So I immediately went to the Dell website to check the XPS13. The only OS choices were Windows or Windows. Apparently they didn't announce Linux internally.
Dell Announces A Linux Laptop Designed For Developers
81–90 of 199 posts
Re: Dell Announces A Linux Laptop Designed For Developers
#82How about a laptop with a better key board, slim figure, larger special character keys and more feedback for keys? Then shove a great processor, a mouse pad that's not accidentally click able while typing, and a high resolution screen. That's a developer laptop. Ill install my own software, Thank you very much.
Thinkpad (T60) has a great keyboard, good feedback. I don't use the mousepad, I like the little red pointer thingy it has and has 1400x1050 resolution display. It also a mate display (not the glare type).
It is bulkier than other laptops and by now its processor is behind the latest i7 and i5's.
Also as soon as I got I installed Ubuntu on it. Ubuntu lets me re-map caps lock to a control for my emacs usage.
And most of all this machine has worked great for many years . It has traveled with me, has been banged up, dropped, had hot liquids spilled on it and it still works.
Re: Dell Announces A Linux Laptop Designed For Developers
#83How about a laptop with a better key board, slim figure, larger special character keys and more feedback for keys? Then shove a great processor, a mouse pad that's not accidentally click able while typing, and a high resolution screen. That's a developer laptop. Ill install my own software, Thank you very much.
What you are describing sounds like my 5 year-old HP DV9000. The keyboard & track-pad were surprisingly of very high quality, very close to that of Apple's IMO. Too bad though the hardware & chasis design of the product line was extremely shoddy & defective; if the notebook didn't fry itself so often it probably would've been noticed more.
The DV9000s also had a terrible hinge design which was highly prone to breaking. The hinge itself would snap because it was made out of cheap pot metal and the 17" display put a lot of leverage on it. To make matters worse, the hinge secured directly to the bezel and top cover; when the hinge broke, it'd generally break both those parts as well. Even if you were to DIY the repair, you were looking at $150-200 in parts from HP.
Re: Dell Announces A Linux Laptop Designed For Developers
#84what's new here, because xps13 is a fancy ultrabook?
i installed ubuntu on my laptops and they always worked fine, why is this big news. i might be missing something...
Re: Dell Announces A Linux Laptop Designed For Developers
#85Earlier quoted context omitted.
Can't tell whether this is sarcastic or not, but if you think Dell pays full price for Windows licenses you are in for a surprise.
I don't know the backstory on this....does Dell pay much less than the full price? How much less?
The OEM agreement prevents the exact numbers from being disclosed, but I believe it's common knowledge that it's quite small; probably well under USD50 for a company like Dell.
Re: Dell Announces A Linux Laptop Designed For Developers
#86This is kind of interesting for me. I'm trying to find for myself a proper Linux machine. Right now on Dell e6410, a bit regret that I bought it.
In my opinion nearest to the ideal developer machine on Linux is Lenovo X1 or X220.
Screen 13": is enough, even 12" is enough. If you are kind of developer who moves his behind from meeting to meeting or spends some time on plains or conferences. 13" (max) is your choice. You can buy really cheap big monitors and plug you machine, in every place where you work.
Processor and Memory: this is out of discussion i7 and 8GB ram. Memory is so cheep those days that giving developers less than 8GB is a sin.
HDD: SSD 128. This works for me. I have external drives, as a developer I don't keep movies, games, photos on my computer.
Graphic Card. I had a rule that if I'm using Linux I'm using Nvidia cards. This probably not true any more. I've heard from people that Intel Cards work well. But still, switching screens is done decently in NVIDIA drives.
Screen: for me Glare.
Battery: should follow at least MacBook Pro 13". which is 3-4h.
Price if this will be more than 1400 $ people will buy MacBookPro.
Ubuntu: I'm using Xubuntu. Unity still keeps me angry, and as smallest as possible number of installed programs. Because I'm developer it doesn't mean that I'm using Eclipse.
Re: Dell Announces A Linux Laptop Designed For Developers
#87Earlier quoted context omitted.
Can't tell whether this is sarcastic or not, but if you think Dell pays full price for Windows licenses you are in for a surprise.
I don't know the backstory on this....does Dell pay much less than the full price? How much less?
When people have managed to get refunds for preinstalled Windows licenses from major OEMs, the number's generally been in the $35-50 range.
Keep in mind that the manufacturers also subsidize the cost of systems with all the preinstalled crapware that comes on a lot of machines.
Re: Dell Announces A Linux Laptop Designed For Developers
#88Earlier quoted context omitted.
I agree that all your points are far more important than whatever image is pre-loaded. At the very least a laptop designed for developers ought to keep the Insert/Home/PageUp + Delete/End/PageDown cluster in the normal formation, like Thinkpads do. We are typists before we are programmers, and software is something we do have control over. Dell should be fretting over the things we don't have the ability to change on…
At least they centered the touchpad and set the keyboard so I can touch type from a center position (no numeric keypad).
Lack of numpad is a matter of personal preference. I love it and use it almost exclusively, so lack of one is a big deal for me.
Re: Dell Announces A Linux Laptop Designed For Developers
#89Earlier quoted context omitted.
I agree that all your points are far more important than whatever image is pre-loaded. At the very least a laptop designed for developers ought to keep the Insert/Home/PageUp + Delete/End/PageDown cluster in the normal formation, like Thinkpads do. We are typists before we are programmers, and software is something we do have control over. Dell should be fretting over the things we don't have the ability to change on…
Like thinkpads did ... the ivy bridge models soon to be announced use a new layout. While the chicklet keyboards are largely an improvement (I've tried an E420 for a few moments and love the wider spacing), losing that row will take some getting used to.
I think I must be the only person out there that can't stand chiclet keyboards. One of the many reasons I'm interested in the upcoming Vizio thin+light notebooks is because they're not using chiclets.
Re: Dell Announces A Linux Laptop Designed For Developers
#90How about a laptop with a better key board, slim figure, larger special character keys and more feedback for keys? Then shove a great processor, a mouse pad that's not accidentally click able while typing, and a high resolution screen. That's a developer laptop. Ill install my own software, Thank you very much.
Thinkpad (T60) has a great keyboard, good feedback. I don't use the mousepad, I like the little red pointer thingy it has and has 1400x1050 resolution display. It also a mate display (not the glare type). It is bulkier than other laptops and by now its processor is behind the latest i7 and i5's. Also as soon as I got I installed Ubuntu on it. Ubuntu lets me re-map caps lock to a control for my emacs usage. And most o…
Don't you get too much strain on your left pinky if you remap CapsLock to Ctrl?
I shifted to:
CapsLock -> Enter
Keys next to spacebar -> Ctrl
This feels a whole lot better. As Xah Lee [1] points out, the original symbolics keyboard that Stallman developed emacs on, had Ctrl keys next to the space bar.