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I just bought a Dell XPS after eight years of Mac use. Zero productivity loss, now I can test pen and touch GUI on the laptop. Can run Linux, can run windows. H

I just bought a Dell XPS after eight years of Mac use. Zero productivity loss, now I can test pen and touch GUI on the laptop. Can run Linux, can run windows. Honestly, the 4k display is even better than my last Macbook's retina display. Oh, and the Dell's keyboard is much better. The big win: function keys.

rfeague 8y ago
Got one with high hopes, but can't stand the way the loud fan spins up seemingly at random. My 4+ year old MacBook is almost never audible.
- arteez 8y ago
  You should look into MacBook thermals. The fact that fans are not running does not mean hardware is not getting too hot for comfort or longevity. Fans kicking up only when temps go over 90C (IIRC in some Linus video) is very very not good for long term use.
  - jsjohnst 8y ago
    On MBPs, the fans “idle” at about 2,000rpm, they are just designed to be quiet at that speed, but are definitely running. 90°C is fairly close to the thermal limit of the MBP (as in, system will auto power off), so no, that’s definitely not the temp the fans turn on, but might be when they go to max RPM.
Boulth 8y ago
Which version did you buy? I bought 9350 (Skylake) when that came out and this really scared me away from XPSes (multiple issues, motherboards replaced, the worst thing being Thunderbolt integration with the TB16 dock). I generally like quick and nice Dell support service but would rather not have to use it.
- rhinoceraptor 8y ago
  I have the 9560, and I love it. I got it as an open box unit from Microcenter right when the 9570s were coming out, so it was a great deal. I use it for side projects and as a personal laptop, I would love to use it instead of my T470 work laptop. It took a lot of fiddling to get Linux running on it, but it all works now. I have it set up with 18.04 with the root on ZFS.
  - Boulth 8y ago
    Glad to hear it works well for you! > I have it set up with 18.04 with the root on ZFS. I was thinking about using ZFS too. Unfortunately it's not so easy to setup correctly (full disk encryption etc.) on Arch as it is on Ubuntu...
    - rhinoceraptor 8y ago
      Yeah, my desktop is root on ZFS with arch as well, even with the LTS kernel I was always running into issues with mismatched SPL/ZFS and the kernel, I'm trying the DKMS package atm. That took me an entire day to get running.
      - Boulth 8y ago
        Do you get that many benefits from ZFS? I was thinking of using it for backup via zfs send/receive and snapshotting before pacman updates but the sheer amount of work made me stay with ext4 and luks setup. Too bad as I'd really want Tor give ZFS a try :(
- indymike 8y ago
  9575 w/4k display, SSD, i7, 16G RAM. So far so good.

rfeague 8y ago

Got one with high hopes, but can't stand the way the loud fan spins up seemingly at random. My 4+ year old MacBook is almost never audible.

arteez 8y ago
You should look into MacBook thermals. The fact that fans are not running does not mean hardware is not getting too hot for comfort or longevity. Fans kicking up only when temps go over 90C (IIRC in some Linus video) is very very not good for long term use.
- jsjohnst 8y ago
  On MBPs, the fans “idle” at about 2,000rpm, they are just designed to be quiet at that speed, but are definitely running. 90°C is fairly close to the thermal limit of the MBP (as in, system will auto power off), so no, that’s definitely not the temp the fans turn on, but might be when they go to max RPM.

Boulth 8y ago

Which version did you buy? I bought 9350 (Skylake) when that came out and this really scared me away from XPSes (multiple issues, motherboards replaced, the worst thing being Thunderbolt integration with the TB16 dock). I generally like quick and nice Dell support service but would rather not have to use it.

rhinoceraptor 8y ago
I have the 9560, and I love it. I got it as an open box unit from Microcenter right when the 9570s were coming out, so it was a great deal. I use it for side projects and as a personal laptop, I would love to use it instead of my T470 work laptop. It took a lot of fiddling to get Linux running on it, but it all works now. I have it set up with 18.04 with the root on ZFS.
- Boulth 8y ago
  Glad to hear it works well for you! > I have it set up with 18.04 with the root on ZFS. I was thinking about using ZFS too. Unfortunately it's not so easy to setup correctly (full disk encryption etc.) on Arch as it is on Ubuntu...
  - rhinoceraptor 8y ago
    Yeah, my desktop is root on ZFS with arch as well, even with the LTS kernel I was always running into issues with mismatched SPL/ZFS and the kernel, I'm trying the DKMS package atm. That took me an entire day to get running.
    - Boulth 8y ago
      Do you get that many benefits from ZFS? I was thinking of using it for backup via zfs send/receive and snapshotting before pacman updates but the sheer amount of work made me stay with ext4 and luks setup. Too bad as I'd really want Tor give ZFS a try :(
indymike 8y ago
9575 w/4k display, SSD, i7, 16G RAM. So far so good.