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Dell XPS 13 Review from a lifelong Mac user

jeffgeerling.com

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Re: Dell XPS 13 Review from a lifelong Mac user

#221

Post by xapata »

rsync wrote: post #219

"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…

With what battery life? Is there a minimum requirement? Would you accept a dramatically lower CPU speed to increase battery life?

Re: Dell XPS 13 Review from a lifelong Mac user

#222

Post by oarsinsync »

SyneRyder wrote: post #198
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…

Mac user since 2006 here, who often tries switching back to Windows. The biggest deal breaker for me has been the Windows 10 update system, where it will sometimes start installing updates when you shut down your computer and tell you "don't turn off your computer". There's been times when I've been stuck at a cafe for 45 minutes & nearly missed a train home because Windows was still sitting there saying "Don't Turn…

The Mac has a snooze light? Where? I’ve been using a MacBook Air since 2010 and MacBook Pro since 2015 and haven’t seen anything resembling a snooze light. Would love to discover this!

Re: Dell XPS 13 Review from a lifelong Mac user

#223

Post by civilitty »

earenndil wrote: post #201
procinct wrote: post #185

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.…

Really? I've had a generally poor support experience with dell. Granted, I don't have enterprise support, but still. My dell laptop stopped charging (still within warranty!), called up support and spend a while trying to explain what the problem was. Eventually, I got it through and they said they had to replace the motherboard and would charge $200 (the whole thing was ~$500) for it.

Every Dell laptop I've ever purchased has had the on-premise technical support (which I used to great effect over half a dozen times) and most of those were purchased through the Dell website which I assume is targeted towards consumers. It may have been part of paid warranty upgrades but obviously not enough to make an impression.

I always used the Dell web chat to get warranty support and the vast majority of the time I just wrote a few sentences that made it clear that I was a power user that knew what was likely to be broken, someone would get dispatched with 24-48 hours, and I'd spend less than hour on the whole affair (most of that time spent doing something else while the support person replied or the tech worked on the laptop).

Re: Dell XPS 13 Review from a lifelong Mac user

#224

Post by Jach »

kleiba wrote: post #11

Which linux laptops would you recommend for an under 1000 Euro price point?

There are several laptops in the $300-$500 range that would work depending on your needs. (i.e. the cheaper ones have i3 cpus.) Asus, HP, Dell, Acer, etc. Make sure to select one (though many are) that you can upgrade -- for lots of them you can put in up to 32 GB of RAM (some 64), install an m.2 SSD... I've had my eye on https://www.amazon.com/Acer-E5-575-33BM-15-6-Inch-Notebook-G... for a long time in the event I need to get a new laptop for personal light dev use -- looks like they just refreshed a newer model too, linked from that page, though maybe not worth it if you're going to upgrade it.

Re: Dell XPS 13 Review from a lifelong Mac user

#225

Post by mrkstu »

sbr464 wrote: post #188
bhauer wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Microsoft and Apple have a comprehensive cross-licensing agreement, so that would make sense.

Re: Dell XPS 13 Review from a lifelong Mac user

#226

Post by BounceHouse »

grimgrin wrote: post #220
Clubber wrote: post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

De-coupling of hardware and software mainly. All kinds of 3rd parties writing drivers for the trackpad for an OS they don't have control over.

Re: Dell XPS 13 Review from a lifelong Mac user

#227

Post by jakelarkin »

jordache wrote: post #107
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…

How hard is it for device makers to prefect the touchpad? It should be a no brainer like mouse devices by now huh?

its probably insanely expensive/complex to revisit the cheap commodity touchpad hardware and the crappy drivers that already available. & doesn't pencil out with the razor thin margins for PC laptops

Re: Dell XPS 13 Review from a lifelong Mac user

#228

Post by cup-of-tea »

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 use free software and that generally is available anywhere. Freedom is great.

Re: Dell XPS 13 Review from a lifelong Mac user

#229

Post by codegladiator »

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.

I am really surprised with the down votes considering this is "hacker" news. I will soon loose all meaning for the term hacker.
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