator 8y ago
I wish there are less people like you and more people who want to fix things. For reasons which should be obvious I guess.
- Clubber 8y ago
  Maybe Dell should fix their trackpad.
  - grimgrin 8y ago
    Who has a useful trackpad anyways? An actually great one, besides Apple? I have no idea why this is the case? Patents or too expensive to justify? Genuinely curious
    - BounceHouse 8y ago
      De-coupling of hardware and software mainly. All kinds of 3rd parties writing drivers for the trackpad for an OS they don't have control over.
    - pdq 8y ago
      I've heard the Microsoft Surface is very good.
      - tudorw 8y ago
        It is lovely, as is the Surface Book 2, the pen inking is sublime ;)

Improvotter 8y ago

The touchpad is the only reason keeping me on MacOS. If Linux had drivers for the trackpad that were on par with MacOS, I'd run Linux on my Macbook.

jeromenerf 8y ago
Using Linux on a Mac trackpad, I can tap with 3 fingers for a middle (button 2, the wheel button) and so open links in another tab, close tabs, execute selection ... I find that feature more interesting than gestures. Ymmv.

kellengreen 8y ago

I agree with the lack of proper touchpad support. There are ways around it, but I'd like to not have to spend a day determining if libinput, mtrack, or synaptec is the right driver for my needs.

finolex1 8y ago

Interesting, I've been using a non-touch XPS for about a year now and the feature I've unexpectedly grown to love most is the matt screen, which has great viewing angles and and much less glare.

RachelF 8y ago
The matte screen is one of the main reasons I got an XPS 13. In many environments I don't like the reflections of a bright window behind me or the ceiling office lights. You can buy matte stickers to put on glossy Mac screens, but they can be hard to apply well without bubbles.

k_bx 8y ago

Doesn't Ubuntu 18.04 have an ability to do fractional scaling when used under Wayland (not X.org)?