7 ms·

Dell admits it made a mistake when it abandoned XPS

86 points by jnord 10mo ago

hexbin010 9mo ago
IMO XPS had a terrible reputation and needed sunsetting. I highly doubt these will be much better
haritha-j 10mo ago
Well I could've told them that for free.
- biglyburrito 10mo ago
  Yeah, but then they wouldn't have listened. It's only the expensive advice that they listen to.
eimrine 9mo ago
That "seamless" touchpad is the ugliest thing I have seen this year. How do you guys touchtype on it if you never know when to get out the hands? Proprietary software which supposedly allows to not bother about it works not on all OS and probably not always.
- davidw 9mo ago
  Just posted on that same subject. That stupid touchpad... I'd be typing along and then I guess some portion of my thumb towards the palm would brush it and WOOSH, the mouse pointer would warp across the screen and I'd be typing in some other window.
- kyriakos 9mo ago
  I'm typing this on one right now. I honestly thought the same but I got used to it within a day or two of use. Its muscle memory at this point.
  - eimrine 9mo ago
    My muscle memory is for vim and not for eating a cactus without getting punctured.
davidw 9mo ago
I used XPS laptops with Ubuntu for years and thought they were great. The last one I got, though, at the last place I worked, had that weird, 'seamless trackpad' or whatever they call it. I couldn't stand the thing. I much prefer the basic trackpad on the $250 Chromebook I use for personal email/browsing these days.
- kube-system 9mo ago
  Is the entire area under the keyboard a trackpad or do you have to just guess where the edges are?
  - rationalist 9mo ago
    On the previous one that OP is talking about, you had to guess. On the new ones just announced, there are physical and visible lines.
  - davidw 9mo ago
    It was a maddening guessing game, where occasionally - but not always - the edge of my lower thumb would touch the track pad and send the mouse pointer warping off to some other part of the screen while I was typing.
  - lights0123 9mo ago
    It is slightly wider than the space bar. I've never had an issue with mine, as it is located exactly where I expect it to be.
- lostlogin 9mo ago
  MacBook trackpads are their single best feature. Even 10 year old ones seem to be better than everything else out there.
bearjaws 9mo ago
Dell needs to admit they're in deep shit. I just bought our entire G&A team M4 Macbook Air 15" for the same price as our Dell Pro laptops. They are 20% faster, have 2x the battery life, and 8 more gb of RAM. Also standby actually works. We had done an initial batch of Dell Pro 16 laptops and with 16gb of ram + the 255h (now 258v) it's over $1100 a laptop. Only problem is... they need 32gb of RAM on Windows 11 because the performance was terrible. We were seeing average 88% memory usage for our G&A team at 16gb. The upgrade to 32gb of RAM moves the price to $1500+ each, they also recently swapped to soldered RAM for both Intel and AMD, so we are forced to the $1500+ option with a faster CPU. Initial reactions have been overwhelmingly positive, about 50% of them are new to Macs and have figured it out, additionally they all love the battery life and performance (most are switching from 11th and 12th gen Intel). Our more tech savvy members have mentioned the better screen, webcam and audio as positives. I am considering switching our call center (~200 members) to Mac mini's, the same price as our Lenovo mini PCs and will last a long time, the Core Ultra 210 is not great. My only fear is people stealing them really. Why would I pay $2000 for Dells mid line series of business laptops? How much is this XPS going to cost vs a Mac book Pro?
- deleted 9mo ago
  [deleted]
- walterbell 9mo ago
  Apple has kept prices stable for existing models, but is rumored to be paying 50% more for DRAM in 2026, which may impact pricing of new Apple devices that will be launched in 2026. edit: https://hanchouhsu.substack.com/p/overview-of-the-memory-market-in https://hanchouhsu.substack.com/p/overview-of-the-memory-mar... > The full-year price increase for Samsung’s storage products supplied to Apple in 2026 has been finalized, with DRAM prices rising by 53% and NAND prices rising by 52%. Earlier rumors suggesting an 80% full-year increase for DRAM were inaccurate.. Apple negotiated the prices down to the aforementioned levels and signed long-term agreements (LTAs).. Kioxia also signed a similar agreement with Apple, with price increases consistent with Samsung’s.
  - bearjaws 9mo ago
walterbell 9mo ago
Dell XPS 14 starts at $2,050, while the 16-inch model will demand $2,200 starting Jan. 6. If you think that’s high, that’s because Dell revised its price point from $1,650 and $1,850, respectively. 25% / ~$400 laptop price increase due to market price increases for 16GB RAM?
- bitmasher9 9mo ago
  DDR5 is about $250-300 more expensive now for 16gb than it was at all time lows. The $400 price might be to absorb any additional cost increases while maintaining their existing profit margin. EDIT: sorry, my numbers are off. It’s $250-300 more expensive for 32gb not 16.
- raw_anon_1111 9mo ago
  That’s the same price as a 14 inch 10 core M5 MacBook Pro with 24GB RAM and 1TB storage.
heelix 9mo ago
I had the 17" XPS, which was lovely. A nice 16:10 screen, which was the main thing I was looking for. Battery was easy to replace. Easy memory and M2 drive replacement. It was a pretty good laptop for x86. Main issue was heat/sound. Linux was pretty easy to get going on that hardware. You could get at the internals - so cleaning out the fan was doable. (order new screws, as they ship with silly soft metal on the orignals) https://i.imgur.com/4SdAQu9.jpeg https://i.imgur.com/4SdAQu9.jpeg When they released the 16" series, most of the updgrade features were gone. Memory was tied to the CPU, which puts you in the same position that Apples does. Not a fan. I swapped out the 17" for a 16" macbook. I doubt I'll look at an XPS again.
Waterluvian 9mo ago
The only thing I didn’t like about my XPS-15 was when the battery got pregnant and made the trackpad stop working.
iJohnDoe 9mo ago
We dropped Dell after almost 30 years of exclusive use for our desktops, laptops, and server/storage infrastructure. They can never seems to get their shit together. Going public and then back to private. We stuck with them through that, even though it was a shitshow trying to get a hold of anyone. They blur together, but this might have also been the time when they offered everyone the opportunity to leave and it was a ghost town at Dell. We stuck with them when they outsourced their support, which we later realized was the best years of support. More on that in a sec. Outsourced support turned out to be better because we could triage everything ourselves, then tell them which piece of hardware was broken and they would send a tech or replacement part. Basically exactly what we expected for when we purchased premium support. We stuck with them when they brought their support back to the US. Each tech person wanted to make a career out of each ticket. We couldn't get broken hardware fixed without screaming and begging. Keep in mind, we always bought the best hardware with the most expensive support level. Precision laptops. Precision desktops. Best servers and storage. We tried to stick with them when their sales teams basically wanted to remind us every time they don't really want to talk to anyone anymore. Everything is done online and they prefer not to talk to anyone. We tried to place an order for a laptop refresh, which was going to be followed by desktop refresh, and then a complete server/storage refresh. The sales teams made it seem like they were doing us a favor by even quoting us anything. More reminders to use the customer portal and don't call or e-mail us. That was the final straw and we did the complete refresh with a different brand.
- NegativeK 9mo ago
  > We stuck with them when they brought their support back to the US. Each tech person wanted to make a career out of each ticket. We couldn't get broken hardware fixed without screaming and begging. The people I talk to doing laptop repairs and trying to get parts from Dell say that Dell is treating them like potential scammers. They've diagnosed the broken part, everything is under warranty, Dell was previously fine with trusting these people.. But now Dell is forcing them to prove, every time, that the part needs to be replaced. It's the weirdest combination of time wasting and incentivizing this team to be _lower_ skilled that I've ever seen. Because, I'm guessing, Dell was dealing with too much warranty waste and decided to crack down on everyone.
rationalist 9mo ago
I have a 2020 XPS 13, and love it. I was disappointed when the keyboards in the batch of 2020 XPS 13 laptops after mine, had rattly key caps. My XPS 13 is still doing well after the last nearly 6 years, and I look forward to trying the new XPS laptops if I can get one with the specs I want.
650REDHAIR 9mo ago
My top of the line XPS battery swole so much it broke the keyboard. Repaired under warranty. Less than a year later that battery was swollen. No warranty replacement. No OEM batteries available through Dell. I buy 4 replacements from Amazon and none work. The XPS line has battery DRM. I have an i7 with a discrete card, 64gb of ram, and a 4k screen that’s worthless.
- CamperBob2 9mo ago
  The XPS line has battery DRM Good comment to cc: to your Congressional reps. Only legislation can fix this.
  - lostlogin 9mo ago
    I’d like to think congress is busy sorting out some of the more pressing issues. But maybe they can walk and chew gum.
- klipklop 9mo ago
  This post talked me out of buying the new XPS that is going to be released in a few weeks.
  - hexbin010 9mo ago
    Never buy an XPS. Always been trash always will
    - rationalist 9mo ago
      My nearly 6 year old XPS begs to differ. I've seen quite a few various laptops with swollen batteries, and their users don't understand that can't habitually store their laptops in the sun (well, in sun rays through windows). Those people also don't even realize their battery is swelling, and that it's a bad thing.
      - 650REDHAIR 9mo ago
timpera 9mo ago
I recently switched from a XPS 13 with tons of issues, replaced twice, to a Surface Laptop 7 on ARM64. Absolutely no regrets, it's so much better. They really need to focus on quality control.
- lateforwork 9mo ago
  The problem with Surface laptops is fractional scaling of its displays. Scaling is set to 150% which causes display artifacts which some people don't notice, but others are distracted by. If you are a UI developer you want 200% scaling. 150% and 300% have display artifacts.
  - trympet 9mo ago
    > If you are a UI developer you want 200% scaling Isn’t it good to test your UI on different scale factors? I run several non-uniform scale factors concurrently for that exact reason.
api 9mo ago
Radical idea many won't like, but if I were CEO of Dell I'd consider it: buy Framework. Then don't ruin it. Put real resources behind it. Think of it as almost a reverse merger, not financially but spiritually. It would make them unique and relevant again.
- thayne 9mo ago
  I kind of like your idea, except I wouldn't trust Dell not to ruin it.
- tux3 9mo ago
  I haven't bought a Framework, but I wouldn't wish ill on them either. Spiritually, Dell can only desecrate Framework. Nothing good would come out of that, I feel quite certain.
- themafia 9mo ago
  We need more laptop makers not fewer. Dell does not have a "spirit." Nor do they need one to survive. They simply need to be competitive and once again create desirable products. The fact that we have more competition is part of the reason you're seeing this admission in the first place.
- tcbawo 9mo ago
  I have a Framework laptop. It was expensive for the specs, but I really appreciate the philosophy of openness. I have replaced both the keyboard and battery, which was easy and painless. At least for Dell, I don't think Framework's target market is a fit for acquisition like Alienware's was. Although, Dell is big enough that they could probably build a competing brand themselves. It would be great for consumers if they did.
lateforwork 9mo ago
It is so hard to find Windows laptops with working keyboards, trackpads, displays and speakers! My Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 laptop has working keyboard and display but speaker has driver issues (one speaker turns off after a while until I reboot), and the right-clicking on the trackpad does not work in some places. Surface laptops have good keyboard and trackpad but the display uses 150% scaling, and that has artifacts (such as 1px lines map to 1.5 device pixels, but use 1 device pixel, so are out of proportion). The older Dell XPS line was reasonable. It had 200% scaling display, normal keyboard and good trackpad, but the new version has weird keyboard and trackpad. Windows PCs are made by multiple manufacturers which in theory should have produced great choice and quality, instead they all suck. Mac laptops are made by a single company, so no choice, and yet it is excellent.
macbem 9mo ago
I had an XPS 9560 / 9570 or something like that. Top of the line spec, mind you. It had a Killer WLAN network card that would frequently disconnect from wifi on any OS - so much that I had to switch it out to a different one. The speakers blew up within the first year and the cooling system had to be replaced too - thankfully warranty covered that. I bought the XPS only because I couldn't justify the cost of a Macbook Pro back then (easily 30% more expensive and the XPS was already a stretch), but I regretted that since the first day I've had it. Bulky, unpleasant to use, frequent hardware issues. Never again.
bri3d 9mo ago
While we're doing anecdotes, I don't actually hate my 2025 Dell 16 Premium at all, and it looks like they fixed most of my quibbles with the new XPS 16. Figuring out which laptop to get was horrible because of their completely inexplicable branding, which I'm glad to see them roll back, but the computer is fine. I'm not sure I can agree with all of the "Dell computers are bad/dying" arguments. I think they went through a huge quality slump from ~2020-2023, as did most things, but so far my experience has been that they're quite good now. I haven't had any standby issues (or issues of any kind, really) using Windows. Windows 11 is Windows 11 but Tahoe is also Tahoe so that's a net medium. A little bit of Group Policy tweaking to remove the junkware and a little wince when hit with new-Notepad aside, it's good enough. I also tried running Linux on it and everything was straightforward except for the webcam (most modern Intel laptops use a new Intel thing where the CPU has the ISP on it and the camera is attached over CSI, and the kernel support is quite bleeding-edge) and the usual Nvidia graphics switching and arcane Linux power management problems, but I really got it for Windows anyway. My only beefs are the terrible virtual function bar (this was stupid the first time vendors tried it, and trying it again in 2025 is a really incredible choice, I'm glad they backed down on this ludicrous idea) and that the OLED model only comes in touchscreen form and the digitizer is ever-so-slightly visible. Otherwise I like it as well as my M2 MacBook Pro; the screen is square and notchless, the performance-to-dollar ratio was far superior, and the physical build quality is quite good. The "infinity" touchpad that's not really infinite is a stupid gimmick on paper but overall I don't notice it at all - it works just as well as any non-Apple touchpad I've used, which is to say about 85% as well as an Apple one.
didntknowyou 9mo ago
loved my xps but the built quality is BS. mine fell apart after a year (even with light use), and was pretty much dumped for parts when i upgraded. my macbook pro on the other hand is still going after 10 years, and even tho i upgraded i kept it as it was too solid to throw away.
talideon 9mo ago
I'm still using my decade-old Precision 5510 (the XPS 15 at the time was a variant of it), and I've rarely felt the need to replace it, beyond Nvidia no longer supporting the discrete graphics as of last year. There was a period around Project Sputnik where they were making really good machines. Years of abuse, and it's still in good condition, though the battery has been showing its age lately. It's rather sad that things have gone downhill since then, as there was a period there that Dell were really good.
martinmeba 9mo ago
I had an XPS laptop purchased around 2020. It was a very well spec-ed machine on paper and worked reasonably well. It just did not hold up. 1. Bulging battery - replaced 2. USB-C charging blew up the charge controller - laptop completely unable to charge - replaced motherboard 3. USB-C charging blew up the charge controller again (~6 months later) #3 was out of warranty and I had just changed companies so it went into the trash. It lasted 3 years tops. I also have a dell ultrasharp 4K monitor that had to be replaced under warrant within ~1 year of purchase and I am just waiting for it to go again now that it is out of warranty. Dell seems to have had reasonable service(in-warranty) but their stuff is always breaking down. I have had several macbooks. Each lasted ~10 years+.
xormapmap 9mo ago
I used to manage a small fleet of about 6 XPS laptops at my old job. 3 of them needed motherboard replacements under warranty within a year. People would put them on standby and put them in their bag, then get home and find the laptop had decided to start up of its own volition and overheat to the point it would be searing hot to the touch. The charging would randomly fail or the laptop would go into a boot loop. Not to mention problems with Windows deciding to update 2 minutes before an important meeting (and then naturally the progress bar would get stuck).
harendra007 9mo ago
Windows PC market is truly gone down the toilet. Its nearly impossible to find a windows laptop >15 inch, with decent battery life, with centered keyboard. Apparently I need to buy 14 inch laptop for centered keyboard, hey you know what I need 15 inch or more of real estate. Thinkpads used to be a solid bet but those too have weird lineup these days. Its just so simple to get a Macbook these days and not worry about performance or battery life for fairly decent price.
klinch 9mo ago
There was a time that XPS meant something. I’m still holding on to my XPS 13 9360. It’s (even for today’s standards) lightweight and Linux compatibility has been perfect from day one.

86 points by jnord 10mo ago

hexbin010 9mo ago

IMO XPS had a terrible reputation and needed sunsetting. I highly doubt these will be much better

haritha-j 10mo ago

Well I could've told them that for free.

biglyburrito 10mo ago
Yeah, but then they wouldn't have listened. It's only the expensive advice that they listen to.

eimrine 9mo ago

That "seamless" touchpad is the ugliest thing I have seen this year. How do you guys touchtype on it if you never know when to get out the hands? Proprietary software which supposedly allows to not bother about it works not on all OS and probably not always.

davidw 9mo ago
Just posted on that same subject. That stupid touchpad... I'd be typing along and then I guess some portion of my thumb towards the palm would brush it and WOOSH, the mouse pointer would warp across the screen and I'd be typing in some other window.
kyriakos 9mo ago
I'm typing this on one right now. I honestly thought the same but I got used to it within a day or two of use. Its muscle memory at this point.
- eimrine 9mo ago
  My muscle memory is for vim and not for eating a cactus without getting punctured.

davidw 9mo ago

I used XPS laptops with Ubuntu for years and thought they were great. The last one I got, though, at the last place I worked, had that weird, 'seamless trackpad' or whatever they call it. I couldn't stand the thing. I much prefer the basic trackpad on the $250 Chromebook I use for personal email/browsing these days.

kube-system 9mo ago
Is the entire area under the keyboard a trackpad or do you have to just guess where the edges are?
- rationalist 9mo ago
  On the previous one that OP is talking about, you had to guess. On the new ones just announced, there are physical and visible lines.
- davidw 9mo ago
  It was a maddening guessing game, where occasionally - but not always - the edge of my lower thumb would touch the track pad and send the mouse pointer warping off to some other part of the screen while I was typing.
- lights0123 9mo ago
  It is slightly wider than the space bar. I've never had an issue with mine, as it is located exactly where I expect it to be.
lostlogin 9mo ago
MacBook trackpads are their single best feature. Even 10 year old ones seem to be better than everything else out there.

bearjaws 9mo ago

Dell needs to admit they're in deep shit. I just bought our entire G&A team M4 Macbook Air 15" for the same price as our Dell Pro laptops. They are 20% faster, have 2x the battery life, and 8 more gb of RAM. Also standby actually works. We had done an initial batch of Dell Pro 16 laptops and with 16gb of ram + the 255h (now 258v) it's over $1100 a laptop. Only problem is... they need 32gb of RAM on Windows 11 because the performance was terrible. We were seeing average 88% memory usage for our G&A team at 16gb. The upgrade to 32gb of RAM moves the price to $1500+ each, they also recently swapped to soldered RAM for both Intel and AMD, so we are forced to the $1500+ option with a faster CPU. Initial reactions have been overwhelmingly positive, about 50% of them are new to Macs and have figured it out, additionally they all love the battery life and performance (most are switching from 11th and 12th gen Intel). Our more tech savvy members have mentioned the better screen, webcam and audio as positives. I am considering switching our call center (~200 members) to Mac mini's, the same price as our Lenovo mini PCs and will last a long time, the Core Ultra 210 is not great. My only fear is people stealing them really. Why would I pay $2000 for Dells mid line series of business laptops? How much is this XPS going to cost vs a Mac book Pro?

deleted 9mo ago
[deleted]
walterbell 9mo ago
Apple has kept prices stable for existing models, but is rumored to be paying 50% more for DRAM in 2026, which may impact pricing of new Apple devices that will be launched in 2026. edit: https://hanchouhsu.substack.com/p/overview-of-the-memory-market-in https://hanchouhsu.substack.com/p/overview-of-the-memory-mar... > The full-year price increase for Samsung’s storage products supplied to Apple in 2026 has been finalized, with DRAM prices rising by 53% and NAND prices rising by 52%. Earlier rumors suggesting an 80% full-year increase for DRAM were inaccurate.. Apple negotiated the prices down to the aforementioned levels and signed long-term agreements (LTAs).. Kioxia also signed a similar agreement with Apple, with price increases consistent with Samsung’s.
- bearjaws 9mo ago

walterbell 9mo ago

Dell XPS 14 starts at $2,050, while the 16-inch model will demand $2,200 starting Jan. 6. If you think that’s high, that’s because Dell revised its price point from $1,650 and $1,850, respectively. 25% / ~$400 laptop price increase due to market price increases for 16GB RAM?

bitmasher9 9mo ago
DDR5 is about $250-300 more expensive now for 16gb than it was at all time lows. The $400 price might be to absorb any additional cost increases while maintaining their existing profit margin. EDIT: sorry, my numbers are off. It’s $250-300 more expensive for 32gb not 16.
raw_anon_1111 9mo ago
That’s the same price as a 14 inch 10 core M5 MacBook Pro with 24GB RAM and 1TB storage.

heelix 9mo ago

I had the 17" XPS, which was lovely. A nice 16:10 screen, which was the main thing I was looking for. Battery was easy to replace. Easy memory and M2 drive replacement. It was a pretty good laptop for x86. Main issue was heat/sound. Linux was pretty easy to get going on that hardware. You could get at the internals - so cleaning out the fan was doable. (order new screws, as they ship with silly soft metal on the orignals) https://i.imgur.com/4SdAQu9.jpeg https://i.imgur.com/4SdAQu9.jpeg When they released the 16" series, most of the updgrade features were gone. Memory was tied to the CPU, which puts you in the same position that Apples does. Not a fan. I swapped out the 17" for a 16" macbook. I doubt I'll look at an XPS again.

Waterluvian 9mo ago

The only thing I didn’t like about my XPS-15 was when the battery got pregnant and made the trackpad stop working.

iJohnDoe 9mo ago

We dropped Dell after almost 30 years of exclusive use for our desktops, laptops, and server/storage infrastructure. They can never seems to get their shit together. Going public and then back to private. We stuck with them through that, even though it was a shitshow trying to get a hold of anyone. They blur together, but this might have also been the time when they offered everyone the opportunity to leave and it was a ghost town at Dell. We stuck with them when they outsourced their support, which we later realized was the best years of support. More on that in a sec. Outsourced support turned out to be better because we could triage everything ourselves, then tell them which piece of hardware was broken and they would send a tech or replacement part. Basically exactly what we expected for when we purchased premium support. We stuck with them when they brought their support back to the US. Each tech person wanted to make a career out of each ticket. We couldn't get broken hardware fixed without screaming and begging. Keep in mind, we always bought the best hardware with the most expensive support level. Precision laptops. Precision desktops. Best servers and storage. We tried to stick with them when their sales teams basically wanted to remind us every time they don't really want to talk to anyone anymore. Everything is done online and they prefer not to talk to anyone. We tried to place an order for a laptop refresh, which was going to be followed by desktop refresh, and then a complete server/storage refresh. The sales teams made it seem like they were doing us a favor by even quoting us anything. More reminders to use the customer portal and don't call or e-mail us. That was the final straw and we did the complete refresh with a different brand.

NegativeK 9mo ago
> We stuck with them when they brought their support back to the US. Each tech person wanted to make a career out of each ticket. We couldn't get broken hardware fixed without screaming and begging. The people I talk to doing laptop repairs and trying to get parts from Dell say that Dell is treating them like potential scammers. They've diagnosed the broken part, everything is under warranty, Dell was previously fine with trusting these people.. But now Dell is forcing them to prove, every time, that the part needs to be replaced. It's the weirdest combination of time wasting and incentivizing this team to be _lower_ skilled that I've ever seen. Because, I'm guessing, Dell was dealing with too much warranty waste and decided to crack down on everyone.

rationalist 9mo ago

I have a 2020 XPS 13, and love it. I was disappointed when the keyboards in the batch of 2020 XPS 13 laptops after mine, had rattly key caps. My XPS 13 is still doing well after the last nearly 6 years, and I look forward to trying the new XPS laptops if I can get one with the specs I want.

650REDHAIR 9mo ago

My top of the line XPS battery swole so much it broke the keyboard. Repaired under warranty. Less than a year later that battery was swollen. No warranty replacement. No OEM batteries available through Dell. I buy 4 replacements from Amazon and none work. The XPS line has battery DRM. I have an i7 with a discrete card, 64gb of ram, and a 4k screen that’s worthless.

CamperBob2 9mo ago
The XPS line has battery DRM Good comment to cc: to your Congressional reps. Only legislation can fix this.
- lostlogin 9mo ago
  I’d like to think congress is busy sorting out some of the more pressing issues. But maybe they can walk and chew gum.
klipklop 9mo ago
This post talked me out of buying the new XPS that is going to be released in a few weeks.
- hexbin010 9mo ago
  Never buy an XPS. Always been trash always will
  - rationalist 9mo ago
    My nearly 6 year old XPS begs to differ. I've seen quite a few various laptops with swollen batteries, and their users don't understand that can't habitually store their laptops in the sun (well, in sun rays through windows). Those people also don't even realize their battery is swelling, and that it's a bad thing.
    - 650REDHAIR 9mo ago

timpera 9mo ago

I recently switched from a XPS 13 with tons of issues, replaced twice, to a Surface Laptop 7 on ARM64. Absolutely no regrets, it's so much better. They really need to focus on quality control.

lateforwork 9mo ago
The problem with Surface laptops is fractional scaling of its displays. Scaling is set to 150% which causes display artifacts which some people don't notice, but others are distracted by. If you are a UI developer you want 200% scaling. 150% and 300% have display artifacts.
- trympet 9mo ago
  > If you are a UI developer you want 200% scaling Isn’t it good to test your UI on different scale factors? I run several non-uniform scale factors concurrently for that exact reason.

api 9mo ago

Radical idea many won't like, but if I were CEO of Dell I'd consider it: buy Framework. Then don't ruin it. Put real resources behind it. Think of it as almost a reverse merger, not financially but spiritually. It would make them unique and relevant again.

thayne 9mo ago
I kind of like your idea, except I wouldn't trust Dell not to ruin it.
tux3 9mo ago
I haven't bought a Framework, but I wouldn't wish ill on them either. Spiritually, Dell can only desecrate Framework. Nothing good would come out of that, I feel quite certain.
themafia 9mo ago
We need more laptop makers not fewer. Dell does not have a "spirit." Nor do they need one to survive. They simply need to be competitive and once again create desirable products. The fact that we have more competition is part of the reason you're seeing this admission in the first place.
tcbawo 9mo ago
I have a Framework laptop. It was expensive for the specs, but I really appreciate the philosophy of openness. I have replaced both the keyboard and battery, which was easy and painless. At least for Dell, I don't think Framework's target market is a fit for acquisition like Alienware's was. Although, Dell is big enough that they could probably build a competing brand themselves. It would be great for consumers if they did.

lateforwork 9mo ago

It is so hard to find Windows laptops with working keyboards, trackpads, displays and speakers! My Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 laptop has working keyboard and display but speaker has driver issues (one speaker turns off after a while until I reboot), and the right-clicking on the trackpad does not work in some places. Surface laptops have good keyboard and trackpad but the display uses 150% scaling, and that has artifacts (such as 1px lines map to 1.5 device pixels, but use 1 device pixel, so are out of proportion). The older Dell XPS line was reasonable. It had 200% scaling display, normal keyboard and good trackpad, but the new version has weird keyboard and trackpad. Windows PCs are made by multiple manufacturers which in theory should have produced great choice and quality, instead they all suck. Mac laptops are made by a single company, so no choice, and yet it is excellent.

macbem 9mo ago

I had an XPS 9560 / 9570 or something like that. Top of the line spec, mind you. It had a Killer WLAN network card that would frequently disconnect from wifi on any OS - so much that I had to switch it out to a different one. The speakers blew up within the first year and the cooling system had to be replaced too - thankfully warranty covered that. I bought the XPS only because I couldn't justify the cost of a Macbook Pro back then (easily 30% more expensive and the XPS was already a stretch), but I regretted that since the first day I've had it. Bulky, unpleasant to use, frequent hardware issues. Never again.

bri3d 9mo ago

While we're doing anecdotes, I don't actually hate my 2025 Dell 16 Premium at all, and it looks like they fixed most of my quibbles with the new XPS 16. Figuring out which laptop to get was horrible because of their completely inexplicable branding, which I'm glad to see them roll back, but the computer is fine. I'm not sure I can agree with all of the "Dell computers are bad/dying" arguments. I think they went through a huge quality slump from ~2020-2023, as did most things, but so far my experience has been that they're quite good now. I haven't had any standby issues (or issues of any kind, really) using Windows. Windows 11 is Windows 11 but Tahoe is also Tahoe so that's a net medium. A little bit of Group Policy tweaking to remove the junkware and a little wince when hit with new-Notepad aside, it's good enough. I also tried running Linux on it and everything was straightforward except for the webcam (most modern Intel laptops use a new Intel thing where the CPU has the ISP on it and the camera is attached over CSI, and the kernel support is quite bleeding-edge) and the usual Nvidia graphics switching and arcane Linux power management problems, but I really got it for Windows anyway. My only beefs are the terrible virtual function bar (this was stupid the first time vendors tried it, and trying it again in 2025 is a really incredible choice, I'm glad they backed down on this ludicrous idea) and that the OLED model only comes in touchscreen form and the digitizer is ever-so-slightly visible. Otherwise I like it as well as my M2 MacBook Pro; the screen is square and notchless, the performance-to-dollar ratio was far superior, and the physical build quality is quite good. The "infinity" touchpad that's not really infinite is a stupid gimmick on paper but overall I don't notice it at all - it works just as well as any non-Apple touchpad I've used, which is to say about 85% as well as an Apple one.

didntknowyou 9mo ago

loved my xps but the built quality is BS. mine fell apart after a year (even with light use), and was pretty much dumped for parts when i upgraded. my macbook pro on the other hand is still going after 10 years, and even tho i upgraded i kept it as it was too solid to throw away.

talideon 9mo ago

I'm still using my decade-old Precision 5510 (the XPS 15 at the time was a variant of it), and I've rarely felt the need to replace it, beyond Nvidia no longer supporting the discrete graphics as of last year. There was a period around Project Sputnik where they were making really good machines. Years of abuse, and it's still in good condition, though the battery has been showing its age lately. It's rather sad that things have gone downhill since then, as there was a period there that Dell were really good.

martinmeba 9mo ago

I had an XPS laptop purchased around 2020. It was a very well spec-ed machine on paper and worked reasonably well. It just did not hold up. 1. Bulging battery - replaced 2. USB-C charging blew up the charge controller - laptop completely unable to charge - replaced motherboard 3. USB-C charging blew up the charge controller again (~6 months later) #3 was out of warranty and I had just changed companies so it went into the trash. It lasted 3 years tops. I also have a dell ultrasharp 4K monitor that had to be replaced under warrant within ~1 year of purchase and I am just waiting for it to go again now that it is out of warranty. Dell seems to have had reasonable service(in-warranty) but their stuff is always breaking down. I have had several macbooks. Each lasted ~10 years+.

xormapmap 9mo ago

I used to manage a small fleet of about 6 XPS laptops at my old job. 3 of them needed motherboard replacements under warranty within a year. People would put them on standby and put them in their bag, then get home and find the laptop had decided to start up of its own volition and overheat to the point it would be searing hot to the touch. The charging would randomly fail or the laptop would go into a boot loop. Not to mention problems with Windows deciding to update 2 minutes before an important meeting (and then naturally the progress bar would get stuck).

harendra007 9mo ago

Windows PC market is truly gone down the toilet. Its nearly impossible to find a windows laptop >15 inch, with decent battery life, with centered keyboard. Apparently I need to buy 14 inch laptop for centered keyboard, hey you know what I need 15 inch or more of real estate. Thinkpads used to be a solid bet but those too have weird lineup these days. Its just so simple to get a Macbook these days and not worry about performance or battery life for fairly decent price.

klinch 9mo ago

There was a time that XPS meant something. I’m still holding on to my XPS 13 9360. It’s (even for today’s standards) lightweight and Linux compatibility has been perfect from day one.