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Linux Developer Laptops: Dell's Precision 5500 series reigns supreme (2019)

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Re: Linux Developer Laptops: Dell's Precision 5500 series reigns supreme (2019)

#61

Post by halz »

I think a great deal of success with this laptop and Linux is owed to the stewardship provided by Mario Limonciello while he was with Dell [https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Dell-Mar...]. Hopefully Dell can continue to carry the torch. Being able to use fwupd to keep platform firmware (including the docking station) up-to-date has been a treat. "It just works", even.

But for this Precision line specifically, there are only a handful of laptops that can run linux with (nearly) full platform functionality _and_ be outfitted with ECC memory.

Re: Linux Developer Laptops: Dell's Precision 5500 series reigns supreme (2019)

#63

Post by brimble »

vbezhenar wrote: post #41
Shadonototra wrote: post #29

i find it very hard to suggest an intel/amd laptop nowadays now that M1 macbooks exist.. M1 is a league on its own, everything else is just tech junk at this point

M1 is overrated. I own MacBook Pro with M1 Max. It’s fast, but it’s not something that helps in day to day use. And ARM compatibility issues not really helping. Battery is not that amazing either. I spent 30 minutes in discord and battery was at 91%, 5 hours is not something unique. It’s good, fast and expensive laptop. But not something that I could call mind breaking.

Discord in particular is a horrible battery hog—we used it a lot over the worst stretches of the pandemic in my social group, and it was constantly killing laptop batteries that could reasonably last 8+ hours, in like 3 hours flat. I've always had to avoid Electron (and leaving enormous web-apps open all the time, like Gmail) and use Safari to achieve (or sometimes exceed—they're relatively conservative about it) Apple's battery life claims. Unfortunately, a handful of common programs seem to be the equivalent of having your computer to find more digits of Pi constantly, on all cores, while what they're actually doing justifies maybe 10% of their actual power use. Mostly, it's webshit doing it.

Re: Linux Developer Laptops: Dell's Precision 5500 series reigns supreme (2019)

#64

Post by thecrumb »

I'm tired of the 'thinner is better' progress of laptops. As a developer I want ports, I want more cooling so the fans don't run all the time. I want a laptop I can actually place on my lap without getting burned LOL. I love my old T420. Currently have P15 from work. Horrible layout because they crammed in a numpad so now the trackpad is offset to the left. If I had to buy a laptop myself I'd lean either to System76 or the Framework laptop.

Re: Linux Developer Laptops: Dell's Precision 5500 series reigns supreme (2019)

#65

Post by AitchEmArsey »

vbezhenar wrote: post #41
Shadonototra wrote: post #29

i find it very hard to suggest an intel/amd laptop nowadays now that M1 macbooks exist.. M1 is a league on its own, everything else is just tech junk at this point

M1 is overrated. I own MacBook Pro with M1 Max. It’s fast, but it’s not something that helps in day to day use. And ARM compatibility issues not really helping. Battery is not that amazing either. I spent 30 minutes in discord and battery was at 91%, 5 hours is not something unique. It’s good, fast and expensive laptop. But not something that I could call mind breaking.

My regular M1 MBP is comfortably managing 18 hours of normal use (non-video browser and terminal) or 12ish hours of more intensive use (video and Slack). Sounds like putting the M1 Max in a laptop form factor is a bit of a waste, as I've never even strained the base level processor.

Re: Linux Developer Laptops: Dell's Precision 5500 series reigns supreme (2019)

#66

Post by synergy20 »

I was assigned a Macbook Pro at work and I asked for a non-Mac laptop, reason being I'm a Linux developer and Macbook did not work well for me(keyboard,etc).

I ended up with a XPS 15 that has 64GB DDR and 2TB PCIe NVMe SSD around $2750, comparing to 32GB+1TB of MacBook Pro it is about $800 less expensive.

I did not realize Precision 55xx series is even better built than XPS15 otherwise I will probably go that route. Time will tell how this goes(still waiting for XPS15, it's shipped).

Side note: My family had an xps13 and the hinge broke after 3 years, after opening it I found it's made with plastic, I was disappointed that XPS did not even use a metal hinge, which is probably just 25 cents more. so yes XPS does not use the best quality parts from my experience. Next time I will try Precision series.

Re: Linux Developer Laptops: Dell's Precision 5500 series reigns supreme (2019)

#67

Post by vbezhenar »

cyberpunk wrote: post #54
vbezhenar wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

M1 is overrated. I own MacBook Pro with M1 Max. It’s fast, but it’s not something that helps in day to day use. And ARM compatibility issues not really helping. Battery is not that amazing either. I spent 30 minutes in discord and battery was at 91%, 5 hours is not something unique. It’s good, fast and expensive laptop. But not something that I could call mind breaking.

Hmm, I have the air with m1, and my battery life is insane. Like 20 hours, even with a parallels vm running some of the time. I do however have no idea what discord is. Isn’t it some kinda forum? Also using safari when on battery doubles your life, fwiw.

Discord is like Slack, with video calls. I’m using Safari.

Re: Linux Developer Laptops: Dell's Precision 5500 series reigns supreme (2019)

#68

Post by brimble »

cyberpunk wrote: post #54
vbezhenar wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

M1 is overrated. I own MacBook Pro with M1 Max. It’s fast, but it’s not something that helps in day to day use. And ARM compatibility issues not really helping. Battery is not that amazing either. I spent 30 minutes in discord and battery was at 91%, 5 hours is not something unique. It’s good, fast and expensive laptop. But not something that I could call mind breaking.

Hmm, I have the air with m1, and my battery life is insane. Like 20 hours, even with a parallels vm running some of the time. I do however have no idea what discord is. Isn’t it some kinda forum? Also using safari when on battery doubles your life, fwiw.

> I do however have no idea what discord is. Isn’t it some kinda forum?

Budding Slack competitor that started with a focus on gaming. If you couldn't guess from the context of its eating battery like crazy, it's a webtech "application".

Re: Linux Developer Laptops: Dell's Precision 5500 series reigns supreme (2019)

#69

Post by diegorbaquero »

vbezhenar wrote: post #41
Shadonototra wrote: post #29

i find it very hard to suggest an intel/amd laptop nowadays now that M1 macbooks exist.. M1 is a league on its own, everything else is just tech junk at this point

M1 is overrated. I own MacBook Pro with M1 Max. It’s fast, but it’s not something that helps in day to day use. And ARM compatibility issues not really helping. Battery is not that amazing either. I spent 30 minutes in discord and battery was at 91%, 5 hours is not something unique. It’s good, fast and expensive laptop. But not something that I could call mind breaking.

Try the Discord PTB which is native to M1. https://discord.com/api/download/ptb?platform=osx

Re: Linux Developer Laptops: Dell's Precision 5500 series reigns supreme (2019)

#70

Post by 2ion »

ok_dad wrote: post #7

Maybe if you're considering the "major laptop manufacturers", but I prefer my System76 laptop any day, since it comes with Linux and they support it from the get-go. Also, they write a lot of nice software that makes the Linux ecosystem better; I love Pop_OS! and how I basically don't have to futz around with getting things to work but have the power of a Debian/Ubuntu variant so I can install other things easily. I…

What happens when such a niche manufacturer's hardware breaks down as a warranty case? I strongly prefer vendors or OEMs who have strong support. I am not terribly impressed by the overall quality of my current laptop by German reseller Schenker/XMG but they, as an alternative to the big enterprise suppliers like Dell or HP or Lenovo have a stepped up support game as well (it reflects in their relatively higher prices vs quality they sell).

This is also the reason why I'm sceptical ordering things like the "Framework Laptop". If it's a hobby expense it's an alright expense and risk, but for productivity, I need assurances, and part of that assurance comes from a track record, which not all niche vendors have (with me).

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