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Dell XPS 13 Developer Edition (comes with Ubuntu pre-installed). The best part, though, is that Dell wrote a bunch of drivers for the hardware that got integrat

Dell XPS 13 Developer Edition (comes with Ubuntu pre-installed). The best part, though, is that Dell wrote a bunch of drivers for the hardware that got integrated into the main Linux kernel--I've installed over 10 distros on it (not all at once!) and on every one of them brightness, multitouch gestures, etc, worked out of the box.

de_dave 13y ago
I've got the XPS 13 standard edition (max-specced refurb was half-price of the dev edition!) and it's been nearly smooth sailing. One difference between the dev and std editions is the wifi chipset - 6235 in std, 6230 in dev (and some reports of the AR9462 in others). The wifi was practically unusable for me until I manually disabled power-saving on the wifi interface. Also had a couple of instances where the machine has dropped into a coma (even on full battery). Usually after rebooting or suspending. Quite scary when it happens, since the long-hold power button trick doesn't always revive it. It usually comes back to life later but I wish I knew what was causing this. Also have to run the battery all the way down to 0% (the point at which the HW forces a shutdown) and charge back up to 100% every couple of months else the calibration goes wonky. Lovely machine though.
- beggerss 13y ago
  Wow, really? I've never had any hanging/reboot/battery issues with the Dev Edition.
simonmales 13y ago
Thanks for the info. I was aware of Dell making a bunch of drivers to support the hardware, but wasn't aware they would get merge upstream. Cheers!
- samplonius 13y ago
  I don't believe all of the drivers were actually merged upstream. According to reports that I've read, if you don't create a recovery disc, and try to install stock Ubuntu 12, you are in for a nasty surprise as half the hardware doesn't work. Installing drivers without a working network interface, sucks.
  - beggerss 13y ago
    I did a stock reinstall of Ubuntu 12.04 shortly after getting the laptop and everything worked except for one brightness tweak which took me <5 minutes.
WhiteFoxx 13y ago
From what I understand the XPS 13 standard is exactly the same as the standard model without Ubuntu preinstalled yes (except that it has a windows key as opposed to a linux labeled key)? The developer edition is not available in all countries. So you don't have to obtain the Dell drivers separately? They are included in ubuntu 12 onward?

de_dave 13y ago

I've got the XPS 13 standard edition (max-specced refurb was half-price of the dev edition!) and it's been nearly smooth sailing. One difference between the dev and std editions is the wifi chipset - 6235 in std, 6230 in dev (and some reports of the AR9462 in others). The wifi was practically unusable for me until I manually disabled power-saving on the wifi interface. Also had a couple of instances where the machine has dropped into a coma (even on full battery). Usually after rebooting or suspending. Quite scary when it happens, since the long-hold power button trick doesn't always revive it. It usually comes back to life later but I wish I knew what was causing this. Also have to run the battery all the way down to 0% (the point at which the HW forces a shutdown) and charge back up to 100% every couple of months else the calibration goes wonky. Lovely machine though.

beggerss 13y ago
Wow, really? I've never had any hanging/reboot/battery issues with the Dev Edition.

simonmales 13y ago

Thanks for the info. I was aware of Dell making a bunch of drivers to support the hardware, but wasn't aware they would get merge upstream. Cheers!

samplonius 13y ago
I don't believe all of the drivers were actually merged upstream. According to reports that I've read, if you don't create a recovery disc, and try to install stock Ubuntu 12, you are in for a nasty surprise as half the hardware doesn't work. Installing drivers without a working network interface, sucks.
- beggerss 13y ago
  I did a stock reinstall of Ubuntu 12.04 shortly after getting the laptop and everything worked except for one brightness tweak which took me <5 minutes.

WhiteFoxx 13y ago

From what I understand the XPS 13 standard is exactly the same as the standard model without Ubuntu preinstalled yes (except that it has a windows key as opposed to a linux labeled key)? The developer edition is not available in all countries. So you don't have to obtain the Dell drivers separately? They are included in ubuntu 12 onward?