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Ask HN: I am a coder and I am thinking of buying Dell XPS 13. What do you think?

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Re: Ask HN: I am a coder and I am thinking of buying Dell XPS 13. What do you think?

#21

Post by whitepaint »

haspok wrote: post #19

I'm still using mine from early 2015 every day as a home entertainment device, had to change the battery, but otherwise it is going strong. It was dropped on concrete once by its corner (have some bite marks left on the case from that incident), spilled stuff over it, also I've used it in dusty environments, and I'm the person who never cleans their stuff. The display is dusty and the keyboard is filthy. But it just…

> Are you sure you want such a small laptop for work? I'd go for a larger screen tbh

Yeah, now I'm pondering about that. I'm used to 15, but I also want something super light. So I'm thinking about T495, it's 14' and just 1.3kg.

Re: Ask HN: I am a coder and I am thinking of buying Dell XPS 13. What do you think?

#22

Post by acs5 »

I've been using an XPS 13 with Ubuntu since 2017 and would recommend it but with some reservations.

The fans can get noisy when using more graphically intensive apps like video calls (or even just heavy DEs like Gnome or KDE) with my external 2K monitor. Mine has a lower end (i5) CPU even for the time when I bought it though so maybe this is less of an issue with a newer one.

The built in mic is barely usable (picks up too much noise from things like fans) and the camera and speakers aren't great either but good enough.

If you haven't used a 13 inch laptop before watch out for neck and eye strain - I wouldn't be able to use this as my work laptop without an external monitor.

Re: Ask HN: I am a coder and I am thinking of buying Dell XPS 13. What do you think?

#23

Post by acs5 »

whitepaint wrote: post #21
haspok wrote: post #19

I'm still using mine from early 2015 every day as a home entertainment device, had to change the battery, but otherwise it is going strong. It was dropped on concrete once by its corner (have some bite marks left on the case from that incident), spilled stuff over it, also I've used it in dusty environments, and I'm the person who never cleans their stuff. The display is dusty and the keyboard is filthy. But it just…

> Are you sure you want such a small laptop for work? I'd go for a larger screen tbh Yeah, now I'm pondering about that. I'm used to 15, but I also want something super light. So I'm thinking about T495, it's 14' and just 1.3kg.

Considering how small it is, the XPS 13 is surprisingly heavy. Some of the ThinkPads are definitely quite a bit lighter.

Re: Ask HN: I am a coder and I am thinking of buying Dell XPS 13. What do you think?

#27

Post by cosmodisk »

I've been having it for nearly 3 years now: Twice managed to spill food on it.Just a couple of weeks ago spilled some water on the keyboard. Also dropped couple of times,the last time it was on a pavement from more than 1m height. The build is rock solid. Had to replace the battery recently,as it wasn't holding anymore and also the CPU fan, as one of the ball-bearings gave in and resulted in some odd noises. I don't know if they fixed it in the new models,but there were lots of issues with WIFI, google it, you'll see.

The screen isn't big enough for development and while it's doable,it would damage your posture long term,so consider getting an external monitor.

In overall,I'm very satisfied with it.

Re: Ask HN: I am a coder and I am thinking of buying Dell XPS 13. What do you think?

#28

Post by cosmodisk »

aliswe wrote: post #24

I have one and I believe they are overpriced. Today I would instead get a gaming laptop which basically packs the same punch but at a much lower price.

But they aren't the same. XPS belongs to the ultralight series,same as X1 Carbon,while gaming laptops tend to be much bulkier,hence the premium charged.

Re: Ask HN: I am a coder and I am thinking of buying Dell XPS 13. What do you think?

#29

Post by approxim8ion »

atebyagrue wrote: post #20

I got one in 2020 at the start of covid for coding. Ultimately, I just sold it and ended up replacing it with a 13" MacBook Air a couple months ago. The main reasons were: the case flexes when you pick it up by the corner causing annoying errant mouse clicks, the 4k screen did not have the battery life as advertised (a lower resolution screen would have remedied this, but I had no clue going in), several times it thr…

Good point- I don't think anyone should go for a 4k screen on a laptop. 1080 is already pretty good for laptop screens, 1440 is probably the sweet spot. Aside from the battery savings which are immense, there's not much fractional scaling fiddling needed.

Re: Ask HN: I am a coder and I am thinking of buying Dell XPS 13. What do you think?

#30

Post by etripe »

I have one for work, albeit running Windows. My gripes are:

* Nonsensical keyboard layout that I personally can't get used to. Perhaps this is a unique issue with the Belgian azerty layout.

* Trackpad is way too big for my tastes

* Touch screen adds little value and I hate the fact it's glossy. It also attracts dust like crazy.

* Fans are ridiculously loud even when just running an IDE. I can just about tell the IDE is loaded when it sounds like actual lift-off

* Battery life sucks compared to my ThinkPad

* Dell has some very unique issues with DPI scaling. Perhaps this is a Windows-only thing

To summarise: I would say it's overpriced garbage. Perhaps that assessment changes if you like the aesthetics.

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