4 ms·

Think twice before choosing XPS, read carefully reviews about the variant/model you choose. From my own experience, I can't recommend XPS. In my company develo

Think twice before choosing XPS, read carefully reviews about the variant/model you choose. From my own experience, I can't recommend XPS. In my company developers were getting XPS'es (both 13 and 15 inch models) the last 3 years and now almost nobody wants them anymore. Our IT switched back to Latitude models. Different kind of issues... I personally have been using XPS 13 9380 the last few years. Had lot of expectations when I got the laptop, but it was disappointment after all. I mainly run Windows on it, but also have OpenSuse dual boot setup. Issues I experienced with my model: - Crappy trackpad. Most annoying of all issues. Mouse pointer may sporadically jump an generate clicks when using trackpad. Same happens on Windows and Linux, must be HW related. I changed HW one time, it helped a bit but trackpad still sucks on my model! Worst of all laptops I ever had. - Windows and Hybrid-sleep is terrible experience. Laptop may overheat in the bag (known issue, recognized by dell, see https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28639952 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28639952) and battery last barely 1 day in such sleep. Under Linux this is not an issue as OS still uses the old fashioned sleep strategy. - WiFi stability issues under Windows. Also the Killer WiFi HW on this laptop is not impressive... cheap solution. - CPU cooling under Windows kicks quite often, even when laptop is not loaded too much. After all, it works. But at the same time it could be much better. As of now I feel very ready for the MacBook...

dmytrish 5y ago
My experience of 4 years with Linux on Dell XPS 13": - WiFi stability issues with the Killer WiFi NIC were so severe at some point that I bought an Intel WiFi NIC only to learn that it's not replaceable in 9370 (but it is in 9360). A bit later I bought an external USB WiFi dongle which brought some connection stability while trading off connection speed. I sank some time into understanding and debugging firmware, without good results. A script that pings the router in a loop and reloads the connection when needed makes YouTube usable, but downloading any large files without retries was a major headache for a long time. Now it's less of a headache: maybe the firmware has finally caught up. - Sleep on Linux can be indeed unstable; sometime I find my laptop out of battery after sleep, apparently because it wakes up on its own from time to time. - Camera position below the display makes it very awkward for video calls. If I'm not mistaken, this was solved in newer models. - Keyboard is quite pleasant to use, but its build quality could be better: plastic keys started to peel off after four years. In comparison, a twice as old MacBook Air keyboard still holds together very well despite heavy usage. - Trackpad has been working well for me on Linux, I'm satisfied and don't have any complaints (I might be a very undemanding keyboard-oriented user though). - The laptop screen is high quality, but its narrow aspect ratio feels a bit off, I'd appreciate more vertical space. - My main motivation for Dell XPS was portability. My experience is mixed: it's possible to make Linux power saving work pretty well, but it requires work and can be flaky. Build quality also feels more fragile than MacBook Air. I still feel safer with my old MacBook Air while traveling. - Absence of USB-A ports is not critical, but is another point of friction. All in all, it's a solid machine with quality parts that I use daily, but it definitely has its share of hindrances.
jelling 5y ago
I’m a Mac user that had to buy an XPS for a specific project. I got the latest 17” model and it died within 45 days due to a charging issue. Digging into it, I learned that my model was supposed to fix a charging issue in the previous model. So they’ve got QC issues for certain. Also, getting service was nowhere near as nice as being able to go to a Mac store. Luckily, I could still return it so I did and just moved on.

dmytrish 5y ago

My experience of 4 years with Linux on Dell XPS 13": - WiFi stability issues with the Killer WiFi NIC were so severe at some point that I bought an Intel WiFi NIC only to learn that it's not replaceable in 9370 (but it is in 9360). A bit later I bought an external USB WiFi dongle which brought some connection stability while trading off connection speed. I sank some time into understanding and debugging firmware, without good results. A script that pings the router in a loop and reloads the connection when needed makes YouTube usable, but downloading any large files without retries was a major headache for a long time. Now it's less of a headache: maybe the firmware has finally caught up. - Sleep on Linux can be indeed unstable; sometime I find my laptop out of battery after sleep, apparently because it wakes up on its own from time to time. - Camera position below the display makes it very awkward for video calls. If I'm not mistaken, this was solved in newer models. - Keyboard is quite pleasant to use, but its build quality could be better: plastic keys started to peel off after four years. In comparison, a twice as old MacBook Air keyboard still holds together very well despite heavy usage. - Trackpad has been working well for me on Linux, I'm satisfied and don't have any complaints (I might be a very undemanding keyboard-oriented user though). - The laptop screen is high quality, but its narrow aspect ratio feels a bit off, I'd appreciate more vertical space. - My main motivation for Dell XPS was portability. My experience is mixed: it's possible to make Linux power saving work pretty well, but it requires work and can be flaky. Build quality also feels more fragile than MacBook Air. I still feel safer with my old MacBook Air while traveling. - Absence of USB-A ports is not critical, but is another point of friction. All in all, it's a solid machine with quality parts that I use daily, but it definitely has its share of hindrances.

jelling 5y ago

I’m a Mac user that had to buy an XPS for a specific project. I got the latest 17” model and it died within 45 days due to a charging issue. Digging into it, I learned that my model was supposed to fix a charging issue in the previous model. So they’ve got QC issues for certain. Also, getting service was nowhere near as nice as being able to go to a Mac store. Luckily, I could still return it so I did and just moved on.