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Sad to see the XPS 13 line going the same way as Apple and removing the USB A ports. On the plus side, it's at least possible to connect two monitors to the USB
by wjoe 8y ago
Sad to see the XPS 13 line going the same way as Apple and removing the USB A ports. On the plus side, it's at least possible to connect two monitors to the USB C ports now (the 2017 version I have has only one USB C port), but it's less overall ports now since the power jack is also replaced by USB C. The body seems the same size as previously, so the excuse of "more thinness" doesn't really apply.
That said, the XPS 13 has been the best experience I've had with Linux on a laptop. The bundled Ubuntu install works out of the box, but even on other distros it's not difficult to set up, and I've not encountered any driver issues, which have been common on every other laptop I've installed Linux on. It helps that it's a great quality laptop in general - anecdotally in my office, we see far more hardware issues with the latest Macbooks than with XPSs.So I'd recommend it for anyone who wants a Linux or Windows laptop, or is considering switching away from Mac without compromising on hardware quality.
- pdpi 8y agoApple has the common decency to make all of their USB-C ports identical, and support just about every allowable feature I know of, so, in theory, there's no reason you'll ever plug a device into a Mac and have it not work because the port isn't compatible (even though it's physically the same). Great in theory, I just wish the ports were more reliable — I've now had two laptops with flaky ports. Dell dropped the ball by giving this laptop two TB3 ports and one that only does USB.
- dag11 8y agoThey're identical on the same machine, but the Macbook only has USB3.1 (+ Display Port) whereas the Macbook Pro is TB3. This isn't very obvious to users.
- Dunedan 8y agoOn the MacBook Pro 2016 and 2017 they weren't completely identical, as the TB3 ports on the right side only provided 20Gbit/s instead of the "full" 40Gbit/s. Check out https://www.macrumors.com/2016/10/28/macbook-pro-tb3-reduced-pci-express-bandwidth/ https://www.macrumors.com/2016/10/28/macbook-pro-tb3-reduced... for details.
- pdpi 8y agoFair point, completely forgot about the Macbook.
- Rebelgecko 8y agoOn some MBP configurations (I think the 13 inch model?), the USB-C/Thunderbolt 3 ports on the left and right side don't have the same capabilities.
- lookingsideways 8y agoThat was the case with the 2016 and 2017 models of 13" MBP w/touch bar - the right side had reduced PCI Express bandwidth. The 2018 model has full bandwidth on all ports.
- dawnerd 8y agoDoes the 15 have the same problem?
- SomeHacker44 8y agoISTR that the 15” of all generation had 4 lane TB3 ports on both sides. The distinction was the older 13” had two lanes on the right.
- pdpi 8y agoIt's the 2016/2017 versions of the tbMBP 13". My understanding is that the the right-hand side have all the same capabilities as the left-hand side, but lower PCIe bandwidth. It's definitely confusing and a bit frustrating that it's different if you're in a scenario where the bandwidth matters, but at least it's just numbers rather than devices outright not working.
- jen20 8y agoI once encountered a situation where a particular projector would only work when connected to the right hand side of my 13" MacBook Pro (2016) - so it's not true to say that devices don't work.
- bilbo0s 8y ago>Dell dropped the ball by giving this laptop two TB3 ports and one that only does USB.... That was a serious miss on Dell's part. I'm not sure why they did that? Makes it a little annoying for users.
- wmf 8y agoThree TB3 ports would have required an extra controller chip.
- organsnyder 8y agoSeems like it would have been better to omit the third port entirely, then—or, better yet, put a USB-A port there instead.
- colemickens 8y agoHaving a Yubikey permanently installed, I can say that on the 9370, I don't miss USB Type A ports, but I definitely wouldn't be using this as a daily laptop if it had one fewer (two total) USB Type C connectors. That would effectively mean I have zero ports free when charging and with my permanent Yubikey plugged in. It's never been an issue in practice, but I also wish that Dell would remove the ambiguity and make them all TB3 ports.
- kllrnohj 8y agoI have the previous gen model which also is 2 TB3 + 1 USB-C and it really doesn't matter much at all in practice. Since TB3 is isolated to the more "permanent" stuff (docks or eGPUs) it's pretty natural to just always use the same port since the cable layout is fixed. It's not like you connect random TB3 stuff to it regularly on the go.
- Lio 8y agoOne thing that threw me for a while on my 9370 was why I couldn’t get it to boot from a USB-C memory stick. I didn’t realise at first, this was due to the difference in USB vs Thunderbolt.
- sandov 8y agoToday I learned that Thunderbolt is the name of the interface/protocol, not the connector.
- IgorPartola 8y agoMhm. Same USB 3 is the protocol while USB C is the connector. You can totally have USB 2.0 only USB C ports.
- phinnaeus 8y agoMany of the first phones that launched with USB-C connectors were USB 2.0.
- BeeOnRope 8y agoCan you have USB 3.x over Type A?
- dogma1138 8y agoYes, USB 3.X type A has additional pins, all the “blue“ type-a ports can support USB 3.0 and 3.1 gen 1/2 depending on the controller powering them. USB-C adds additional pins for alt-mode as well as a higher power delivery allowance, but the USB data protocol part of it is the same as any other type of port of the same spec.
- ac29 8y agoType A, Type B, Micro B, and C are all valid: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB#Receptacle_(socket)_identification https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB#Receptacle_(socket)_identi...
- habitue 8y agoAdditionally, it might even make sense to have the power plug only be USB-2.0, if it's cheap. No reason to have a thunderbolt 3.0 cable plugged into the wall all the time
- 8y ago
- dzhiurgis 8y ago> there's no reason you'll ever plug a device into a Mac and have it not work because the port isn't compatible You can't transfer data between two Macs using USB-C to USB-C cable that comes as a charger...
- Nursie 8y agoApple dropped the ball on the Macbook, IMHO, by making the one port not a TB3 port.
- shakehar 8y agoI know everyone has a different step but I would welcome two usb C ports over a regular port just because the I can get a powered usb c dock that is connected to all my peripherals. That way all I have to plug in when I get in to work is one cable.
- wil421 8y agoSame here. My work laptop is a HP Zbook workstation. My favorite thing is my USB C doc. 4 USB ports, 2 display ports, Ethernet, USB c port, power, and a VGA port.
- gumby 8y agoThis was the #1 use case for Type C development BTW. I have friends who were working on silicon this for over a decade. I anticipate that 2019 will be the year when we'll get monitors that are the "dock", so in practice most users will use at most a single port.
- wmf 8y agoSome of those monitors already exist such as the Dell 38" (depending on your definition of dock; it doesn't have Ethernet).
- wlesieutre 8y agoThere are already screens like that, and I like the idea in principle. I'm more hesitant in practice because the USB3 hub in my current Dell display didn't get along with my computer and would cause blue screens when used. Easy to avoid, I just don't have the USB hub plugged in. As things get more and more integrated, a problem anywhere in the system means the whole thing doesn't work and you can't avoid the busted parts.
- gumby 8y ago> As things get more and more integrated, a problem anywhere in the system means the whole thing doesn't work and you can't avoid the busted parts. That's a general issue: laptops are pretty integrated and even in your tower it's pretty hard to patch the mobo (and let's not get into the issue of upgrading your L1 cache. I started computing on a machine (PDP-6) on which you could add instructions with a wire wrap pencil. That's clearly impossible today, but with modern manufacturing, increased integration typically means increased overall reliability.
- psychometry 8y agoHow are things like external display support and sleep/wake with Linux on this laptop?
- _wmd 8y agoCan't speak for the new models, but suspend/resume is bulletproof on the 9550, Mac-like experience installing Ubuntu
- antongribok 8y agoSame with the 9360 and running Fedora.
- mikekchar 8y agoIf you stick with non-bleeding edge distros, I think it will be fine. A colleague had some problems with Arch occasionally with newer kernels (especially when using Powertop since it often lags behind a bit). I've also had occasional problems with a very similarly built Toshiba laptop. By the time distros like Ubuntu were using those kernels, all of the problems were fixed. Probably in a 3 year period it only happened twice, so it wasn't a huge deal since I was expecting to have occasional problems.
- turndown 8y agoI run Arch on a XPS 15, it was relatively painless and I have no major complaints, I am very cautious about upgrading the kernel and only do so periodically. I would 100% consider switching to something else if they manage to solve packages as Arch has.
- Fogest 8y agoYou do have the option of the XPS15. My XPS15 has 2 USB 3.0 ports and one USB C port. It also has a separate power connection port, HDMI, and SD card reader.
- wongarsu 8y agoAnd with the USB C docking station you can have two (three??) external monitors as well as regular USB, sound and Ethernet. The only thing I'm really missing is an ethernet port on the laptop itself, but that's hard in this form factor.
- sametmax 8y agoDon't. I got both, and while the xps 13 is good gear, the 15 has been nothing but pain. The name is the only thing they got in common, and dell stayed silent on numerous issues about it.
- Fogest 8y agoI already have the XPS15 and have nothing but good things to say about it. I have had zero issues with it and love it. What issues do you have? I do not notice a difference from the xps13 quality.
- sametmax 8y agoRandom blue screens. Poor USB-C support (sometimes ethernet died, sometimes screens changed resolutions...). The problem kept changing from BIOS update to BIOS update. Then the USB-C harware failed: I could use it only if my laptop stayed perfectly still. Only a few hours of battery life. Drunk touchpad. Speakers died after 3 month. The 2 first points were fixed after years of hit and miss BIOS updates. It felt like beta testing the product. Tons of complains from many users on Dell forum, with zero help from Dell. Given the price of the machine, it's a damn shame.
- post_break 8y agoMy 9360 XPS13 is the best experience I have for a macbook air replacement. I get a fan, keyboard that doesn't destroy itself, tiny bezel, i7, etc, and it runs high sierra.
- MaysonL 8y agoHow hard was the Hackintosh process?
- post_break 8y agoEasy to get it installed, difficult to trouble shoot. But now that I figured it out I can breeze through it.
- cft 8y agoThey bilindly copy Apple's decisions, without realizing that Apple is in the long term death spiral without Jobs. That's a big mistake.
- wslh 8y agoUsing a Thunderbolt dock like the TB16 from Dell you can connect 3 external monitors.