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

Re: Dell XPS 13 Review from a lifelong Mac user

#181

Post by mnkypete » Thu, Jun 14, 2018, 8:08 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…

Why would you run Ubuntu for that, Node runs pretty well on Windows, I work with it daily. Combined with VS Code I'm not sure what there should be missing...

Re: Dell XPS 13 Review from a lifelong Mac user

#182

Post by seanp2k2 » Thu, Jun 14, 2018, 8:09 PM UTC

deltron3030 wrote: post #168

geerlingguy wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm amazed nobody else has matched Apple's glass touch input devices. Luckily the external Magic Trackpad works pretty well with the XPS 13.

Razer comes close in feel.

Do they come close in build quality though? I’m legit curious; I haven’t used a Razer laptop in years, but the last one I played with wasn’t super impressive in that regard.

Re: Dell XPS 13 Review from a lifelong Mac user

#183

Post by paulie_a » Thu, Jun 14, 2018, 8:11 PM UTC

morley wrote: post #86

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…

I'm surprised no one has mentioned keyboard portability. I find it incredibly hard to switch from ctrl on Windows to cmd on Mac. In college I had to switch frequently between Windows and Mac, and it was a nightmare. Since then, I've committed to only use MacOS on a Macbook and Windows on a real keyboard. That seems to preserve my muscle memory the best. But things can be rough when I use a Windows laptop or a standal…

I find the Mac keyboards to be garbage for two reasons, the command key is awkward and the tactile feel is subpar

Re: Dell XPS 13 Review from a lifelong Mac user

#184

Post by com2kid » Thu, Jun 14, 2018, 8:11 PM UTC

gervase wrote: post #54

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'm happy to share my thoughts. I developed on Macs for 8 years, then switched to Windows 10 for 2 years (inclusive of Insider builds). In some ways, the transition was pretty painless. I mainly use JetBrains products, so there was very little pain in the switch there. I expected that, which is one of the reasons why I decided to switch in the first place. However, what I hadn't predicted was how few of the quality-o…

> For example, I was using the clipboard history feature extensively on Alfred when I was using Mac, and Ditto is barely a replacement for Windows.

Good news! That is being fixed in the next release of Windows 10: http://clipdiary.com/clipboard-articles/view-windows-clipboa...

> The built-in functionality for window management in Windows is not bad, but it doesn't compare to Spectacle for flexibility.

You can actually download extra utilities for this. I like switcher (lets me search open windows by name), but there are quite a few others. The entire Windows shell is replaceable if you want to go that far.

I've never had a problem recording screen casts, lots of software options have always existed there, and they only keep getting better.

To get the full feature set of ScreenFlow, multiple apps would be needed though, I haven't seen any single app that does it all, although one may exist.

Also what Window Management features does Windows not have? I generally use the hotkeys for everything, without issue. I wish it was easier to do things like splitting my display into 3, but again lots of 3rd party utilities exist to expand the functionality out.

> Then again, if you're the kind of person whose .vimrc has decades of tweaks, you'll probably be happier in Linux.

This is how I feel about Windows, my path environments, custom aliases, and utility scripts laying around. :)

Re: Dell XPS 13 Review from a lifelong Mac user

#185

Post by procinct » Thu, Jun 14, 2018, 8:11 PM UTC

I have a 2015 MBP and a Dell XPS 13 (I forget the year) and the thing that blew me away the most with Dell is the support. One day I went to turn my XPS on and it wouldn’t start. After some research it seemed like a dead motherboard. I was concerned I was going to have to send my laptop away for months to have it fixed but surprisingly because the XPS is an enterprise grade machine it qualifies for their pro support. This meant I was entitled to on premises repair. They sent a guy out to my place and he repaired it in front of me in about an hour. I very quickly went from a very poor impression of Dell (due to my laptop failing so soon) to a very good one. I still prefer my MBP but that was likely the best support experience I’ve ever had.

Re: Dell XPS 13 Review from a lifelong Mac user

#186

Post by nailk » Thu, Jun 14, 2018, 8:13 PM UTC

Be wary, latest Dell XPS 9370 has noisy fans. Google for "dell xps 9370 fan noise" to find a lengthy thread on official dell forum about this issue. Dell is experimenting with bios, issuing new updates, but on my dell xps 9370 the noise is there.

I had to return my laptop, hoping the shop will refund. Now bought MS Surface Laptop it is silent (mostly) and I'm happy with it.

Looks like most of the core i7 8* models are noisy.

Re: Dell XPS 13 Review from a lifelong Mac user

#187

Post by zerkten » Thu, Jun 14, 2018, 8:13 PM UTC

geerlingguy wrote: post #123

bunderbunder wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can't speak for everyone, but I've always been a polyglot on OSes. I'm usually either remoted into a Linux box from a Mac, remoted into a Linux box from Windows, remoted into Windows from a Mac, or several of those at once. Pretty much all the software I use is cross-platform, and even Windows is a fairly acceptable Unix nowadays, so the biggest transitioning problem I have is keeping track of which modifier keys to…

Ditto; besides Final Cut Pro, Photos, and Sequel Pro, most apps I use on macOS work as well (or nearly so) under Windows. Agreed that the worst thing is the muscle memory for shortcuts; my pinkie always needs a few hours before it starts to remember which keyboard layout I'm using.

I've heard that the Lightroom and Photoshop experience is better overall on Windows now than Mac. I'm sticking with my 2015 MBP for now, but was wondering if anyone could comment on this? I've seen comments elsewhere about Adobe focusing on Windows more, but I've not been able to find details or a good comparison.

Re: Dell XPS 13 Review from a lifelong Mac user

#188

Post by sbr464 » Thu, Jun 14, 2018, 8:13 PM UTC

bhauer wrote: post #177

sbr464 wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it’s because Apple has the patent on glass on metal trackpads https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cultofmac.com/210380/apple-...

Interesting. The Surface products (e.g., the Surface Book) use glass on metal.

Maybe they licensed the tech or used a plexiglass? Not a lawyer, but was curious myself why it wasn’t used more so had just googled about it.

Re: Dell XPS 13 Review from a lifelong Mac user

#189

Post by shasts » Thu, Jun 14, 2018, 8:15 PM UTC

CoolGuySteve wrote: post #92

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 need RAM, battery life, and a matte display above everything else, so it really bothers me that Dell refuses to sell a 16GB XPS13 with the 1080p display. So much so, that I think I'm going to go with Asus for my next ultrabook.

If you are in Europe you can get one with 16GB and HD display.

http://www.dell.com/en-uk/shop/laptops-notebooks-and-2-in-1-...

£1,498.99 GBP one in above list.

Re: Dell XPS 13 Review from a lifelong Mac user

#190

Post by ms013 » Thu, Jun 14, 2018, 8:16 PM UTC

bunderbunder wrote: post #51

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…

Can't speak for everyone, but I've always been a polyglot on OSes. I'm usually either remoted into a Linux box from a Mac, remoted into a Linux box from Windows, remoted into Windows from a Mac, or several of those at once. Pretty much all the software I use is cross-platform, and even Windows is a fairly acceptable Unix nowadays, so the biggest transitioning problem I have is keeping track of which modifier keys to…

Exactly. I've always bounced between OSes over my career. Switching between them is not that hard at all - just need to mentally page in the key modifiers, shell commands, and other little idioms and pretty quickly I'm running along working.

In my experience I've found inflexibility with respect to OS to be a warning sign that usually means someone isn't going to work well long term as a flexible, open-minded team member. Signs of that at interview time usually push me pretty quickly in a 'no' direction.