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Dell XPS 13 Review from a lifelong Mac user

jeffgeerling.com

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Re: Dell XPS 13 Review from a lifelong Mac user

#81

Post by [deleted] »

maxxxxx wrote: post #57
kayoone wrote: post #24

For me it's the little things that keep me on mac. - Amazing touchpad, no need for a mouse at all - Light, yet powerful and great battery life - best in class display - being able to easily copy and paste between iphone macbook - being able to easily send files between all osx/ios devices with zero hassle - being able to take calls on my macbook and transfer them to the phone if needed - bluetooth headphones working…

"- Amazing touchpad, no need for a mouse at all" that's the number one. I have not seen any other laptop where the touchpad is usable.

[deleted]

Re: Dell XPS 13 Review from a lifelong Mac user

#82

Post by tamatsyk »

gxs wrote: post #76
tamatsyk wrote: post #55

Good summary, I share most of the points provided in the post. Also, I think a few more things worth to mention. Pros: - XPS has a decent hardware (I got 16GB, i8Gen, 500GB SSD and forgot about having a few docker containers running on the background which was an issue with my MacBook Pro 15 (8GB, 2.5Gh) - It is really 1k$ cheaper than the same config MacBook model. Apple's Retina and Touchbar are really cool, howeve…

The trackpad is what kills me. On the Mac, the non-mechanical touchpad is so efficient, at least as a pointing device can be. It's spacious, I don't get erroneous output, and most importantly, you get a uniform click no matter where on the trackpad your finger is. In the hinged trackpads, it's a pain to click at the top - often you have to slide your finger down. This is less of an issue if you're more of a keyboard…

Agree, moved to tap-click in a first day. As time goes you get use to it but it is still far from Mac touchpad (even more I have not seen anything better in any laptops)

Re: Dell XPS 13 Review from a lifelong Mac user

#83

Post by ufo »

zumu wrote: post #66
eknkc wrote: post #36

What I'm mostly curious about these posts is, how the heck do you guys switch operating systems that easily? I guess it would work if you are already using Linux or Windows on a Mac hardware but that's gotta be rare. I mean, hardware is nothing compared to the OS.. I can switch to any other Mac and it would take me a couple hours to be comfortable. That would be it. If I'm switching to a Dell XPS, I don't really care…

What MacOS software do you miss? I use MacOS, Linux and Windows daily (less often Windows these days). The only feature I really miss on other OS's is spotlight, though I can kind of replace it with rofi in Linux world. Also, in my experience the ecosystem of Linux and Windows software is much larger than that of MacOS. Not to mention Mac software is sold at a premium (even things as simple as tab switching or note t…

GNOME and KDE have builtin functionality that is pretty close to Spotlight. But from your comment I'm guessing you are using a more minimalistic window manager.

Re: Dell XPS 13 Review from a lifelong Mac user

#84

Post by WorldMaker »

jboy55 wrote: post #48
skrebbel wrote: post #5

I like this writeup but I sort of expected it to contain a "Windows 10 Review from a lifelong macos user" embedded in it. I was surprised that this was just about the hardware. As a happy lifelong Windows user, surrounded by programmers who call me insane (or an idiot, even) for liking it, I was curious to learn more about what a developer who's used to Mac thinks about the Windows 10 dev experience. (notably for a m…

What I'd like most from a Laptop Win 10 review is a 2 year later review. We use a macbook air at home, it still runs just as good as when we got it. I've always had issues with Windows where the out of the box experience is incredible, but 2 years later, I'm waiting 5 minutes after start for, 'things to finish' before the computer begins to feel fast again. Whenever I look at replacing the Air, I get nearly to the en…

"S Mode" and forcing more of your Windows 10 application installs to use the Microsoft Store is a big one. A lot of the biggest culprits for the start time "things to finish" were ad hoc updaters from various terrible vendors.

Everyone: don't install Flash (built in to IE/Edge, if you need it, and you likely don't), don't install Java as much as you can avoid it (find alternatives or standalone installs), and install iTunes only from the Microsoft Store if you want it (goodbye Apple Updater, you will not be missed).

Those recommendations alone take care of so much startup gunk.

Power Users: check Startup applications and Services in Task Manager's Advanced/Details view from time to time. Task Manager in Windows 10 lets you disable Startup applications directly without needing any other tool. Many third party services you can switch from Automatic to Automatic (Delayed Start) and lose no functionality, but get out of the Windows startup "hot path". I have backup software that absolutely needed to be (Delayed Start), not just because it was slowing Windows startup but also because it was trying to access system/network resources before Windows was ready for them anyway, yet the installer did not default it to be (Delayed Start) up until just recently. (If you build Windows Services, consider defaulting your service installers for Delayed Start or Trigger Start. You don't need to be in the startup hot path, you are more likely to be getting in the way.)

Re: Dell XPS 13 Review from a lifelong Mac user

#85

Post by favorited »

zumu wrote: post #66
eknkc wrote: post #36

What I'm mostly curious about these posts is, how the heck do you guys switch operating systems that easily? I guess it would work if you are already using Linux or Windows on a Mac hardware but that's gotta be rare. I mean, hardware is nothing compared to the OS.. I can switch to any other Mac and it would take me a couple hours to be comfortable. That would be it. If I'm switching to a Dell XPS, I don't really care…

What MacOS software do you miss? I use MacOS, Linux and Windows daily (less often Windows these days). The only feature I really miss on other OS's is spotlight, though I can kind of replace it with rofi in Linux world. Also, in my experience the ecosystem of Linux and Windows software is much larger than that of MacOS. Not to mention Mac software is sold at a premium (even things as simple as tab switching or note t…

For me, Quick Look (more of a feature than standalone software). I'm using a Windows app[0] which does a good enough job, but without that I'd honestly use my PC even less than I do now.

Beyond that, not having iMessage is a loss. Pages, Keynote, & Numbers are free on Mac, and they're so much nicer to use than LibreOffice IMO.

[0]https://github.com/xupefei/QuickLook

Re: Dell XPS 13 Review from a lifelong Mac user

#86

Post by morley »

eknkc wrote: post #36

What I'm mostly curious about these posts is, how the heck do you guys switch operating systems that easily? I guess it would work if you are already using Linux or Windows on a Mac hardware but that's gotta be rare. I mean, hardware is nothing compared to the OS.. I can switch to any other Mac and it would take me a couple hours to be comfortable. That would be it. If I'm switching to a Dell XPS, I don't really care…

I'm surprised no one has mentioned keyboard portability. I find it incredibly hard to switch from ctrl on Windows to cmd on Mac. In college I had to switch frequently between Windows and Mac, and it was a nightmare.

Since then, I've committed to only use MacOS on a Macbook and Windows on a real keyboard. That seems to preserve my muscle memory the best. But things can be rough when I use a Windows laptop or a standalone Mac keyboard.

Re: Dell XPS 13 Review from a lifelong Mac user

#87

Post by curioussavage »

reacharavindh wrote: post #9

I have a Dell XPS 13 as my personal machine. It runs Linux. Everything works. But, I still find myself using my MacBook Pro (provided by work) for almost everything even at home. Two things that keep me in the Mac land. 1. Retina Display and the 16:10 aspect ratio. 2. Smooth, and usable touchpad. XPS13's display is too rectangle and I'm not watching movies in it. It feels too cramped for looking at code. GNOME out of…

I’m not picky about the screen, but I am super picky about trackpads from using macs. My dell chrombook feels every bit as good as the Mac. Fortunately for me the Gallium os distro for Chromebooks reuses the chrome os touchpad driver. I dell Precision model at work and that touch pad sucks!

Re: Dell XPS 13 Review from a lifelong Mac user

#88

Post by ender341341 »

tamatsyk wrote: post #55

Good summary, I share most of the points provided in the post. Also, I think a few more things worth to mention. Pros: - XPS has a decent hardware (I got 16GB, i8Gen, 500GB SSD and forgot about having a few docker containers running on the background which was an issue with my MacBook Pro 15 (8GB, 2.5Gh) - It is really 1k$ cheaper than the same config MacBook model. Apple's Retina and Touchbar are really cool, howeve…

They do 16gb 13" macbook pros (I'm typing this on an early 2015 that came with 16gb).

They don't have 32GB laptops which would be useful for some of my work though.

Re: Dell XPS 13 Review from a lifelong Mac user

#90

Post by TACIXAT »

bitL wrote: post #68

If you are looking for a Linux laptop, get one with a HiDPI display. Linux finally looks great and if you ever use it on HiDPI, you wouldn't want to go back to FHD. I went from 13" FHD to 13" 3200x1800 and the quality improvement on Linux Mint/Cinnamon was striking. Hackintosh also (subjectively) looks better than on original retina MacBook. Touchpad however is massively better on MacBook.

The only bummer for me with HiDPI are the Linux apps that don't support it yet. If I launch Aseprite or Processing3D the windows are comically zoomed out. Small price to pay for using the (IMO) best OS for developers.
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