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Dell XPS 13 Review

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Re: Dell XPS 13 Review

#41

Post by Alupis »

noja wrote: post #35
siegecraft wrote: post #12

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.

The SSD is just a hard drive, and they do die...

You wouldn't tell people not to buy a Ford because you owned one once that got a flat tire...

Re: Dell XPS 13 Review

#42

Post by noja »

Alupis wrote: post #41
noja wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

The SSD is just a hard drive, and they do die... You wouldn't tell people not to buy a Ford because you owned one once that got a flat tire...

But I would expect someone not to buy if they are expecting good support, and the vendor cannot offer that.

Re: Dell XPS 13 Review

#43

Post by Alupis »

noja wrote: post #42
Alupis wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The SSD is just a hard drive, and they do die... You wouldn't tell people not to buy a Ford because you owned one once that got a flat tire...

But I would expect someone not to buy if they are expecting good support, and the vendor cannot offer that.

> after sending a technician out three times to replace the logic board.

Seems like that is premium support. Lenovo only does that if you pay the upgraded support fee and have a business model laptop. Most have to mail their laptop to the depot and wait 1-2 weeks to get it back... then discover the original problem wasn't fixed.

In my experience, Dell's support is pretty good.

Re: Dell XPS 13 Review

#44

Post by artimaeis »

whitecat wrote: post #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…

This is a surprising comment to me. I've followed the laptop market pretty closely for years now and Apple consistently has offered the highest quality devices of everyone in my opinion. Most importantly to me is the sheer size/weight of the device while still maintaining features. In this way Macbooks have been superior for years - but I'm hoping there's just some lines I've missed.

If you could point me to some laptops that match the specs of a Macbook for the year they were out and are as thin/light then I'd much appreciate it!

Re: Dell XPS 13 Review

#45

Post by angryasian »

whitecat wrote: post #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…

I'm in the same opinion, mac os has become less and less stable. I get crashes more often than before. I like to never reboot my machines and can barely get a week before something causes it to freeze up forcing me to reboot or get the system message that its being rebooted for some type of crash. On top of other issues like wifi stability, etc.

I don't use windows. I wish there was just a good linux laptop.

Re: Dell XPS 13 Review

#46

Post by hsitz »

whitecat wrote: post #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…

I've heard people say this about Windows but it certainly hasn't been my experience. Since 1999 I've had nine (I think) different Windows machines, eight laptops and one tablet. They're from varied manufacturers: Dell, Compaq, Lenovo, Acer, Asus. I still have all of them and they all still run. I've never had resume problems or crashing problems on any of them. (Well, maybe I did with my 1999 Dell running Win98, don't particularly remember, there. But since WinXP all has been good. I did just buy a used Thinkpad with a bad motherboard, though. It crashes, but it won't once I replace the motherboard.)

At least for the last 10 years or so my use has involved rarely turning them off or rebooting, just close the screen and re-open to get going again, often going for weeks or months at a time between reboots. When I do reboot it's usually because things seem slow or buggy because of some problem with the browser or with Flash.

I recently converted my 2008 vintage Thinkpad X200 to Linux. Linux Mint installed quickly and without incident and sleeps/recovers fine, just like my Windows machines. I didn't do anything other than bog standard install, no search for any specific drivers.

This is all just my personal anecdote to counter other people who claim to have had lots of problems on Windows machines. Hasn't been my experience at all.

I've liked Macbooks and Macbook Airs for quite a few years, ever since I deemed that Apple was charging reasonable prices (not sure exactly when I decided that). My next laptop may be one of the forthcoming Macbook Airs, or maybe the new 12" retina Macbook that's supposed to come out soon. I expect one of the first things I'll do is install Linux. I like the Macbook hardware; OS X not as much (although OS X is okay, too).

Re: Dell XPS 13 Review

#47

Post by iak8god »

QuantumRoar wrote: post #9
at-fates-hands wrote: post #8

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.

As a power user, I can live with a 256GB SSD. But I can't live with less than 384GB of RAM.

> But I can't live with less than 384GB of RAM.

Heh, that's a bit more than I expect from this form factor, but I can't believe Dell's calling this an "Ultrabook" and reviewers are calling it a "premium notebook" if the RAM maxes out at 8GB.

Re: Dell XPS 13 Review

#48

Post by virtue3 »

whitecat wrote: post #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…

Honestly (and really, hear me out here). Alot of those crashes were device drivers for graphics cards. Windows 8 (I know... 8.1 isn't bad) actually moved the display drivers out of kernal space (at the chagrin of every game dev ever) and now at least the system/applications recover from a graphic driver dump.

Although I will say I'm having issues with 8.1 that I can't really peg down. Sigh. We've had a string of issues with mavericks/yosemite here at work so I can't say everything is all rosey either.

Ubuntu is pretty easy going as far as linux distros and working. At least when you throw recent but not bleeding edge hardware at it!

I'll agree that right now osx is probably the most stable of systems for developing but that comes at the expense of lack of some pretty critical software (well... lets be serious, games...)

Re: Dell XPS 13 Review

#49

Post by maaaats »

whitecat wrote: post #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…

>The last 4 Windows based machine I owned crashed when I close/move/sleep/awoke it/plugged in another display

What century was this? I could understand one model having these issues, but 4? I think you embellish.

Re: Dell XPS 13 Review

#50

Post by stcredzero »

commandar wrote: post #21
jbk wrote: 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.

There is definitely a market for a slightly heavier, slightly thicker, but easily upgradeable machine. I know of at least one physics student who can live with 16GB, but would rather have 32GB.

I would love to find a 13" form factor convertible tablet PC that's just a bit bulkier than a Macbook Air, but has something equivalent to a Wacom stylus.

(EDIT, Actually, there are plenty of situations where more RAM but not more CPU would be of tremendous benefit.)

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