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Ask HN: Is Dell XPS Developer Edition a Good Replacement of Macbook Pro?

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Ask HN: Is Dell XPS Developer Edition a Good Replacement of Macbook Pro?

#1

Post by kornakiewicz »

Hi, I've been waiting few months for yesterday's MacBook upgrade and I'm dissatisfied, as most of you. I read many comments about alternatives and one of recurring favorite is Dell XPS Developer Edition. Could I ask you about your experience with this model? I'm interested in high-end version (16gb and UltraSharp screen). Is it worth this money (less than Macbook, but still)? I actually want to buy "best machine money can buy", which is powerful (for JVM development, besides personal stuff like movies and web), but still easy to carry-on while traveling. Most of the machines are Windows-oriented, which doesn't fit my workflow and there's a limited choice of laptop fully compatible with Linux. Dell XPS 13 seems like one. Do you have positive experiences with this? Would you recommend it?

I just get rid of normal desktop and use mainly my office machine - heavy, powerful ThinkPad W541 with 32GB ram and i7, but it's plastic and the screen is so-so.

Thanks!

Re: Ask HN: Is Dell XPS Developer Edition a Good Replacement of Macbook Pro?

#4

Post by 086421357909764 »

14" Razer Blade 1060, grab a dbrand matte skin to cover the hideous Razer logo. No problems with Ubuntu 16.10 currently installed. Also have a 13" Dell XPS dev edition used for specific work. It's a nice system as well. The Razer def has more power if you want a full replacement.

Re: Ask HN: Is Dell XPS Developer Edition a Good Replacement of Macbook Pro?

#7

Post by eadz »

In a similar boat. The closest machine to the Macbook Pro is the razer blade stealth.

http://www.techradar.com/reviews/razer-blade-stealth-2016

It's basically a rip-off of the (2015) macbook machined aluminium body design. It has the 7th gen processors rather than than the 6th of the new macbook, and a similar price.

Not sure about linux support, from what I've read there may be an issue with the webcam.

Re: Ask HN: Is Dell XPS Developer Edition a Good Replacement of Macbook Pro?

#8

Post by zeusk »

Yes,

I've been using a Retina MacBook Pro 13" (early 15) and 15" (mid 15) and just picked up the xps 13 9350 with iris pro.

There are definitely some quality control issues but once you get a working model with no faults (I had one that wouldn't reboot and had terrible coil whine, one that had loose trackpad and yellow tint on screen but this could also be because of Amazon's shitty packaging where the laptop was in a box with only some brown paper crumpled in) - atleast they took them back no questions asked. I'm amazed how far windows laptops have come along.

The only real downsides are that it power throttles (and thermal too, but I placed my own aftermarket thermal paste and it doesn't cross 66 C on full load now) due to the iris GPU itself consuming 18W at it's rated turbo boost with the SoC's TDP being 15W (long turbo) and 25W (short turbo). Perhaps go with the i5 model that has the HD 520 or the new 9360 that has kabylake with better thermal and power consumption (HD 620 is roughly similar to HD 540 but won't throttle). You can also use Intel's XTU to undervolt and better battery life and throttling if you're going to use windows.

Linux runs flawlessly, infact so does OS X if you can replace the wifi card. AMA

Re: Ask HN: Is Dell XPS Developer Edition a Good Replacement of Macbook Pro?

#9

Post by gaara87 »

zeusk wrote: post #8

Yes, I've been using a Retina MacBook Pro 13" (early 15) and 15" (mid 15) and just picked up the xps 13 9350 with iris pro. There are definitely some quality control issues but once you get a working model with no faults (I had one that wouldn't reboot and had terrible coil whine, one that had loose trackpad and yellow tint on screen but this could also be because of Amazon's shitty packaging where the laptop was in…

What version of linux are you running on it?

What do you primarily use it for?

Re: Ask HN: Is Dell XPS Developer Edition a Good Replacement of Macbook Pro?

#10

Post by mkroman »

The XPS 13 was recently upgraded to Kaby Lake, so if you're fine with the smaller display, I'd say go for it, I've heard great things.

Also, do realize that the UltraSharp model will have a significant impact on battery life. The comments I've looked at for the XPS 15 9550 (4K display) say that the battery life is basically halved, but it's supposedly still around 4.5 hours of battery life.

If you prefer the 15-inch, you might want to wait for a while - they still only feature Skylake CPUs and I think an upgrade is imminent (given the recent XPS 13 upgrade and all.)

I don't have any personal experience with the machines, but I'm planning to buy the XPS 15 once it gets an upgrade.

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