With Meltdown and Spectre, and CERT's statement that only replacement of CPU will solve those, it's hard to think about buying any computer for the next little while.
XPS 13 developer edition 7th generation available
321–330 of 412 posts
Re: XPS 13 developer edition 7th generation available
#322Very cool, but as an owner of the Cube Thinker/i35--which has the same exact 3000x2000 3:2 aspect ratio display as the Surface Book (but costs $500)--I can't imagine why any developer would put up with a 16:9 display. Specially if you have "developer" in your product name, why can't they figure out that 16:9 is not the best aspect ratio for everyone? I write code the whole day, not watch movies. That huge extra verti…
I love the display on my 9360. I use vim, and it allows me to comfortably have three windows open side by side, so I can view code from multiple files side by side easily. The high DPI allows me to use pretty small fonts without annoyance too.
That said, this is of course a very small computer, and I purchased it knowing I had an external monitor to use with it as well (same aspect ratio, for what it's worth). 13" is adequate but not ideal for me; I feel like this size machine is best paired with an external monitor back at your main desk, with the internal display used less frequently. If I did not have another monitor, I likely would have stepped up to the XPS 15 instead.
Re: XPS 13 developer edition 7th generation available
#323I 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 bought an XPS 15, also maxed out, years ago and regretted it also. I had all the power problems you mention, except the random shutoffs. The machine was not really usable for professional work. I now have a Thinkpad X1 Carbon 5th gen. It has no major issues and works reliably, even with Linux as the primary OS. Granted, it was more expensive, but well worth the purchase price.
The XPS 13 would've been my top choice if Dell were interested in taking my money, but they're only willing to sell me one with 16GB of RAM if it also has a pro-glare display. I bought an XPS 15, which came with major backlight bleed. After field circus scheduled an appointment to replace the display the next day and didn't show, I returned it.
I paid $500 less for my X1C5, bought during the Black Friday sale. It doesn't have a dGPU (that I didn't want anyhow); but does have a WQHD display, WWAN, and a 1 TB Samsung SSD instead of a 512 GB Toshiba. No issues with Linux or OpenBSD, and the keyboard is better than both the current XPS 15/Precision 5520 and my 2013 rMBP 13". (Let's not even think about how hard the current MBPs suck.)
Re: XPS 13 developer edition 7th generation available
#324I'm surprised that only the touchscreen editions are UHD.
I'd have guessed developers would prefer UHD, but no touch. Am I really missing something? Do people really prefer touch (or, FHD)?.
Re: XPS 13 developer edition 7th generation available
#325Max 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…
Anyone doing mobile or web development? It's sorta unfortunate that folks consider touch screens to be a useless luxury. I suspect if folks didn't, a lot of small X11 utilities would be easier to write.
I don't think anyone considers touch screens to be a "useless luxury"; the problem is that touch screens are also pro-glare, and that's actively harmful. I like 4k, and touch with a matte display would be unobjectionable, but any display that's not anti-glare is a big cup of nope.
Re: XPS 13 developer edition 7th generation available
#326Max 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 have previous generation XPS 13 Developer Edition with hi-res touch screen. I chose the touch screen mainly because of the high resolution it provides however while using it I realized that touch screen can be quite useful sometimes. My best use case is reading long documents while commuting by train with the laptop in my lap. I find swiping with my thumb much more convenient than scrolling or pressing up/down keys…
Out of curiosity (and not looking for an argument about it): Doens't two-finger scrolling feel just as natural/comfortable?
Re: XPS 13 developer edition 7th generation available
#327Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm confused, it sounds like you want a European keyboard layout, and the European configurations go up to 16GB with a normal display: > i7 | 16GB | 512GB | FHD non-touch (1920 x 1080)
System76, specifically the Galago Pro. I want it because Linux runs well on it, it has 8th gen i7, 16gb ram, and a 4k non touch screen. But only US layouts. European, specifically scandinavian and UK layouts, have 1 additional button, so labels cannot fix it either
Does the Galago Pro have a TPM? Their website doesn't mention one, but not having a TPM is just silly.
Re: XPS 13 developer edition 7th generation available
#328Earlier quoted context omitted.
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 b…
Thanks, I won't be actively looking for 6 months or so. I'm just keeping an eye on what's available. Precisions are prohibitively expensive here (Aus) -- starting at about AUD$6000! Thinkpads raise a nostalgic smile. My little x40 with dock was probably my favourite ever machine.
Re: XPS 13 developer edition 7th generation available
#329Earlier quoted context omitted.
I bought a Dell XPS 9550 with terrible coil whine from the Microsoft Store about two years ago. Thinking I was just unlucky, I did an exchange (MS Store) to a different unit. This one had no coil whine, but would not wake up from sleep about half the time. If you think Apple has fallen in terms of quality, you have no idea how low they would have to fall to match Dell's.
> If you think Apple has fallen in terms of quality I don't. I've found Apple (hardware) to be reliable and long-lasting. It's the developer-hostile designs where I think they've gone crazy.
It just seems like consumers don't care that the MacBook design is hostile to connectivity (my biggest issue) or developers in general. They're used to it from Apple, and want the latest and greatest regardless. Apple is honing in on that market, like it or not.
Re: XPS 13 developer edition 7th generation available
#330I'm guessing that nobody wants to buy new CPUs until a whole new architecture is available. Bad luck in the timing.
I'm not sure we can call it bad luck, since Dell has a lot of control over the timing of their product releases.
I doubt the people working on this knew about the embargo. Most people didn't.