The only thing that is stopping me to jump to a linux laptop is battery life. MacOs is just optimised to a crazy extent. Nothing really comes close to the same battery performance if you don't want to get your hands dirty with tlp.
Ditching Windows: 2 Weeks with Ubuntu Linux on the Dell XPS 13
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Re: Ditching Windows: 2 Weeks with Ubuntu Linux on the Dell XPS 13
#12>once I've spent a few hours configuring everything
This is what stops noobs from using it.
Re: Ditching Windows: 2 Weeks with Ubuntu Linux on the Dell XPS 13
#13Earlier quoted context omitted.
I remember when I installed Debian on my old Toshiba laptop in 2004 (all 16x CDs of it, which a friend had to download for me coz I had no broadband), I couldn't update it because the ethernet network adapter (no wifi) on my laptop was not supported... nice to see that this curse still occasionally persists! If I remember correctly I fixed it by installing a different distro (Ubuntu or Kubuntu, which surprisingly des…
> nice to see that this curse still occasionally persists /s FTFY Seriously, though, that's a huge outlier. I haven't touched a machine in the last 10 years where Ethernet and Wifi were not supported out-of-the-box. (Including my new Thinkpad, which I was weary about since it came with an Atheros Wifi module, but it too worked out-of-the-box without any tinkering). These days, the biggest issues are with Nvidia GPUs…
The drivers for gpus are a bit annoying but only if you want to game on Ubuntu.
Nouveau drivers are horrible for performance and the nvidia ones are not always great, if you can find a compatible one.
That being said - I can't compare with AMD as my last system of Linux with an AMD gpu for gaming was back when it was an ATI gpu. :p
Re: Ditching Windows: 2 Weeks with Ubuntu Linux on the Dell XPS 13
#14>once I've spent a few hours configuring everything This is what stops noobs from using it.
Configuring my Mac to my liking also takes a few hours and it doesn't seem to stop noobs from using it.
Re: Ditching Windows: 2 Weeks with Ubuntu Linux on the Dell XPS 13
#15Quite the opposite story of https://medium.com/@neroux/linux-why-dont-you-love-me-30cd05...
I remember when I installed Debian on my old Toshiba laptop in 2004 (all 16x CDs of it, which a friend had to download for me coz I had no broadband), I couldn't update it because the ethernet network adapter (no wifi) on my laptop was not supported... nice to see that this curse still occasionally persists! If I remember correctly I fixed it by installing a different distro (Ubuntu or Kubuntu, which surprisingly des…
I seriously doubt you can find a machine today where Ubuntu does run but you can't use the Ethernet, even WiFi issues are getting rarer.
Re: Ditching Windows: 2 Weeks with Ubuntu Linux on the Dell XPS 13
#16I'm writing this from my XPS 13 using the latest Ubuntu and once I've spent a few hours configuring everything, it works almost perfectly. There's still a few bugs, like Ubuntu not remembering the audio settings.
What? So XPS 13 which you can buy with Ubuntu preinstalled still has parts of the hardware not working after "a few hours configuring everything"?
I can't understand how that's acceptable to anyone.
Literally every laptop I've installed Linux on had a litany of driver problems.
Re: Ditching Windows: 2 Weeks with Ubuntu Linux on the Dell XPS 13
#17I recently switched to an XPS 15 9570 from my Macbook Air. I'm giving windows a shot for my secondary dev machine (python, docker, php, etc...), while being fully aware of the persistent Windows 10 issues. So far, the hardest part was adjusting my keyboard workflow from Mac to Windows.
For the time being, I'm extremely happy with the hardware and satisfied with Windows. I'll give dual boot a shot in my spare time.
Re: Ditching Windows: 2 Weeks with Ubuntu Linux on the Dell XPS 13
#18There was an interesting thread on Reddit [1] the other day which did a breakdown of the state of gaming in terms of native games and games that can be run easily via Steam Play (aka 'Proton', Valve's in-built WINE+DXVK layer). The results were quite interesting and, as one of the replies pointed out in another breakdown, Linux now competes with (and in some ways beats) gaming on macOS in terms of size of catalogue.
Granted there is a ways to go to beat Windows in this space, but the progress over the last 6 years generally and the last 6 months specifically is astounding.
[1] https://www.reddit.com/r/linux_gaming/comments/9qopag/5000_l...
Re: Ditching Windows: 2 Weeks with Ubuntu Linux on the Dell XPS 13
#19The only issue I face with Linux on my Dell XPS 13 is the sub-par touchpad experience. If I use Ubuntu with XOrg, I don't have features like touch rejection while typing etc. If I use Ubuntu with Wayland, my cursor is all over the place.
It's a bit of a pain that it doesn't work well out of the box, but the situation can be fixed with a little tuning of your xorg configuration file.
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Touchpad_Synaptics#Usin...
Re: Ditching Windows: 2 Weeks with Ubuntu Linux on the Dell XPS 13
#20The only thing that is stopping me to jump to a linux laptop is battery life. MacOs is just optimised to a crazy extent. Nothing really comes close to the same battery performance if you don't want to get your hands dirty with tlp.
From what I heard, this is not true for the Dell XPS 13 and other new Notebooks that supposedly run well with Linux. I get almost 5 hours out of my decade-old Thinkpad T410 (original battery). My 2018 Macbook Pro 13" with touchbar only gets me through 2/3rds of the workday (older models or 15" work way longer). Apple put in smaller batteries and optimized their own (!) apps to compensate. You're pretty much forced to use Safari if your don't want even worse battery life.