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

Re: Dell XPS 13 Review from a lifelong Mac user

#211

Post by codegladiator » Thu, Jun 14, 2018, 8:51 PM UTC

eksemplar wrote: post #206

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…

This is the perfect description of why I’ll probably never leave Mac land. I want my technology to work out the box, and Mac does that. Sure I could probably setup the Linux trackpad to be Mac like if I threw plenty of hours at it, but I don’t want to waste my time like that, not anymore. I did in my youth, but now I’ll just buy the thing that works.

I wish there are less people like you and more people who want to fix things. For reasons which should be obvious I guess.

Re: Dell XPS 13 Review from a lifelong Mac user

#212

Post by Jach » Thu, Jun 14, 2018, 8:52 PM UTC

slantyyz wrote: post #144

nkrisc wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Someone has. It's in MacBooks.

I get that I'm in the extreme minority here, but I pretty much hate all touchpads, including Apple's. I hate Apple's the least, so I will concede that Apple makes the best touch pads. I wish all the PC makers would stop trying to copy the Apple model of "all touch surface, and the pad on a rocker for buttons". I'm probably being old and cranky (for context, my very first laptop was an Apple Powerbook 170 with a track…

Hello fellow minority. Though I don't like Apple's at all, albeit the last time I used one was in 2014 or 2015 so maybe they're better. I liked my really old Dell Inspiron 1000's better than the Macbooks I've tried. And I used to use a laptop with just a nub in the middle and two buttons below the space bar, that was my favorite, I could actually play FPS games with it, and it meshed well with vim usage. But these days I almost always just use a wireless mouse. It's no extra cost to carry around when I have to carry around a charger, the times I want/need to use a laptop in a suboptimal environment (like on my lap) are so minimal that I can't care too much about the quality of a touchpad. Does it let me tap once to click, tap with two fingers to right click? Good enough.

Re: Dell XPS 13 Review from a lifelong Mac user

#213

Post by Clubber » Thu, Jun 14, 2018, 8:53 PM UTC

codegladiator wrote: post #211

eksemplar wrote: post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the perfect description of why I’ll probably never leave Mac land. I want my technology to work out the box, and Mac does that. Sure I could probably setup the Linux trackpad to be Mac like if I threw plenty of hours at it, but I don’t want to waste my time like that, not anymore. I did in my youth, but now I’ll just buy the thing that works.

I wish there are less people like you and more people who want to fix things. For reasons which should be obvious I guess.

Maybe Dell should fix their trackpad.

Re: Dell XPS 13 Review from a lifelong Mac user

#214

Post by ghaff » Thu, Jun 14, 2018, 8:54 PM UTC

slantyyz wrote: post #144

nkrisc wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Someone has. It's in MacBooks.

I get that I'm in the extreme minority here, but I pretty much hate all touchpads, including Apple's. I hate Apple's the least, so I will concede that Apple makes the best touch pads. I wish all the PC makers would stop trying to copy the Apple model of "all touch surface, and the pad on a rocker for buttons". I'm probably being old and cranky (for context, my very first laptop was an Apple Powerbook 170 with a track…

I could never make touchpads work for me. The only laptops I could tolerate were Lenovo's because of the touchpoint thing. My first MacBook was the first time I had a touchpad I could not only use but actively liked.

But actually my Lenovo with Linux touchpad and Chromebooks are all fine for me today. Though my MacBooks and external Apple touchpad on my desktop are still the best. The only touchpad that still annoys me to the point where I need to use a mouse is a 17" Dell Alienware laptop running Windows 10.

Re: Dell XPS 13 Review from a lifelong Mac user

#215

Post by deltron3030 » Thu, Jun 14, 2018, 8:58 PM UTC

seanp2k2 wrote: post #182

deltron3030 wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

They did change the design and hid the buttons, and use the win precision drivers now.

Re: Dell XPS 13 Review from a lifelong Mac user

#216

Post by overcast » Thu, Jun 14, 2018, 8:59 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…

A lot of us use multiple environments every single day. Linux/Unix/Windows for a variety of server environments, MacOS for daily life / photo editing / web dev / IOS dev, Linux for web development, Windows for gaming. Switching between them isn't really much of an issue at this point, unless you're trying to literally move your entire life to a new environment. I use each for their suitable tasks.

Re: Dell XPS 13 Review from a lifelong Mac user

#217

Post by geerlingguy » Thu, Jun 14, 2018, 8:59 PM UTC

zerkten wrote: post #187

geerlingguy wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I could go either way; I actually think LR and PS have become harder to use on either platform over the years. But you can tune a high-end PC a little better to get more performance out of both on Windows.

Aperture used to be one of the two _major_ draws of macOS over Windows for me, but Apple really burned that bridge when they dumped Aperture—arguably the best RAW photography workflow tool on the market—and pushed towards Photos, which lacked about 50% of the features that made Aperture amazing (Loupe, star rating, workflows, UI, shortcuts, etc.).

Re: Dell XPS 13 Review from a lifelong Mac user

#218

Post by ForHackernews » Thu, Jun 14, 2018, 9:00 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…

> I guess it would work if you are already using Linux or Windows on a Mac hardware but that's gotta be rare.

I ran Linux on my MBP up until the touchbar nonsense, then I switched to a Dell XPS with Ubuntu preinstalled. The experience has been great, probably better hardware support under Linux than on the Mac.

Re: Dell XPS 13 Review from a lifelong Mac user

#219

Post by rsync » Thu, Jun 14, 2018, 9:01 PM UTC

"I like a solid but light laptop, and the laptop against which I'll measure all others is still the 11" MacBook Air—if Apple would update it with a retina display ..."

That is all anyone wants. A macbook air with a "retina" screen.

Imagine if all you had to do to make millions of customers extra happy was also the easiest thing. No research, no additional R&D, no innovation required ... just give us a 11" MBA with a higher resolution screen.

Re: Dell XPS 13 Review from a lifelong Mac user

#220

Post by grimgrin » Thu, Jun 14, 2018, 9:03 PM UTC

Clubber wrote: post #213

codegladiator wrote: post #211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wish there are less people like you and more people who want to fix things. For reasons which should be obvious I guess.

Maybe Dell should fix their trackpad.

Who has a useful trackpad anyways? An actually great one, besides Apple?

I have no idea why this is the case? Patents or too expensive to justify?

Genuinely curious