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I also am a beta tester for this laptop. I use my retina macbook for everything, and have not found myself using the dell at all, even when traveling. I didn't

I also am a beta tester for this laptop. I use my retina macbook for everything, and have not found myself using the dell at all, even when traveling. I didn't consider bringing it because I like the Mac so much more. It is really nice hardware, with the exception that the screen has a much narrower viewing angle than either my macbook or my wife's macbook air. Also the trackpad is not as smooth as my macbook's, and more frequently registers the wrong kind of click. Ubuntu has worked very well, and seems to be completely supported. I greatly prefer the mac hardware, and would recommend an Air over the Dell. edit: since parent disclosed that he got 20% off, I'll disclose that I was very fortunate to receive one for free at a conference raffle.

ekianjo 14y ago
Simple question but how do you get to be a beta tester for such products?
Surio 14y ago
Please don't get me wrong or take it the wrong way, But I just can't seem to get over the fact that you are obviously not a Linux person (you seem to have strong preferences and by the looks of it, you know well that you are very much a Mac person), who won a Linux laptop for free and hasn't used it at all. Had you but magnanimously declined the offer and passed it on, someone else could have used it happily all along....
- deleted 14y ago
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- w1ntermute 14y ago
  Yeah, that's the first thing I thought when I read his post. What a waste - I know several people who would have been delighted to get this laptop.
  - steevdave 14y ago
    I would be one of those people, but at 1500 dollars, seems a bit steep, for the hardware involved. I just got my Chromebook (ARM, 3G) and I'm amazed at just how well everything runs on it. But I don't think that the Dell is my target anyway, as I'm more of a u-boot, and kernel work is more my area of expertise rather than shoving things off into the cloud. Kudos to Dell for doing this, hopefully more vendors will follow suit.
    - w1ntermute 14y ago
      Right, the price is very steep. With that cost, the ThinkPad X1 Carbon would be a much better choice. I would've expected Dell to be able to sell this at a much more competitive price point. But in this case, he got it for free, which is a completely different story.
      - robotmay 14y ago
        How good is Ubuntu support out of the box on the X1? I love the look of it as a replacement for my MBP, but I've found compatibility information a bit scarce. EDIT: Just found your other post! That's really cool that is has such good support.
- benihana 14y ago
  Give me a break. Do you think Dell really wanted to give this only to customers who loved it? No! The point of these beta tests is to get feedback from people. If they only gave to people who say "it's so great I love it!" what's the point of giving it away at all? They could just sell it to those people. Dell gave out these laptops to hear people like OP's comments so that they might improve their product and actually sell some to their target audience: geeks like Linus who want a portable, well built linux laptop, or geeks who have Apple laptops that would be willing to switch to a comparable linux laptop for whatever reason. Dell was beta testing these to get feedback, not to provide someone else to use their product happily for free.
  - Surio 14y ago
    First off, OP mentioned he got it for free in a conference raffle: Dell already achieved their free publicity/sponsorship/whatever by announcing this laptop in the beginning of the conference, and by the time the raffle winner was announced, it is already out of Dell's hands, and between OP and organisers. At this point, had he mentioned that he is probably not going to be using it at all because of his strong Mac preference, another ticket would have been drawn and hey presto..... >>> The point of these beta tests is to get feedback from people Exactly. And that's my main point. In all this time, feedback was not at all achieved (edit: contrast with, say @chimeracoder's review above), because by his own account, he barely used the laptop, ergo, no feedback to Dell or anyone else in the matter..... Which is why I mentioned in the original comment "someone else could have used it happily all along...." (note the ellipsis, where the ending is left unsaid, as in, it c(w)ould have resulted in feedback, in the very least)
    - liljimmytables 14y ago
      > feedback was _not at all achieved_ To be more precise, _market_ feedback was achieved. A small, pizzling drip of market feedback. When you hand out devices, you're looking for _product_ feedback. That said, if someone offered me a free laptop, I probably would keep it because I don't own nearly enough laptops.
- astrodust 14y ago
  There's also some starving child in Africa that could've gone to bed with a refrigerator full of sandwiches if you sold this thing on eBay. Why jump on someone for giving their opinions on a product they won at a raffle? Are you supposed to decline prizes because you might not like them? Also, what the hell is a "Linux person"? Is that someone who doesn't consider a day complete without compiling their own kernel extensions?
  - llimllib 14y ago
    > Also, what the hell is a "Linux person"? Is that someone who doesn't consider a day complete without compiling their own kernel extensions? Maybe I count as a linux person because I've written my own kernel extension?
    - anonymous 14y ago
      Here's a handy guide: Level. Description -10. Macintosh/Windows evangelist 0. Never heard of linux 1. Heard of linux, never used it 2. Tried linux once in '97, didn't get OSS working, gave up 3. Tried linux, couldn't make it be exactly like some other OS, gave up 4. Uses linux from time to time at home and/or at work as a server os 5. Uses linux as a desktop os when needed 6. Uses linux as a desktop os, but dual/triple boots for some apps 7. Uses linux exclusively 8. Uses linux exclusively and writes kernel patches 9. Uses linux exclusively, writes kernel patches and has touched Linus Torvalds 10. Is Linus Torvalds 11. Is Linus Torvalds's wife
  - 1123581321 14y ago
    By "Linux person" he means someone who prefers Linux to OSX or Windows for day-to-day use. This person might also be a Linux contributor but does not have to be. The point of mentioning it seemed to be that someone who is not a regular Linux user will not thoroughly evaluate the laptop because they won't spend enough time on it and use it in enough ways.
- joonix 14y ago
  Yes, I knew a linguist who won a $100 million lottery. Fortunately, he gave the winnings away to an accountant, because he wasn't a "numbers guy."
nextstep 14y ago
I have never found a trackpad that works as well as the trackpads on MacBooks.
antihero 14y ago
I desperately need a laptop for freelancing as my current one is falling apart and I can't afford to replace it at the moment. If you don't use yours, perhaps you could give me a discount or something?
notJim 14y ago
Can you say more about why you prefer the Mac?
- llimllib 14y ago
  1) it's kind of unfair, because I've been using macs since... 2007 maybe? I was 100% linux from 2002-2007, then switched to macs. Despite my familiarity with linux, I can't be sure that simple comfort with the Mac OS isn't part of it. I don't much like the new Gnome (haven't used it since 2007, remember), nor do I care to learn how to install a different window manager and thereby spend the time supporting it. 2) The monitor is the biggest issue for me, followed by the mouse. The monitor is low resolution, and feels very small compared to the retina monitor. Not a fair comparison, I know! But it's the one I make with the two computers side by side. 3) The dell keyboard is just as good as the mac's, and unlike most PCs, the overall hardware package generally feels very solid, simple, and well thought out. The carbon fiber bottom feels very cool. It's not quite as nice as the Air, but it's not too far away. So, those are basically the reasons that it sits on my desk, unused, next to my macbook. Also, obviously I don't mind travelling with a slightly larger and heavier computer.
  - t4nkd 14y ago
    As someone who's been using a Mac since 2008-ish, beginning with a 17" A4, I'm really considering buying this Dell and moving to Ubuntu permanently. I have a few gripes with Apple laptops and I was wondering if you could refute or lend an opinion on why(or why not) the Dell would be an option. 1) I really hate the hardware upsell. With this XPS machine I'm getting a 256gb SSD, 8G RAM, and an 3GHz i7 processor. The comparable hardware for a 13" Retina is $2,200 and it's still not as light or thin. The comparable Air is missing a GHz of processing speed and still costs an extra $150. Also, there isn't a team of OEM Apple developers writing Ubuntu PPA support for either machine, so I'm stuck on OS X again, which I'm pretty disillusioned with. 2) I'm actually still not really clear what the advantage of a retina display is. Maybe it's because I haven't been able to use one for a significant timespan, but I just don't get it. If there was a way to clearly and easily illustrate why a 13" display benefits from retina resolution, I'd really appreciate it. 3) I'm kind've ready for a change from Apple products. I haven't used a high end laptop or PC from any other manufacturer and I feel like I don't know what I'm missing, if I'm missing anything. If you or the other XPS tester can respond at all, thanks in advance.

ekianjo 14y ago

Simple question but how do you get to be a beta tester for such products?

Surio 14y ago

Please don't get me wrong or take it the wrong way, But I just can't seem to get over the fact that you are obviously not a Linux person (you seem to have strong preferences and by the looks of it, you know well that you are very much a Mac person), who won a Linux laptop for free and hasn't used it at all. Had you but magnanimously declined the offer and passed it on, someone else could have used it happily all along....

deleted 14y ago
[deleted]
w1ntermute 14y ago
Yeah, that's the first thing I thought when I read his post. What a waste - I know several people who would have been delighted to get this laptop.
- steevdave 14y ago
  I would be one of those people, but at 1500 dollars, seems a bit steep, for the hardware involved. I just got my Chromebook (ARM, 3G) and I'm amazed at just how well everything runs on it. But I don't think that the Dell is my target anyway, as I'm more of a u-boot, and kernel work is more my area of expertise rather than shoving things off into the cloud. Kudos to Dell for doing this, hopefully more vendors will follow suit.
  - w1ntermute 14y ago
    Right, the price is very steep. With that cost, the ThinkPad X1 Carbon would be a much better choice. I would've expected Dell to be able to sell this at a much more competitive price point. But in this case, he got it for free, which is a completely different story.
    - robotmay 14y ago
      How good is Ubuntu support out of the box on the X1? I love the look of it as a replacement for my MBP, but I've found compatibility information a bit scarce. EDIT: Just found your other post! That's really cool that is has such good support.
benihana 14y ago
Give me a break. Do you think Dell really wanted to give this only to customers who loved it? No! The point of these beta tests is to get feedback from people. If they only gave to people who say "it's so great I love it!" what's the point of giving it away at all? They could just sell it to those people. Dell gave out these laptops to hear people like OP's comments so that they might improve their product and actually sell some to their target audience: geeks like Linus who want a portable, well built linux laptop, or geeks who have Apple laptops that would be willing to switch to a comparable linux laptop for whatever reason. Dell was beta testing these to get feedback, not to provide someone else to use their product happily for free.
- Surio 14y ago
  First off, OP mentioned he got it for free in a conference raffle: Dell already achieved their free publicity/sponsorship/whatever by announcing this laptop in the beginning of the conference, and by the time the raffle winner was announced, it is already out of Dell's hands, and between OP and organisers. At this point, had he mentioned that he is probably not going to be using it at all because of his strong Mac preference, another ticket would have been drawn and hey presto..... >>> The point of these beta tests is to get feedback from people Exactly. And that's my main point. In all this time, feedback was not at all achieved (edit: contrast with, say @chimeracoder's review above), because by his own account, he barely used the laptop, ergo, no feedback to Dell or anyone else in the matter..... Which is why I mentioned in the original comment "someone else could have used it happily all along...." (note the ellipsis, where the ending is left unsaid, as in, it c(w)ould have resulted in feedback, in the very least)
  - liljimmytables 14y ago
    > feedback was _not at all achieved_ To be more precise, _market_ feedback was achieved. A small, pizzling drip of market feedback. When you hand out devices, you're looking for _product_ feedback. That said, if someone offered me a free laptop, I probably would keep it because I don't own nearly enough laptops.
astrodust 14y ago
There's also some starving child in Africa that could've gone to bed with a refrigerator full of sandwiches if you sold this thing on eBay. Why jump on someone for giving their opinions on a product they won at a raffle? Are you supposed to decline prizes because you might not like them? Also, what the hell is a "Linux person"? Is that someone who doesn't consider a day complete without compiling their own kernel extensions?
- llimllib 14y ago
  > Also, what the hell is a "Linux person"? Is that someone who doesn't consider a day complete without compiling their own kernel extensions? Maybe I count as a linux person because I've written my own kernel extension?
  - anonymous 14y ago
    Here's a handy guide: Level. Description -10. Macintosh/Windows evangelist 0. Never heard of linux 1. Heard of linux, never used it 2. Tried linux once in '97, didn't get OSS working, gave up 3. Tried linux, couldn't make it be exactly like some other OS, gave up 4. Uses linux from time to time at home and/or at work as a server os 5. Uses linux as a desktop os when needed 6. Uses linux as a desktop os, but dual/triple boots for some apps 7. Uses linux exclusively 8. Uses linux exclusively and writes kernel patches 9. Uses linux exclusively, writes kernel patches and has touched Linus Torvalds 10. Is Linus Torvalds 11. Is Linus Torvalds's wife
- 1123581321 14y ago
  By "Linux person" he means someone who prefers Linux to OSX or Windows for day-to-day use. This person might also be a Linux contributor but does not have to be. The point of mentioning it seemed to be that someone who is not a regular Linux user will not thoroughly evaluate the laptop because they won't spend enough time on it and use it in enough ways.
joonix 14y ago
Yes, I knew a linguist who won a $100 million lottery. Fortunately, he gave the winnings away to an accountant, because he wasn't a "numbers guy."

nextstep 14y ago

I have never found a trackpad that works as well as the trackpads on MacBooks.

antihero 14y ago

I desperately need a laptop for freelancing as my current one is falling apart and I can't afford to replace it at the moment. If you don't use yours, perhaps you could give me a discount or something?

notJim 14y ago

Can you say more about why you prefer the Mac?

llimllib 14y ago
1) it's kind of unfair, because I've been using macs since... 2007 maybe? I was 100% linux from 2002-2007, then switched to macs. Despite my familiarity with linux, I can't be sure that simple comfort with the Mac OS isn't part of it. I don't much like the new Gnome (haven't used it since 2007, remember), nor do I care to learn how to install a different window manager and thereby spend the time supporting it. 2) The monitor is the biggest issue for me, followed by the mouse. The monitor is low resolution, and feels very small compared to the retina monitor. Not a fair comparison, I know! But it's the one I make with the two computers side by side. 3) The dell keyboard is just as good as the mac's, and unlike most PCs, the overall hardware package generally feels very solid, simple, and well thought out. The carbon fiber bottom feels very cool. It's not quite as nice as the Air, but it's not too far away. So, those are basically the reasons that it sits on my desk, unused, next to my macbook. Also, obviously I don't mind travelling with a slightly larger and heavier computer.
- t4nkd 14y ago
  As someone who's been using a Mac since 2008-ish, beginning with a 17" A4, I'm really considering buying this Dell and moving to Ubuntu permanently. I have a few gripes with Apple laptops and I was wondering if you could refute or lend an opinion on why(or why not) the Dell would be an option. 1) I really hate the hardware upsell. With this XPS machine I'm getting a 256gb SSD, 8G RAM, and an 3GHz i7 processor. The comparable hardware for a 13" Retina is $2,200 and it's still not as light or thin. The comparable Air is missing a GHz of processing speed and still costs an extra $150. Also, there isn't a team of OEM Apple developers writing Ubuntu PPA support for either machine, so I'm stuck on OS X again, which I'm pretty disillusioned with. 2) I'm actually still not really clear what the advantage of a retina display is. Maybe it's because I haven't been able to use one for a significant timespan, but I just don't get it. If there was a way to clearly and easily illustrate why a 13" display benefits from retina resolution, I'd really appreciate it. 3) I'm kind've ready for a change from Apple products. I haven't used a high end laptop or PC from any other manufacturer and I feel like I don't know what I'm missing, if I'm missing anything. If you or the other XPS tester can respond at all, thanks in advance.