XPS 13 developer edition 7th generation available • Hacker News Board

Re: XPS 13 developer edition 7th generation available

#311

Post by jpalmer » Fri, Jan 05, 2018, 2:28 AM UTC

barton808 wrote: post #222

dangrossman wrote: post #199

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!

I bought a Precision 5520 with Ubuntu pre-installed one year ago and it is still one of the best laptops I've ever purchased. My previous three were Thinkpads with the latest being an x230. The quality of the X series has really been in decline and x230 was the last straw for me (keyboard warping).

I've always heard about coil whine but maybe I just can't hear it (I'm 43). As long as the Linux support remains strong I will keep buying the Precision line.

Re: XPS 13 developer edition 7th generation available

#312

Post by kyledrake » Fri, Jan 05, 2018, 2:34 AM UTC

dsr_ wrote: post #8

I'm guessing that nobody wants to buy new CPUs until a whole new architecture is available. Bad luck in the timing.

Honestly, as sad as it is to say this, it's hard to not agree with this sentiment right now. I may wait until the next line of CPUs at this point. Which is a travesty, because these laptops are great and I was finally going to retire my old laptop. But if I'm going to get a 30% hit because of a processor hotfix, it's pretty tough to commit to that.

This isn't to say anything bad about Dell Developer XPS, Sputnik, or Barton at all with their great work here. It is just indeed awful timing for a new release.

Re: XPS 13 developer edition 7th generation available

#313

Post by superquest » Fri, Jan 05, 2018, 2:37 AM UTC

KirinDave wrote: post #191

I've never had anything but bad experiences with these sputnik machines. They're underpowered, the one I had required custom drivers that were always awful to get into any distribution but Ubuntu, and I've never been a fan of the keyboard. But people seem to love them. I don't really get it.

+1 on the keyboard. Keyboards are so harsh ... so little travel.

Re: XPS 13 developer edition 7th generation available

#314

Post by tbrock » Fri, Jan 05, 2018, 2:37 AM UTC

Dell is doing a great thing here by leading the charge on Linux laptops but I’m so glad others realize what utter pieces of shit their laptops are quality wise.

Just because dell finally made a laptop that looks decent and wasn’t built to be 15lbs doesn’t mean the quality has improved here. Their desktops are fine.

I’ve also never dealt with a worse company with regards to repairs and service.

Do yourself a favor and buy an X1 Carbon, the 5th gen rocks and the 6th is coming soon.

Re: XPS 13 developer edition 7th generation available

#315

Post by martyvis » Fri, Jan 05, 2018, 2:42 AM UTC

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Re: XPS 13 developer edition 7th generation available

#316

Post by bproven » Fri, Jan 05, 2018, 2:51 AM UTC

crispinb wrote: post #285

barton808 wrote: post #222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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!

So you're on the team? Here's a perspective from a potential buyer. Apple having truly jumped the shark on their MB Pros, I've been mulling on and off about what to do when it's time to replace my current 13" MBP. An XPS 13 or 15 w/Ubuntu is definitely on my radar. But I am a bit scared off by reliability & quality reports. They're only anecdotal & biased samples of course, but there's not much else for a poor consum…

If you are going Dell I think the best bet is to try the Precision 5000 series (pretty equal to XPS 15) and 7000 series (heavier and bulkier but you can really spec these things out). I have an XPS 15 (9550) and I really cannot recommend them. Lots of problems.

At least the Precision line is the buisness line which means better support, preinstalled with Linux (so its tested well) and probably from what I have read better tested/built due to being a business line. I like supporting Dell on this venture b/c they are sticking thier neck out a little by even supporting/preinstalling Linux as a big name OEM provider.

The Lenovos are great too, but I wish they would officially support Linux and offer Linux preinstalled as an option so you don't have to pay for Windows.

Re: XPS 13 developer edition 7th generation available

#317

Post by songco » Fri, Jan 05, 2018, 2:53 AM UTC

dangrossman wrote: post #199

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…

I have precision 5510, the main problem is random shutoffs, I suspect it caused by the overheating of ssd, my laptop hae 1T ssd, and several shutoffs occurs when I copying large number of files(e.g. more than 100GB), but I can't reproduce this when I perform the copy test.

Re: XPS 13 developer edition 7th generation available

#318

Post by balladeer » Fri, Jan 05, 2018, 2:57 AM UTC

I notice a design trend with these slim notebooks. First time I noticed it was in a Asus and then in XPS - the edges of base of the laptop are shown very thin. But that slimness is just for the visual effect and if you look at the thickness of the base from the cross section you will realise it's actually as thick all across as at is the hinge and the edges were chiseled out 1 inch (or so) towards the middle on all three sides (except from the hinge) just to make the laptop appear thinner than it actually is.

XPS is a great laptop, I have briefly used it at work, but this tactic (marketing design tactic?), at least to me, feels sometime like deceiving. Kinda off-putting. I have also used Thinkpad Carbon in the past and if I remember correctly it was as slim as it looked.

Re: XPS 13 developer edition 7th generation available

#319

Post by flukus » Fri, Jan 05, 2018, 3:25 AM UTC

ascendantlogic wrote: post #11

Only 16 gigs of RAM? Why do companies still hold that limit in 2018? I was hoping for 32 gigs back in 2015.

> Why do companies still hold that limit in 2018?

Because laptops don't need server levels of RAM. What are you doing that needs that much RAM that couldn't better be done on a remote desktop/server than on a developer laptop?

Re: XPS 13 developer edition 7th generation available

#320

Post by darren0 » Fri, Jan 05, 2018, 3:47 AM UTC

I've seen quite a few developers buy and use these with mixed results. One key thing I've seen that people have really struggled with is multiple external monitors. For that to work you usually need some USB C dock which is a nightmare.

Personally I've had much better results with Lenovo T and X series because they typically have more conservative hardware that is better supported by upstream Linux. Also their dock is not USB C.