Dell XPS 13 Review from a lifelong Mac user • Hacker News Board

Re: Dell XPS 13 Review from a lifelong Mac user

#131

Post by broletariat » Thu, Jun 14, 2018, 7:19 PM UTC

bcheung wrote: post #125

Solid hardware review but I'm more interested in the software user experience. I'm wanting to transition away for Mac for Node / React development and professional photography. Unfortunately the lack of Unix and weird things like backslash in folder paths is holding me back. I'd be curious to hear stories of any React / Node developers making the switch and their recommendations. Do you just run an Ubuntu image in a…

I have had limited success using the Windows Subsystem for Linux on my current project which is mostly FaaS on AWS with ES6/Typescript. It's not perfect but I would recommend giving it a shot, it's pretty darn close.

Re: Dell XPS 13 Review from a lifelong Mac user

#132

Post by heywire » Thu, Jun 14, 2018, 7:21 PM UTC

reacharavindh wrote: post #9

I have a Dell XPS 13 as my personal machine. It runs Linux. Everything works. But, I still find myself using my MacBook Pro (provided by work) for almost everything even at home. Two things that keep me in the Mac land. 1. Retina Display and the 16:10 aspect ratio. 2. Smooth, and usable touchpad. XPS13's display is too rectangle and I'm not watching movies in it. It feels too cramped for looking at code. GNOME out of…

I'd recommend testing a live image of KDE Neon. I loaded it on my Dell Latitude 7370 (distant cousin of the XPS 13) which has a 13" QHD+ touchscreen, and I'm quite impressed with the "out of the box" experience with KDE Neon. There are still a some applications that don't handle the DPI scaling well, but I had that problem on Windows too.

Re: Dell XPS 13 Review from a lifelong Mac user

#133

Post by fleebjuice » Thu, Jun 14, 2018, 7:21 PM UTC

I'd really like to buy an XPS, but I'm after a US keyboard layout, and I'm in the UK. You seemingly can't request a layout that is not your locale. This has been my experience with every laptop I've been interested.

Damn shame; I have a Happy Hacking Keyboard Pro2, and it's the best keyboard I've ever used, I want as much of that experience as I can get on my laptop. Being a touch typist, its (not infuriating but slightly) annoying context switching between work keyboards (UK, caps is caps), my laptop (US mapping on a UK layout), and PC (HHKP, all US - the most superior layout). I'm pretty good at switching out my muscle memory, but I do get caught out every now and then.

Is anybody in the same boat as me? Or does anybody know how I could get around this issue (not including going over to the US to buy locally - that has problems of its own, ie. travel and money)?

Admittedly, I know I'm in a very niche minority but dammit I want to give them my money and I can't find a way..

Re: Dell XPS 13 Review from a lifelong Mac user

#134

Post by tamatsyk » Thu, Jun 14, 2018, 7:22 PM UTC

2xlbuds wrote: post #104

tamatsyk wrote: post #55

Good summary, I share most of the points provided in the post. Also, I think a few more things worth to mention. Pros: - XPS has a decent hardware (I got 16GB, i8Gen, 500GB SSD and forgot about having a few docker containers running on the background which was an issue with my MacBook Pro 15 (8GB, 2.5Gh) - It is really 1k$ cheaper than the same config MacBook model. Apple's Retina and Touchbar are really cool, howeve…

I also used an XPS 15 for personal and work before switching to a Macbook, and it was also much thicker than a retina MBP. I didn't have a touchscreen model, but the touchpad was probably the best touchpad I have used on a windows machine (it even had good gesture support, like 4 finger swipe to switch programs). It did have some weird quirks like the optical drive would make a loud mechanical noise whenever you turn…

> By the way, all Macbook pro models still have the 3.5mm audio jack.

Ha-ha, you are right, it was a reference to a scandal they had when removed audio jack from phones. Just a joke :)

Re: Dell XPS 13 Review from a lifelong Mac user

#135

Post by geerlingguy » Thu, Jun 14, 2018, 7:22 PM UTC

wepple wrote: post #40

skrebbel wrote: post #5

I like this writeup but I sort of expected it to contain a "Windows 10 Review from a lifelong macos user" embedded in it. I was surprised that this was just about the hardware. As a happy lifelong Windows user, surrounded by programmers who call me insane (or an idiot, even) for liking it, I was curious to learn more about what a developer who's used to Mac thinks about the Windows 10 dev experience. (notably for a m…

I agree it would be really nice to hear this users opinion on Win10, but I’m not surprised it wasn’t included. They mention that they also use an iPad and other setups, which suggests they’re doing rather platform-agnostic dev work. Once you shell into a box in the cloud, only the keyboard and screen are any different.

Exactly; for 90% of my work, I just need a CLI with SSH, a text editor (I use Sublime, so it works the same on Windows as Mac) a filesystem somewhere, git, and a good keyboard.

I stick to my Mac exclusively for photo and video work, but I can get most things done on Windows as needed (though a few workflows are a little more annoying than I'd like in the absence of Spotlight, Automator, and a few Mac-only niche apps I love to use).

Re: Dell XPS 13 Review from a lifelong Mac user

#136

Post by accoil » Thu, Jun 14, 2018, 7:22 PM UTC

eknkc wrote: post #36

What I'm mostly curious about these posts is, how the heck do you guys switch operating systems that easily? I guess it would work if you are already using Linux or Windows on a Mac hardware but that's gotta be rare. I mean, hardware is nothing compared to the OS.. I can switch to any other Mac and it would take me a couple hours to be comfortable. That would be it. If I'm switching to a Dell XPS, I don't really care…

Practice, really. You learn how to do X. You adapt to ~X not being quite X, and later X not being quite ~X. You learn what Xs you care about. You learn what causes ~X to not be X; afterwards ~Y makes more sense.

Re: Dell XPS 13 Review from a lifelong Mac user

#137

Post by cannam » Thu, Jun 14, 2018, 7:23 PM UTC

I recently sold an XPS 13, an i7 9543 model from 2015, which was the first laptop in a long time that I regretted buying.

I got it as a Windows machine and never ran anything else on it. Technically it was broadly fine. The specs were OK, it was reasonably repairable, I had a hi-dpi screen, the case was solid.

But the keyboard felt really dead, the wrist rest was smeary, the screen had a grainy impression, the machine was slower than its specs would suggest, and the 16:9 ratio and thicker/heavier than expected construction meant there wasn't much to be gained from the narrow bezels on the screen.

I replaced it with a high-spec MS Surface Laptop, which is a risky gambit because the Surface is effectively completely unrepairable. But it has a better keyboard, screen (3:2 ratio), and touchpad, it's faster, and the wrist rest has a nice carpet on it. It's a pleasure to use so far, in contrast to the Dell.

It's funny how much of this still comes down to personal ergonomic factors.

Re: Dell XPS 13 Review from a lifelong Mac user

#138

Post by geerlingguy » Thu, Jun 14, 2018, 7:23 PM UTC

bobowzki wrote: post #2

Bought a Dell XPS 13 and then returned it because of the horrible coil whine.

This is one thing I've seen mentioned a lot, but never really noticed. Though my office (where I mostly use the laptop) is near an HVAC system, which usually provides a few dB of background noise to drown out subtler sounds.

Re: Dell XPS 13 Review from a lifelong Mac user

#139

Post by acomjean » Thu, Jun 14, 2018, 7:24 PM UTC

eropple wrote: post #14

I was going to get the XPS 13 today and I ended up with an HP Spectre x360 13" (newer one--i7-8550U, 16GB of RAM, 512GB SSD that'll probably eventually be replaced with a 2TB when the price comes down). Installing Fedora on it right now. I'm in on a chunkier trackpad click, and the HP has that over the rather light Dell click that's common across every Dell I tried. Also, I preferred the keyboard on the Spectre x360…

Let us know how the install goes.. I'd be curious.

Thanks

Re: Dell XPS 13 Review from a lifelong Mac user

#140

Post by geerlingguy » Thu, Jun 14, 2018, 7:26 PM UTC

sigzero wrote: post #35

haikuginger wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also, the Mac has a webcam instead of a nose hair viewer.

Ha. I've seen many a review that calls that out actually. The consequence of edge-to-edge screen. Gotta put that cam somewhere! I'd disable it and get a hi-qual external.

Maybe the next version will adopt the 'notch' that's becoming popular on mobile phones!