Live data from Hacker News

XPS 13 developer edition 7th generation available

bartongeorge.io

221–230 of 412 posts

Re: XPS 13 developer edition 7th generation available

#221
post #71

How is the trackpad on these? I still haven't seen a non-Apple laptop where the trackpad comes even close to the Macbook.

I have the prior version and the trackpad is terrible compared to my MBP. Like devastatingly bad. It feels so odd coming back to that computer being forced to use a mouse. Using it longer than a minute with that trackpad makes me loose patience.

Reviews i read before buying it said the trackpad is great. And since they've said similar things for all Windows laptops i've had in the past--and the trackpads have always been bad, i wouldn't count on this one being good.

Re: XPS 13 developer edition 7th generation available

#222

I regret buying a maxed out XPS 13 a year and a half ago. My list of problems: * Coil whine * Noisy fans * Heat issues * USB-C port has a bad pin (only works in one orientation with pressure) * Charging port inconsistently charges * Bad cell in the battery, so it suddenly shuts off without warning when on battery The charging issues started just around the 12 month mark, so I quickly sent to a repair center under war…

Dan, I apologize for your experience. If you ever run into something like this again, besides contacting support directly, you can ping @dellcarespro on twitter and, if its related to the developer edition or project Sputnik you can loop me in @barton808. thanks!

Re: XPS 13 developer edition 7th generation available

#223
post #98

Max 8gb for regular display... I mean, who uses touch screens for development? I can't really imagine a scenario where it would be helpful for me. Maybe when doing work in Illustrator and Photoshop, but I usually use a different machine for that anyhow, because of Adobe's lack of Linux support. I don't want to pay for something I won't use. I am otherwise actively looking for a laptop. System76 does not have European…

There's no simple/easy way to disable the touchscreen in Linux distro's, too.

Find the touchscreen id:

> xinput list

Then:

> xinput set-prop "Device Enabled" 0

Can add it to .bashrc

Re: XPS 13 developer edition 7th generation available

#224
post #112
post #98

Max 8gb for regular display... I mean, who uses touch screens for development? I can't really imagine a scenario where it would be helpful for me. Maybe when doing work in Illustrator and Photoshop, but I usually use a different machine for that anyhow, because of Adobe's lack of Linux support. I don't want to pay for something I won't use. I am otherwise actively looking for a laptop. System76 does not have European…

> I mean, who uses touch screens for development? Co-workers are less likely to touch it and leave marks, that's the only upside I see. > I am otherwise actively looking for a laptop. I got a X1 Carbon a few days ago. I'm pretty content so far.

Beautiful machine. Whilst my primary is now a 6 core/32gb desktop, my laptop is the OG X1 Carbon from 2011. I was waiting for the initial release and might have been the first to order it in Australia. It is still looking great today (chassis looks as if it could be just a few weeks old, true I've looked after it but it's also just that solid/high quality panels), although the new is of course hugely improved.

Their i7 only had 4GB of memory, so I got the i5 version with 8. Unfortunately - or actually, fortunately - there was a bulge in the chassis that tech couldn't get out so ended up returning the unit, and by that time the i7/8/256 was just around the corner so arranged for that to be the replacement.

Unit still works today, and I'm very glad I got the i7 CPU now. Much snappier than the i5, even though battery life took a big hit. On top of that, battery is worn out. I am probably going to look for another replacement battery soon, and am keen on a 2018 upgrade, but anyway for short development stints including Docker it is great. Keyboard is top of the class, so is the track pointer (which I love).

The upcoming 2018 version (8th Gen Intels) is expected to have 4/8c which will be fantastic. Sadly only 16gb memory, but Docker has kind of shifted my requirements there vs Virtualbox. (Perhaps I'll wait for a version where Intel has sorted their Meltdown issue.)

Re: XPS 13 developer edition 7th generation available

#225

I can't tell you how much I would love a Linux laptop, so much has been solved around power consumption and battery life, wifi stability, and so on. The one show stopper continues to be spotty HiDPI support for essential apps like The GIMP — the menu and fonts stubbornly stayed at 1x resolution and the icons were teeny. Ugh. Had a 9360 for a short time before reluctantly returning it. So for me it's a Samsung Pro Chr…

On GIMP you'd probably be waiting for them to port to GTK3 for it to work well... and I wouldn't hold your breath. The party line there is still that they may just target GTK4 instead, given the likely timescale.

I do believe the unstable 2.9 series introduced an easy way to increase icon sizes, though, so that should be in 2.10 at... some point.

Could always go for the mere "full HD" screen where such things aren't as necessary.

Re: XPS 13 developer edition 7th generation available

#226

I'm a happy XPS 13 9360 (i7-8550U, 16 GB RAM, 512 GB SSD) user and have mixed feelings about the latest XPS 13. Biggest reason why I opted for the XPS 13 is the size -- it is literally the smallest 13.3" laptop on the market. My 2 cents based on the stuff I read online: - The new one is even smaller and lighter, a big plus in my book. - USB-C exclusively seems good and bad at the same time. Three USB ports on 9360 al…

I've been waiting for the 9370 announcement and today I bought a 9360 :)

The bigger battery is nice, USB-A is nice. The weight is the same. Don't care about placement or camera. And the slower RAM doesn't bother me.

I got the updated version with an 8th gen that has win10 pre-installed, since the 9360 with 8th gen is pnly with win10. That's OK, was planning on setting up dual boot anyway.

Re: XPS 13 developer edition 7th generation available

#227
post #98

Max 8gb for regular display... I mean, who uses touch screens for development? I can't really imagine a scenario where it would be helpful for me. Maybe when doing work in Illustrator and Photoshop, but I usually use a different machine for that anyhow, because of Adobe's lack of Linux support. I don't want to pay for something I won't use. I am otherwise actively looking for a laptop. System76 does not have European…

I'm extremely happy with my Thinkpad X1 Carbon 4th gen. That's my second ThinkPad, absolutely perfect for development, great no-nonsense laptop, works flawlessly with Ubuntu. Highly recommend it.

Re: XPS 13 developer edition 7th generation available

#228
post #98

Max 8gb for regular display... I mean, who uses touch screens for development? I can't really imagine a scenario where it would be helpful for me. Maybe when doing work in Illustrator and Photoshop, but I usually use a different machine for that anyhow, because of Adobe's lack of Linux support. I don't want to pay for something I won't use. I am otherwise actively looking for a laptop. System76 does not have European…

There's no simple/easy way to disable the touchscreen in Linux distro's, too.

Isn't the touch screen supported by a kernel module like in previous generations? If so, it could be blacklisted, inserted/removed or deleted...

Re: XPS 13 developer edition 7th generation available

#229

Where's the fucking USB ports?!? I have literally used or observed zero USB C devices till now. I've seen newer phones but who plugs phones into computers anymore? The main issue is flash drives, external HDDs, mice, keyboards, LTE modems, Kindle, and so on. None of those are available in type C variants and I don't want to be inconvenienced by my new laptop. If I wanted to hurt myself I'd just buy from Apple!

Exactly. And where is the DVD drive? The serial port? The parallel port?

Yes, moving forward to a new format can be painful.

Re: XPS 13 developer edition 7th generation available

#230

I can't tell you how much I would love a Linux laptop, so much has been solved around power consumption and battery life, wifi stability, and so on. The one show stopper continues to be spotty HiDPI support for essential apps like The GIMP — the menu and fonts stubbornly stayed at 1x resolution and the icons were teeny. Ugh. Had a 9360 for a short time before reluctantly returning it. So for me it's a Samsung Pro Chr…

> The one show stopper continues to be spotty HiDPI support for essential apps like The GIMP — the menu and fonts stubbornly stayed at 1x resolution and the icons were teeny.

just put Xft.dpi: 144 (or more) in your .Xresources. (at least for menus & fonts)

Here's how it looks for me at 192: https://imgur.com/9KKhpZq.png

Post reply on HN