Live data from Hacker News

Linux Developer Laptops: Dell's Precision 5500 series reigns supreme (2019)

wesmckinney.com

171–180 of 188 posts

Re: Linux Developer Laptops: Dell's Precision 5500 series reigns supreme (2019)

#171

I really think articles like this can help drive Lenovo to go back to their old superior keyboards. However, apart from the missing [2019], should there not also be a [Sponsored] tag? The author's review can't reliably be seen to be unbiased (emphasis mine below). I just spent the better part of this past year year struggling with the Thinkpad P1, Lenovo's latest effort to compete with Dell's XPS 15 and Precision 550…

The article reminds me a bit of Jerry Pournelle's _Chaos Manor_ columns. The author writes glowing reviews of the free hardware thrown at them, while the actual experience they describe seems somewhat dubious for users who can't expect free hardware and personal phone support. If I understand the article correctly, their recommended "Linux Developer Laptop" is permanently stuck on a fairly old version of Linux, and y…

I'm guessing that even on M1s that a multi cpu compile drastically lowers battery life. I've never seen a battery that c++ didn't laugh at while torturing it

Re: Linux Developer Laptops: Dell's Precision 5500 series reigns supreme (2019)

#172

i find it very hard to suggest an intel/amd laptop nowadays now that M1 macbooks exist.. M1 is a league on its own, everything else is just tech junk at this point

Are you that guy who gives free M1s to those who can't afford it to reduce humanity's junk?

Re: Linux Developer Laptops: Dell's Precision 5500 series reigns supreme (2019)

#173

i find it very hard to suggest an intel/amd laptop nowadays now that M1 macbooks exist.. M1 is a league on its own, everything else is just tech junk at this point

Are you that guy who gives free M1s to those who can't afford it to reduce humanity's junk?

The macbook pro M1 is actually cheaper, at $1999, the precision 5500 is $2300

Re: Linux Developer Laptops: Dell's Precision 5500 series reigns supreme (2019)

#174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

First of all, Desktop linux barely works on the hardware it is designed to work on. Let's say that because of some miracle, Linux becomes usable on M1 macs... and people start buying M1 macs to run Linux, Apple will have incentive to lock the bootloader (which they don't currently do) so that people are forced to run macOS only... because their profits does not come from the hardware itself but the "ecosystem" (a.k.a…

> First of all, Desktop linux barely works on the hardware it is designed to work on. Huh. I have been running linux on laptops for years and I don't even pick my laptops to run linux spefically. My last laptop was a surface pro and Linux ran with 0 issues and that is pretty esotoric hardware in the laptop space. > Let's say that because of some miracle, Linux becomes usable on M1 macs... The release of the first ver…

> I have been running linux on laptops for years and I don't even pick my laptops to run linux spefically.

That is very surprising to me because I have owned 8 computers in the last 18 years; I have tried to run desktop Linux on all of them and I have yet to have an experience where I haven't had wide variety of issues with all of them. I have also yet to meet anyone who is happy with running Linux on their computers, even those whose preferred desktop operating system is Linux (as is mine). The people I know were the happiest are those who ran it under Virtualbox as their main OS for work (while running the Virtualbox itself on macOS or Windows obviously) because then they only have to worry about it working on Virtualbox and even then they encounter issues all the time.

> My last laptop was a surface pro and Linux ran with 0 issues and that is pretty esotoric hardware in the laptop space.

Then, you are probably the luckiest desktop linux user to ever exist. Cherish it while it lasts.

>The release of the first version of Linux on M1 mac is weeks away.

I assume it is just like how the year of the linux desktop has been every year forever.

>With the only major things not working beeing the GPU and bluetooth.

These have been issues on desktop Linux forever throughout all these years. If you think it will be suddenly fixed on a completely new platform that came out last year, I can only tell you that you will need to be prepared for disappointment. I wouldn't be surprised if it didn't work without major problems in any platform in 2042.

>Why would Apple first create more work for them to unlock the bootloader

It doesn't take more work to unlock the bootloader. They don't lock it because they don't expect anyone to be able to make anything else work... so having it locked would make them look bad without the benefits. If people do manage to make other operating systems work, their cost/benefit equation will change significantly and they will take steps to block it.

>play a prank on the Linux community?

Why do you think people working at Apple would even consider that Linux community is somehow remotely relevant to their business?

Re: Linux Developer Laptops: Dell's Precision 5500 series reigns supreme (2019)

#175
post #46

No. I have a 5550 which is I assume what the author is referring to. It’s garbage. Overheats constantly, the touchpad is dire, the screen has bad vignette around the edges, it’s noisy, the thing hard freezes when you plug it into a dock, the webcam only works 50% of the time you power it up and if you pick it up by the base it flexes so badly the touchpad clicks. The keyboard is also soggy as hell and the battery las…

If you're OK with MacOS, you don't need Linux laptop. Linux laptop users (like me) have reasons to go into this constrained space :-( That's said, I roughly agree with you. I have 5530. It's throttled quickly. The battery goes out in a few hours, and yeah, the fan noise. I'm thinking about giving up Linux and switching to Windows/WSL. It's a bit too much to live with Linux over this mediocre laptop. I guess Dell lapt…

I tried that and after few months I'm going back to Linux or I'm bying mac. I'm using Win 11 with WSL. Sometimes WSL can't start and I need to restart. Sometimes it start taking too much of procesor and memmory and I need to restart... One day it will be probably alright but not yet unfortunatly.

Re: Linux Developer Laptops: Dell's Precision 5500 series reigns supreme (2019)

#176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I like System76, and my two previous work laptops came from them (both served me for over four years each; I only had to replace the last one due to a hard to diagnose RAM issue), but I can't recommend them to anyone outside of the US. By now they really should have gotten into bed with an EU distributor to handle warrantee, customs, and shipping, because it's just too costly and too much of a hassle to deal with Sys…

Curious - is your XPS13 touch screen or 4k? I called and they insisted the XPS13 only had 32GB RAM options for touch or 4k screens. I don't want either of those things, so im SOL i guess.

Nope; just a normal 1920×1200 non-touch anti-glare screen.

I got this one in July 2021 though, so Dell probably changed everything again. This is an XPS 13 9310 (BN93209C) with 32 GB RAM onboard and Ubuntu Linux 20.04 (current LTS) pre-installed.

Having that code — BN93209C — to give to the telephone operator helped, although I don't know if it is still useful now. Dell seems to be really into limiting their offerings depending on the country you are in.

Re: Linux Developer Laptops: Dell's Precision 5500 series reigns supreme (2019)

#177

This is from 2019, does not appear useful at all.

Shallow dismissal. Don’t assume everyone lives in the same year as you.

Well, nobody currently lives or will live in an earlier year, and it only gets less relevant as time goes on.

Re: Linux Developer Laptops: Dell's Precision 5500 series reigns supreme (2019)

#178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you that guy who gives free M1s to those who can't afford it to reduce humanity's junk?

The macbook pro M1 is actually cheaper, at $1999, the precision 5500 is $2300

Obviously I was referring to 'everything else is just tech junk at this point'.

Re: Linux Developer Laptops: Dell's Precision 5500 series reigns supreme (2019)

#179
post #151

What’s a good high perf laptop in 2022 that manages high load for hours (with power cable) without being noisy or overheating/throttling The Dell precisions I have had have been crappy with swelling batteries after a year or so of hard use. The current one has had two battery replacements with touchpad and keyboard replacement, within the warranty period. I just recently swapped the CPU fan. The last precision before…

Did you miss all the M1 MacBook Pro hoopla? https://hn.algolia.com/?q=macbook+pro+14%22

Sorry, I should have added I have to be able to run Windows on it natively too. Otherwise I'd be on an Apple chip. I need something quiet, high power, AND x86 (But doesn't have to be light, cheap, small, have any battery life...)

Re: Linux Developer Laptops: Dell's Precision 5500 series reigns supreme (2019)

#180
post #46

No. I have a 5550 which is I assume what the author is referring to. It’s garbage. Overheats constantly, the touchpad is dire, the screen has bad vignette around the edges, it’s noisy, the thing hard freezes when you plug it into a dock, the webcam only works 50% of the time you power it up and if you pick it up by the base it flexes so badly the touchpad clicks. The keyboard is also soggy as hell and the battery las…

I don't understand why Apple is the only company anywhere near their quality of laptop. I don't even care if it's MacBook expensive, I just want a laptop near as physically good as a MacBook, but with Linux and Windows support. Thinkpad doesn't really come close. Why is there no competition here?
Post reply on HN