Dell XPS 13 Developer Edition review

http://www.jx0.org/2013/12/dell-xps-13-developer-edition-review.html

by sheff • 13 years ago

141 165 13 years ago

davidw4• 13 years ago

I have one of these and think it's pretty good. I am really happy to have been able to give my money to someone selling me something with Linux on it.

deno• 13 years ago

I think the standard for friendly hardware should be open firmware support (Coreboot), rather than what’s preinstalled on HDD.

pedrocr• 13 years ago

Knowing that you're not also paying for a windows license and inflating the Windows market share numbers is also nice.

igravious5• 13 years ago

Hi David,

I have one of these too! But which one, that is the rub. As far as I can tell there are now three versions of project Sputnik. I too am so happy to throw my € in Dell's direction. I have the second because I bought mine just before the recent Haswell refresh, gah :(

Please correct me if I am wrong.

Original version ... November 2012 1: http://bartongeorge.net/2012/11/29/sputnik-has-landed-introd...

Brings 1080p (after much clamour and feedback) ... February 2013 2: http://bartongeorge.net/2013/02/18/spuntik-2-is-here-xps-13-...

Brings Haswell ... November 2013 http://bartongeorge.net/2013/11/15/introducing-sputnik-3-and...

Not sure which version the original poster is reviewing, I always meant to review mine and haven't done so yet. I upgraded from Ubuntu 12.04LTS to 13.10 and had to futz about a bit with backlight keys. Wifi drivers kept glitching out until recently. I had to add TRIM support myself (I had thought it was there, it wasn't!)

Might be an idea to set up a Sputnik User's site unless one exists :) as opposed to a Dell forum or employee's blog.

tip o' the hat ...

macco2• 13 years ago

Want to start one?

robgough• 13 years ago

The reviewer mentions they're reviewing the November 2013 Haswell Refresh. My work laptop is the Feb 2013 1080p version, and as an Apple fan I must say I'm very impressed with the quality of this machine... and the 1080p screen is really fantastic.

Erwin• 13 years ago

How did you resolve your WiFi issues? Quite often I've found the laptop unable to connect to random hotel WiFi (with no useful indication of why in logs/dmesg) and I have to connect via my S3 and share the connection via USB.

adricnet2• 13 years ago

The Dell Sputnik forum has been somewhat useful, but mark me interested in a possible third party forum/list for sputnik users. I'm still running 12.04 (plus too many PPAs for apps) on my Sputnik beta XPS. Lots of folks are doing fine with other Ubuntu but I'm waiting for another LTS. I mostly use Gnome classic and Gnome 3, fwiw.

Other than the touchpad still being too sensitive for my preferences (this gripe not limited to the XPS) it's been a awesome machine. It was my first SSD machine and still boots so fast. I'm jealous of the newer CPUs especially if battery life extends.

jskonhovd2• 13 years ago

Great laptop. I got mine over Christmas and I have no complaints. I hope Dell continues to support Linux.

stiff• 13 years ago

Notebookcheck has a test of this laptop:

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-Dell-XPS-13-Ultrabook-La...

I love their review because they go into very much detail and some of the information is hard to found elsewhere, like real measurements of screen contrast and brightness, the one parameter that already eliminates 95% of laptops every time I look for one, and of loudness.

kayoone2• 13 years ago

Thats a review of the 2012 version though, the 2013 haswell version should be much improved.

jre• 13 years ago

This is not the haswell/HD screen version though.

I'm currently looking for a laptop and it will be either the XPS 13 or a rMBP 13 inches. I'm currently favoring the rMPB a little bit because it seems it get less hot than the XPS. It kinds of scare me when the review says the laptop gets somewhat warm while surfing and I've had really bad experiences with overheating Dell laptops.

What's your experience XPS 13 owners ?

jfb• 13 years ago

I use and love Apple hardware, but if you're not going to use OS X, does it make sense to pay the price in driver potential wonkiness?

davidw4• 13 years ago

Never noticed heat in mine, or for that matter, the fan running, except when I compile stuff.

kayoone2• 13 years ago

does Ubuntu use some kind of DPI scaling on this or is it just native FHD ? That could be pretty small for some people. How does it handle setting to lower resolutions ?

Also 6hours of battery life seem a bit on the short side, though he had quite a few programs running. Id like to know how it would do in Windows8 though.

Id also be interested in how well it handles sleep/awake scenarios with an external display attached etc.

ch4s32• 13 years ago

Yeah, for $1500 after tax, I'll stick with the 11 hours a MBPr gets and install a VM if I want to use Linux.

wazoox4• 13 years ago

No DPI scaling, but it's OK for me. I always loved small fonts in term windows anyway :) 6 hours is a minimum for quite a heavy use; I myself found that mine easily does 8-9 hours when programming (Flash is a terrible battery and CPU hog).

ch4s32• 13 years ago

how does it do with video playback?

computer4• 13 years ago

Many desktop environments can do scaling well enough, in my experience. Not sure about Unity, the Ubuntu default.

Edit: for non-retina screens (i.e. it's fine on my 14" 1920x1080 laptop.) For retina (not this laptop), it might not be ideal yet. I took a screenshot (XFCE4) with very high DPI, and you can see some GUI elements don't scale: http://i.imgur.com/2GpqyND.png

Touche4• 13 years ago

AFAIK no linux environments handle HiDPI well at the moment. Gnome 3 added support in a recent support but it's still not great. Also many apps that don't use native APIs look bad, Chrome for example is almost unusable.

haswell• 13 years ago

I owned one of the early 2013 1080p versions for about a month, but had serious issues with backlight bleed. After having it replaced twice it became clear that the issue was inherent to the hardware.

Aside from this, it seemed like a fantastic machine, but beware of the potential backlight issues if you spend a significant amount of time with dark or black windows / backgrounds. For me, this was 90% of the time between terminal windows and Sublime Text.

mkhattab• 13 years ago

I'm conflicted about the price being in the range of MBPs and Dell competing with Apple, supposedly, based on quality and design. I think they would be much more competitive if they were to price this laptop significantly cheaper than MBPs without sacrificing too much quality. I think Dell has the resources to do this. It's difficult for me to ignore brand image and I guess this makes me a fan boy. Although, I really do want a decent Linux laptop. I will keep an eye on the XPS13 in case I make the switch.

davexunit2• 13 years ago

Thinkpads make rock solid GNU/Linux machines. I highly recommend the X220. It has some issues such as not being Coreboot compatible and needing nonfree firmware to drive the wireless chip. The former has no fix, but the latter can be fixed with a little hack and an Atheros chip.

bluedino4• 13 years ago

As an X220 it's a very nice machine but it's no in the same realm as the XPS or the Air/rMBP.

It has a great keyboard and underlying hardware. But it's also stuck with a low-resolution screen with terrible viewing angles, and is also as thick as a brick. The touchpad also leaves a lot to be desired but it does have the TrackPoint which is great.

The X240 will supposedly have a 1080p IPS screen but I'm not sure what the holdup is.

nextos• 13 years ago

I love x220, but they are far from perfect. Some serious glitches:

- Small & noisy fan - Awful trackpad (but awesome trackpoint) - Low resolution wide screen

I cannot understand why Lenovo is destroying the x2 series. Now they:

- Replaced the standard processor with a ULV one - Removed trackpoint buttons - Introduced island-style keys - Removed ThinkLight

They should have simply improved a bit the glitches i mentioned.

dmacvicar• 13 years ago

I love my X220 (work laptop). I use it as my main machine at work with the dock and two monitors. It is fast, responsive and very portable and the Intel graphics just work on Linux.

But I have a T410 at home and I am not very happy with it. The dock is unstable, it disconnects, USB dies. The stupid dock blocks the fan, and you do anything cpu intensive and it end shutting the system down because of temperature. The NVIDIA graphics never worked reliably with nouveau + dock + suspend (I have to use the binary driver).

And worse, it is an i7 (x220 is an i5) and it feels so slow compared to the x220.

surge5• 13 years ago

I compared this to a Macbook Pro 13", which is the closest comparable hardware. It came out better in features and cost ($300 cheaper then a Macbook Pro with similar SSD and memory), and was thinner and lighter.

I wanted the Macbook Pro, but I didn't see the $300 difference in the Pro.

annnnd• 13 years ago

One difference: you can't legally develop for iOS with non-Apple hardware. Which is IMHO an extortion, but there you have it.

binarycrusader• 13 years ago

The Macbook has a better trackpad and the (legal) ability to run every major desktop OS.

That's worth $300 to me...

astrodust4• 13 years ago

People consistently underestimate how much value an Apple notebook has. The reason they cost >$1000 is because of what's inside.

Dell doesn't have the resources to make a MacBook Air type computer in volume. Apple's bought the gear, invested heavily in the suppliers to get them up to speed, and starves competitors of the equipment and supplies needed to produce similar computers.

Secondly, Apple focuses on a handful of models and makes a lot of them. Dell tends to produce dozens if not hundreds of models and can't get the volume on any single one up to the level required to really slash costs on exotic manufacturing processes.

HP has tried on a few occasions to produce something close, but they never stick with it long enough to really gain the benefits of scale.

wazoox4• 13 years ago

I had one of these for some months and I'd say the only culprit is that there are only 1 mini DP and 2 USB ports and nothing else: no SD card slot, no Thunderbold or Firewire. Even a third USB port would have been nice. There isn't any kensington lock port, either.

The screen is glossy but for some reason, it's not actually catching too many random reflections (so it's much better than my MacBook which can hardly be used when sitting back to the window).

The touchpad feel isn't as good as a MacBook but it's large and much better than those from most other PCs I've tried. Overall a nice machine.

smackfu2• 13 years ago

Hasn't the PC world moved on to USB3, ignoring Thunderbolt? And even Apple has dropped Firewire at this point.

rsynnott• 13 years ago

Thunderbolt is seeing some take-up on the high end; it solves a different set of problems to USB3.

wazoox4• 13 years ago

Thunderbolt is an Intel technology, and it can be found (albeit rarely) on Asus (and maybe other) high-end laptops and motherboards. And even one firewire port would be better than no port :)

MetaCosm2• 13 years ago

Thunderbolt is way too expensive for most hardware (and tightly controlled, which bothers some manufactorers), and USB3 is damn near free. Thunderbolt is expensive for the manufactorer and expensive for the user (read: complex cable requirements). With USB3.1 "doubling" the speed of USB3.0 in a backwards compatible way -- I suspect it will continue to dominate.

igravious5• 13 years ago

They are USB3 ports though, aren't they?

Dedicated ethernet would be nice. Thunderbolt would be nice. Firewire would be nice. A DVD/blu-ray drive would be nice. Ultrabooks seem not to have these things. Make no mistake, I would not have bought one if it had been USB2.

   -[0000:00]-+-00.0  Intel Corporation 3rd Gen Core processor DRAM Controller
              +-02.0  Intel Corporation 3rd Gen Core processor Graphics Controller
              +-14.0  Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family USB xHCI Host Controller
              +-16.0  Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family MEI Controller #1
              +-1a.0  Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller #2
              +-1b.0  Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family High Definition Audio Controller
              +-1c.0-[01]----00.0  Qualcomm Atheros AR9462 Wireless Network Adapter
              +-1d.0  Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller #1
              +-1f.0  Intel Corporation QS77 Express Chipset LPC Controller
              +-1f.2  Intel Corporation 7 Series Chipset Family 6-port SATA Controller [AHCI mode]
              \-1f.3  Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family SMBus Controller

surge5• 13 years ago

I own this laptop, had it for almost a year. I love it except after a while I noticed random hard freezes, basically the display freezes in place and the system doesn't respond. I would have to hold down the power button to force an unexpected reboot (in the words of Moss). It would happen after a day, or a week of use.

Turns out it's a problem with the kernel in 12.04 and the Intel 4400 chipset. The only solid fix is to simply update to a non-LTS release. Since updating to 13.04 I've been okay. I shouldn't have to wait much longer for 14.04 so I should have an LTS release soon with the updated kernel.

The only other problem I've had is some updates deleting my firmware for the wireless, I've had to re-download it. But I did not have this problem when upgrading Ubuntu.

Despite these issues, otherwise it's been a very solid laptop.

bpeebles• 13 years ago

You can use https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Kernel/LTSEnablementStack to get a newer X server and kernel while otherwise staying on 12.04 LTS.

davb• 13 years ago

If the laptop is turned off (or sleeping) and the battery is charging, there's no way for you to tell whether the batter is full or not based on the color of the LED. It stays white.

This isn't entirely true. While the color of the charger LED doesn't change, the LED at the middle of the bottom/front edge (below the trackpad) goes from orange to white when charged.

My biggest gripe with this (very nice, portable) laptop is that the wireless card is a bit flaky with 802.11n under (x)Ubuntu 13.04 - 13.10. I find that in some rooms of my (relatively small) flat I can't connect without disabling 11n (sudo modprobe iwlwifi 11n_disable=1). I get a very high "Tx excessive retries" value in iwconfig otherwise and the network connection is unusable.

It's not a failing of the laptop, but rather the bundled Intel wireless card and the drivers that ship with Linux 3.11.0-15. My Lenovo T430s has the same issue (it has a Centrino Advanced-N 6205).

I've seen numerous bug reports and kernel patches but haven't had much success in resolving the issue.

rayiner4• 13 years ago

6 hours isn't great, it's shitty for a 13" laptop with Haswell.

surge5• 13 years ago

Yeah, but not one that thin (small battery).

rayiner4• 13 years ago

It's not particularly thin. It's about the same thickness at its thickest point at the MBA. In terms of size and weight, it's about in the middle for an ultrabook. It's battery is a little smaller than the MBA's, but not that much smaller (47 watt-hours versus 54 watt-hours). Dell's own XPS 12, which has a very marginally larger battery (50 watt-hours), gets almost 9 hours of Wi-Fi surfing at about 50% brightness.

bluedino4• 13 years ago

I'm not sure why you're being downvoted, but I agree. If Apple can pull 12+ hours of out the Air, there's no excuse for 6 hours. Even the 13" Retina gets 10+ hours. 6 hours is about the bare minimum for a portable machine. The Apple machine doesn't cost any more.

mwfunk• 13 years ago

Very true, although seeing your comment made me realize how awesome it is that people consider 6 hours to be shitty for laptops nowadays. It doesn't seem that long ago that 90-150 minute battery life was pretty standard.

astrodust4• 13 years ago

You mean ten years ago?

plg• 13 years ago

how does it compare to a macbook air with linux installed?

giovannibajo1• 13 years ago

Hardware-wise, the main differences are a better display (that is, more dense), and a slower SSD (non PCIe) and slower graphic card (HD4200 vs HD5000). Trackpad is probably worse as well, but I would suppose you can't see much of a difference under Linux where the experience is suboptimal even with the Apple one. You also don't have Thunderbolt connectors, though I doubt is a problem for most people.

johnchristopher• 13 years ago

No matte screen though :(

surge5• 13 years ago

You don't need one, it's got gorilla glass, it's basically the same screen you'd get on a high end tablet.

Al-Khwarizmi3• 13 years ago

A laptop targeted to developers should have a TrackPoint to move the cursor without taking the hands off the keyboard, a non-shortscreen monitor to see more lines of code, a matte screen to read the code better, and a numpad to, well, type numbers. OK, I guess I'm asking too much for today's standards, even if all these things were common ten years ago (sigh...), but when I saw "developer edition" I thought I would see at least two of these four features, and I see none.

This is just a standard high-end laptop. Disappointing.

nezza-_-• 13 years ago

I don't think a numpad is necessary, developers normally don't type that many numbers (except maybe 0 and 1).

Thrall2• 13 years ago

I agree that a numpad isn't really necessary. The keys I miss on a laptop keyboard are:

- Home, end, pgup, pgdown

- Delete

- Function keys that are just F-keys, not volume/brightness controls that act as F-keys when you press a 'function' modifier key.

astrodust4• 13 years ago

If you do spreadsheet work based on numbers, a number pad comes in handy. Some developers have to do estimates or accounting where this applies.

I only have a full-sized keyboard to get the arrow keys. Being able to smack "Enter" in the corner is a nice bonus.

davidw4• 13 years ago

Agreed about the screen - it's annoying. But pretty much everything has those stupid HD style screens these days.

I thought the glossy screen would bother me. It doesn't.

Numpad? Never used one.

Trackpoint? Not my style - I mostly navigate with the keyboard and the trackpad just launches the pointer into the window I need active, and then focus follows it!

kbenson4• 13 years ago

I've never really understood the attraction of focus follow mouse, and it's especially confusing to me when the preference comes from someone who professes to mostly navigate using the keyboard.

mseebach• 13 years ago

The operative word is "Linux", not "Developer".

old-gregg• 13 years ago

Logged in to upvote you. I would also add that a proper keyboard which doesn't resemble typing on mashed potatoes would also be my requirement. Even Thinkpads have degraded to a calculator-quality cheap uniform keyboard without oversized keys copied from Sony/Apple... Ugh...

thirdsight2• 13 years ago

Someone who gets it! I'm doomed to stay with a 2010 vintage Lenovo T-series by the looks.

angersock2• 13 years ago

...using tools from the late 70s/early 80s no doubt (vim, emacs, etc.)

yapcguy• 13 years ago

The problem with the new T440p, and the entire Lenovo line in general, is the awful keyboard and trackpad.

They moved to a chiclet style keyboard in the previous generation, removed the top row of keys, and have now inverted the function keys so they perform media functions first. In order to get an F4 you have to press Fn+F4. Ridiculous!

Also they have removed the physical buttons surrounding the trackpad. Previously, one of the nice things about the trackpoint was the ability to have your finger moving the trackpoint while your thumb took a rest on the middle button. Being able to feel the physical buttons you always knew exactly which button you were going to click. Now with the Apple style trackpad, you get no textual feedback at all.

rayiner4• 13 years ago

I quite disagree. A touchpad doesn't require appreciably more movement off the keyboard than a trackpoint (I used a trackpoint Dell machine for years). Matte screens are bad for reading code, because they create a layer of gritiness that reduces the sharpness of text. Glossy screens with good room lighting are far superior. Finally, a wide-screen 13" display is just about the right size to fit two 80-character Emacs windows side-by-side.

vadman• 13 years ago

The difference between 16:10 and 16:9 (HDTV proportions) screens is appreciable though, the former is better for dev work.

Although I cannot imagine doing any work on a laptop without external monitor and ergo KB/mouse, so I'm too fussy I guess.

crazygringo• 13 years ago

Serious question: aside from data-entry people and accountants, who uses numeric keypads anymore?

As a developer, I don't exactly type a lot of numbers. And they're too far away from the home position of the hands to make the numpad efficient to use for numbers in mixed alphanumeric text.

It really seems like they are rightly turning into a very niche input product, like Wacom tablets, instead of a general-purpose one.

batmansbelt• 13 years ago

True programmers do everything with alt-codes.

Al-Khwarizmi3• 13 years ago

I must say I'm probably quite biased regarding the numpad, because much of my programming is about experiments that give numeric results, which then have to be processed and/or reported... so typing lots of numbers always ends up being a part of the equation in my particular case, but not on the code itself.

Numpads are nice for roguelikes as well :)

digikata• 13 years ago

Yup, I'd rather go without the num pad and avoid the minor space and weight increment. If needed, I can always attach a usb number pad.

akbar501• 13 years ago

I dislike the trend of putting number pads on laptop keyboards. It moves the entire keyboard to the side.

Fomite• 13 years ago

Scientist. I went out and bought a numpad to attach to my laptop I missed it so much.

adrusi2• 13 years ago

The problem with numpads on laptops is that it shifts the keyboard to the left, resulting in a non-ergonomic typing position. That's much worse than not being able to type in numbers marginally faster. Also using numpads takes your fingers far from the home row, which is in contrast to your trackpoint argument.

photex• 13 years ago

This is precisely why I haven't purchased several otherwise very nice looking Linux laptops.

kbenson4• 13 years ago

When I specced out my Dell laptop a couple of years ago, I specifically went for a smaller model so I could get a keyboard without a numeric keypad. When on my lap, why would I want the keyboard shifted to the left?

If it's on a desk and not your lap, buy a keyboard.

ebbv2• 13 years ago

Number pads are such a colossal waste of real estate. Let alone on a 13 inch laptop, the keys would have to be so small.

With regards to wanting a 4:3 display over a 16:9/10; with 1920x1080 resolution do you really need the 4:3? Are you really going to make your terminal/editing window full screen height? I use my rMBP in 1920x1200 and my terminals rarely need to go full screen height in order to see all the lines of code I need to see.

Al-Khwarizmi3• 13 years ago

I always make my terminals and windows full screen height in my 1600x1200 monitor and in my old 1920x1200 laptop. And on the desktop, I also have a vertical (1200x1600) monitor, typically used for documentation. Vertical space has always been the most important for reading text, that's why books typically come in portrait form...

macco2• 13 years ago

This is totally shitty naming by Dell. Name it Dell Sputnik and you are fine.

adricnet2• 13 years ago

Ah, the eternal "war" between product development and marketing. I like the Sputnik name better as well, even when they called us cosmonauts :D

dkuntz22• 13 years ago

But the XPS 13 is a standard Dell laptop. Sputnik is just the project to get Ubuntu running excellently on them, coupled with some developer tools.

rsync• 13 years ago

"This is just a standard high-end laptop. Disappointing."

Well, a high end laptop with a low resolution screen...

geminitojanus• 13 years ago

It's a strange world where we're saying 1080p is "low res".

prof_hobart• 13 years ago

I absolutely detest TrackPoint-type sticks. I find them largely unusable for pointing, and every one I've ever had has got in the way of actually typing. We have them at work and thankfully they are removable. A non-removable one would be a deal-breaker for any laptop for me.

hackbinary• 13 years ago

I absolutely love TrackPoint-type sticks. I find them the best thing for pointing, and each one I have ever had has never got in the way of actually typing. I wish we had them at work.

nfoz• 13 years ago

First boot: Ubuntu animation, Dell User Agreement, then the standard Ubuntu installer.

Seriously?

Silhouette• 13 years ago

FWIW, I picked up on that, too. Why would a new piece of hardware running a FOSS operating system need proprietary legalese from Dell? Not saying there aren't reasons for it, but anyone who's interested in buying a Linux laptop in the first place might want to know what they are.

grigio• 13 years ago

I think it should be cheaper compared to a MBA with Linux.. anyway the competition is good

skyebook• 13 years ago

I just did some comparisons, it is indeed cheaper than a MBA in similar configuration. In terms of price, the 13" retina MBP is a way better deal than both the Dell and the Air.

just_bytecode2• 13 years ago

I bought a refurbished ASUS Vivobook X202E and put Linux Mint on it. I was pleasantly surprised that everything worked out of the box (touchscreen, multitouch trackpad, wifi, etc). It's still important to have manufacturers standing behind Linux on their PCs, but hardware support on Linux is always getting better.

lowry• 13 years ago

Warning: Ubuntu on this laptop does not support video output on USB 3.0 docking stations.

lvillani5• 13 years ago

AFAIK, video over USB3 ain't pretty. I wanted to buy an USB 3.0 docking station but these things seem to be Windows-only and, even there, people experience issues.

jskonhovd2• 13 years ago

I am guessing you are referring to the USB 3.0 DisplayLink Docking Station. Yes, DisplayLink has issues with supporting Linux. We can only hope that Dell and other PC manufacturers will put pressure on them to support Linux.

curtis• 13 years ago

The first thing I noticed from the picture is that the keyboard looks exactly like the keyboard on my MacBook Pro. I haven't really looked at Windows laptops in a long time, so maybe this is a common layout now. It just seemed notable to me.

news_to_me2• 13 years ago

I was debating getting this laptop or a Thinkpad T440s and a Chromebook Pixel. For me the Pixel just doesn't have the storage capacity I want, and the T440s isn't quite as portable.

I've made a deal with myself to get this once I've paid my loans off. C'mon, baby, just two months..

reirob• 13 years ago

Then maybe the new Thinkpad X1 Carbon is for you: http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/thinkpad/x-series/x1-ca...

I would seriously love to buy it but the new keyboard changes put me off (see comment on https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7016535). It's a shame, because otherwise it is really a nice machine - will as well go with T440s.

news_to_me2• 13 years ago

Oh god, it has Haswell now!! Damn the loans.

coreymgilmore• 13 years ago

could use a 15" brother with a bigger screen -> lets you see more lines of code and run side-by-side editors more efficiently.

fotcorn• 13 years ago

I bought a Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga a month ago and installed the alpha of Ubuntu 14.04 LTS on it. The only thing that didn't work out of the box was the lock button and scrolling in Firefox using the touch screen (install the Grab and Drag Addon). Features: matte screen, TrackPoint, Pen Input.

just_bytecode2• 13 years ago

Thanks for turning me on Grab and Drag. Firefox is one of the few things I want to touch scroll on Linux.

taeric• 13 years ago

Seconded! Only used it for about 30 seconds and this is already one of my favorite add ons. :) I kind of wish it was only enabled for the touch or pen cursors, anyone know if that is possible?

gum_ina_package2• 13 years ago

The real issue here is battery life. Only 6 hours? The new X1 carbon from Lenovo can get 9, the T440s can get up to 17 (with extended battery), and the MBA can get 12 right out of the box.

ivan_ah• 13 years ago

The Lenovo X1 carbon has a 1600 x 900 screen though... I needz my linez of code ;)

gum_ina_package2• 13 years ago

Not the new one! It's up to 2048xsomething-or-another.

robertfw• 13 years ago

I've been using one of these with the HD screen since the spring, here are some thoughts:

Nice: - Good battery life. With screen on full, wifi on I can get between 3-5 hours depending on CPU utilization. With screen brightness turned down, wifi off, low utilization, ~6 hours

- Keyboard and mouse pad are great

- No issues with unsupported bits and pieces from ubuntu, with exception of video output via usb

- the battery strength indicator on the side is handy for quickly checking if i need to grab my power cable without having to turn the machine on as well

- Display quality (minus the glossy finish) is great, wide viewing angle, vivid colours

Naughty: - Glossy screen is a pain in the ass. Forget about using in sunlight, I also need to adjust mine to avoid getting the overheads in our office.

- Temperature management is pretty poor - the air vents on the bottom don't have much clearance even on a flat surface, and don't seem to move enough air. I worry about the long term lifespan of this machine because it regularly operates > 70c. When I can, I sit the machine on a laptop platform with a fan.

- (minor) the function keybind for adjusting the volume requires 2 hands - the fn key is on the lower left, while the volume up/down are on f11/f12.

- only 2 usb ports and no SD card reader.

Overall I've been happy with it.

micampe2• 13 years ago

3-5 hours is good battery life in 2014?

alexchamberlain• 13 years ago

It's the one thing that hasn't improved over the years.

tluyben2• 13 years ago

I go crazy under 6 ... That's why i'm spending more and more time behind my chromebook; it has all day battery life. My laptops hardly make 3 hours and it makes me not want to use them for much of anything anymore.

kolev• 13 years ago

How about the backlight bleeding issue (especially bothering in the terminal window)? This is why I returned two laptops from the older models and decided to stick with Macs!

codfrantic• 13 years ago

I've been using one of these with the HD screen since the spring,

So not the Haswell version the review is about?

platz• 13 years ago

I'm not sure I trust anything from Dell anymore after the DER SPIEGEL releases.

bch• 13 years ago

Sort of funny, but it looks like their Linux developer laptop keyboard has a Windows key. Licensing issue, or just an unfinished project?

lvillani5• 13 years ago

I have one of the first-gen (non Sputnik) systems. I simultaneously love it and hate it so much that after one year I had to put my (mixed) feelings in writing here: http://lorenzo.villani.me/2013/08/19/dell-xps-13-l321x-the-r... (this is little more than a pondered rant, unlike OP's thorough review).

However, I think this year I'm probably going to bite the bullet and buy a 13" Retina MacBook Pro.

mixmastamyk• 13 years ago

Nice, I'd consider getting one. Wish it was a bit bigger though... I have an XPS 16 which isn't very heavy and don't want a smaller screen.

When I use the wife's Mac I'm always fumbling around the keyboard shortcuts. However, the screen is amazing. If this Dell had a bit more DPI I'd be sold.

codeape2• 13 years ago

How is the multi-monitor support on the XPS 13 running Ubuntu? I googled, but could not find much useful information.

How many external monitors can be connected?

I found some information here: http://www.intel.com/support/graphics/sb/CS-031040.htm , but it looks as if most of the info applies to Windows.

lvillani5• 13 years ago

I have the first-gen XPS 13 with 1366x768 internal display. No problems at all in a multi monitor setup. I have a Dell S2409W, 1920x1080 at home and a NEC 1920x1200 at work.

codeape2• 13 years ago

Do you use both the internal display and external monitor?

Have you tried connecting more than one external monitor?

tuneit• 13 years ago

About the low battery time I am pretty sure it is a linux problem and not so much a hardware. Battery is really one of linux weaker spots. However I read that the optimization ubuntu is doing for phones will help the overall battery situation. I guess we can just cross our fingers that its true.

elchief• 13 years ago

Does the WIFI LED flash a different colour when it uploads directly to the NSA?

What am I going to do with 8GB of RAM? My mom has 8GB of RAM.

shirro• 13 years ago

Two wishes. They supported 16GB RAM. Dell Australia would sell them.

atmosx• 13 years ago

Good might me next laptop series... Hm.

auggierose• 13 years ago

Not sure why anyone would get one of these. The new MacbookPro 13 inch is the sweetest laptop deal out there right now (if you can do with 13 inch and only 2 cores).

ternaryoperator• 13 years ago

Because they want an Ubuntu laptop?

parhelium• 13 years ago

Right now I have Lenovo w520 and I approached 3 times to configure ubuntu with external screen, no luck.

Does Dell XPS 3 DE work fine with external monitor on ubuntu ?

Dell XPS 13 Developer Edition review

Related Stories