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Dell XPS 13 Review

anandtech.com

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Re: Dell XPS 13 Review

#51

Post by mrjatx »

rayiner wrote: post #28
mrjatx wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Man, I finally a few years ago got completely comfortable with OSX and scripted so much stuff that I can set myself up basically anywhere in 5-10 minutes. Now I'm stuck on a MBPr and get to watch all of these amazing new PC laptops come out that are so innovative. All of the hybrids, convertibles, detachable convertibles, rotatable convertibles. I'm so envious. Come on Apple, seriously.

I've played around with a few of those devices, had a Surface for awhile, etc. Ended up moving back to a big-ass laptop (15" rMBP) and a big-ass phone (iPhone 6+). It's really hard to beat the combination of quad-core power, tons of RAM, giant battery, and lots of screen real estate.

I'm the opposite, I loathe big laptops. I always used Thinkpad X's or the Vaio Z's connected to monitors. That way when I leave I just pop them off the dock and carry them out the door with my paperwork. Take 'em to a coffee shop or out on the porch and get some work done. On that note, I can't do the 11s though. I initially had an 11" MBA and that was way too small.

I'll never do another 15" laptop!

Re: Dell XPS 13 Review

#52

Post by [deleted] »

01Michael10 wrote: post #25
jbk wrote: 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.

[deleted]

Re: Dell XPS 13 Review

#53

Post by 01Michael10 »

jbk wrote: post #36
01Michael10 wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Sorry, didn't realize you guys were using a 13.3" PC for real work. Yikes!

I guess spoiled here to have separate PCs for work (two 21" displays), home (24" display plus TV as second display), and a laptop for portable use. Using a small display laptop as my main box would be to limiting for me.

When I am running a VM or logged on to another PC remotely, I like to view it on a second display instead of switching back and forth...

Re: Dell XPS 13 Review

#54

Post by igravious »

jdonaldson wrote: post #23

I had been trying to find a decent developer's laptop for some time, and it led me to the xps 13 "developer edition" (the predecessor to this one). Keep in mind that I really wanted to like that laptop. However, in the end, I went back to my macbook air. There were just too many small headaches to deal with. I'll list them here. I'd like to know if there are any improvements this time around. I'd be curious to know i…

Okay. Those are the technical differences.

Now, what are the price differences? Also, the XPS 13" dev edition is 1080p, does the equivalent MBA?

The Dell can come with Ubuntu pre-installed and certified, and while they are both Unix there is the fact that Ubuntu is more-or-less FOSS whereas MacOSX is proprietary to some (most?) extents.

What I'm trying to say is that in listing the differences, you didn't list all the differences.

1) The touchpad sensitivity can be tweaked, and the config saved.

2) I have no data on the wifi range differences.

3) Agreed

4) Is this true? I think Linux does do HiDPI?

5) Really?

Re: Dell XPS 13 Review

#55

Post by stcredzero »

virtue3 wrote: post #48
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 issu…

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 kernel space

The NT kernel was worked on the by guy who did the VAX kernel. The thing is pretty rock solid so long as you don't do certain things -- like put display drivers in kernel space. There were people selling monstrous RAID arrays run by the NT kernel. You can't get much more stringent than that for stability requirements.

Re: Dell XPS 13 Review

#56

Post by maaaats »

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 could never get used to the weird placement of the fn button, to the far left of the keyboard. Many other laptops also have this, it's a dealbreaker for me. All shortcuts I know fall out, and even with long use I can't really get used to it. And a lack of proper arrow keys is annoying for some gaming. It's weird, but it's those little things that count.

I'm glad other vendors are getting better with build quality, so there is more options available for people with my preferences.

Re: Dell XPS 13 Review

#58

Post by lugg »

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.

I'm not sure how you can say that with a straight face. The next MBA is going to basically be a netbook, the MBP is already thin enough / light enough / small enough to qualify as an ultrabook in my view.

Re: Dell XPS 13 Review

#59

Post by thanksgiving »

jakevn wrote: post #14
bryanlarsen wrote: post #7

The interesting difference between this review and that of most others is that Anandtech endorsed Dell's claims of 15 hours of battery life. Reviews like at The Verge[1] measured the battery life at 6.5 hours. I trust Anandtech more than The Verge to conduct properly controlled tests, but it really does illustrate the point that usage has a far bigger impact on battery life on modern notebooks than it did in the past…

Apparently simply disabling Windows Indexing increased battery life from 7.5 hours to 9.5 hours in some tests.

Perhaps a sane default would be to pause Windows Indexing by default when on battery? Defaults matter.

Re: Dell XPS 13 Review

#60

Post by JamesMcMinn »

jdonaldson wrote: post #23

I had been trying to find a decent developer's laptop for some time, and it led me to the xps 13 "developer edition" (the predecessor to this one). Keep in mind that I really wanted to like that laptop. However, in the end, I went back to my macbook air. There were just too many small headaches to deal with. I'll list them here. I'd like to know if there are any improvements this time around. I'd be curious to know i…

I've got a 2014 Dell XPS Dev. Edition, and for me the TouchPad sensitivity is fine and the Wifi range is good (even using 5Ghz networks).

I can get about 7 hours out of the battery so long as I'm only browsing the web or editing text - probably still not as good as a MacBook Air, but I'm never more than a few hours from a socket.

Ubuntu still isn't great at HDIP displays, although things are getting better.

Balance seems fine for me, but I can't compare to a mba.

I'm very happy with the XPS 13 (2014), and the 2015 version seems like a big upgrade, however I'd still recommend the 1080p display for Linux.

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