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Dell XPS 13 Review

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31–40 of 300 posts

Re: Dell XPS 13 Review

#31
post #13

It seems great, but I really need a 16GB RAM option. (At least they have the 512GB SSD) With a couple of VMs, and a webbrowser, 8 GB can get tiny, and those machines don't evolve, so I'd like to plan for a couple of years...

I have this requirement. I just bought a Toshiba Z30t. Ultrabook that is self serviceable and supports 16GB. But build quality and feel - talk about your pieces of shit.

Re: Dell XPS 13 Review

#32
post #13

It seems great, but I really need a 16GB RAM option. (At least they have the 512GB SSD) With a couple of VMs, and a webbrowser, 8 GB can get tiny, and those machines don't evolve, so I'd like to plan for a couple of years...

I see ultrabooks more as secondary devices. You really run VMs on a 13.3" display? I can't see any portable PC totally replacing my desktop PC.

Is screen size a barrier to running VMs? I build all my customers environments in VMs and do this on the road, most run headless anyway.

For me, I absolutely need a portable to replace my PC, since I don't have an office.

Re: Dell XPS 13 Review

#33
post #13

It seems great, but I really need a 16GB RAM option. (At least they have the 512GB SSD) With a couple of VMs, and a webbrowser, 8 GB can get tiny, and those machines don't evolve, so I'd like to plan for a couple of years...

remember that for a couple of VMs running smoothly you will need more than 2 cores

Re: Dell XPS 13 Review

#34

As much as I love SSD's, is 256GB actually enough for power users? Or are they assuming the OS will be on the SSD and you can hook up an external HD for more space? Just curious.

What are your usage patterns?

I've found 256GB to be a bit of a sweet spot. I can't get everything I would ever want on the disc, but it's enough with maintenance and uninstalling things I'm no longer using to any great extent. And the performance advantage of an SDD is so ridiculously nice that I would never give it up for a bit of extra convenience.

If you're doing things that are seriously space heavy like video editing, you'd probably need an external storage source to make up the difference. But for coding and general use, I find it to be more than enough.

Saying that, I'm sure there are developers out there who couldn't live in 256GB. I'm not sure how common they are but I'm sure they exist.

Re: Dell XPS 13 Review

#35

I'm surprised that Dell managed to get back to this point, but I think Apple is no longer a no-brainer if you want a "nicer" build quality, and you can start differentiating based on support. I never thought I would buy a non-Apple laptop again, but I've actually been eyeing the Dell XPS and a friend's recent experiences w/ AppleCare makes me want to take every effort to find an alternative hardware vendor, assuming…

I have an XPS 13 from 2013. It's just over a year old. As I wrote elsewhere the left usb port can't support full power devices - something which support tells me after sending a technician out three times to replace the logic board. They couldn't fix it, so they told me it's "by design". Riiight...

This week the SSD died. I won't be calling them again, I can't face the pain of talking to them.

Re: Dell XPS 13 Review

#36
post #13

It seems great, but I really need a 16GB RAM option. (At least they have the 512GB SSD) With a couple of VMs, and a webbrowser, 8 GB can get tiny, and those machines don't evolve, so I'd like to plan for a couple of years...

I see ultrabooks more as secondary devices. You really run VMs on a 13.3" display? I can't see any portable PC totally replacing my desktop PC.

Yes, my Ux31 is my main machine. I often plug an extra screen, though.

Re: Dell XPS 13 Review

#37
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The MacBook Pro 13 has an option to get 512+16GB. It's a bit heavier, but not that much. The Asus Zenbook UX303LN has 12GB (it's better), but only 256GB of SSD. I don't mind the price, I need a powerful tool.

The MBP is a different class of machine. This thing is roughly the size of an 11 inch MBA.

The weight isn't that different, though.

Re: Dell XPS 13 Review

#38
post #13

It seems great, but I really need a 16GB RAM option. (At least they have the 512GB SSD) With a couple of VMs, and a webbrowser, 8 GB can get tiny, and those machines don't evolve, so I'd like to plan for a couple of years...

I see ultrabooks more as secondary devices. You really run VMs on a 13.3" display? I can't see any portable PC totally replacing my desktop PC.

What do VMs have to do with the size of the display? How are the two even remotely connected?

Re: Dell XPS 13 Review

#39
This turned out to be a longer first post than I though it would be. I don't know why people are comparing these "good" laptops to Apple laptops in specs. Apple laptops really have not been better than the best laptops. For every MBPr that has come out there has been a better laptop by one of the tops Asus, Dell, HP, Lenovo, Acer. The reason is I buy Apple is I need a stable operating system. The last 4 Windows based machine I owned crashed when I close/move/sleep/awoke it/plugged in another display (who would think that would crash a computer), the reason was drivers. I switched those laptops from Windows to try Linux and it was marginally better but again driver support did not fix those problems. I bought 4 non Apple laptops in hopes to get a good one.

When I switched to Apple I still faced issues bug only 1/10 the time as when I was with other brands. I hate apple operating system lack of getting things I want. I wish I could have stayed with Windows, I am hampered by using silly work arounds to play video games I love. Linux is great if I didn't have so many configuration issues, installing the correct video driver is a pain (I'm looking at you intel video cards). The system works.

I spent 20 years working on windows machines. The last 4 years Windows machines just have had more and more issues which pushed me to something that is stable and will work.

Re: Dell XPS 13 Review

#40
Nice looking unit. I'm going to look seriously at it, instead of a MacBook Air 11, for a travel machine.

Dell's claim of "a 13 inch display in the chassis of an 11 inch notebook" is reasonable:

Dell 13: 304 mm x 200 mm x 9-15 mm

Air 11: 300 mm x 192 mm x 3-17 mm

And the weights are within 100 g of each other.

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