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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

#51

Post by bunderbunder »

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…

Can't speak for everyone, but I've always been a polyglot on OSes. I'm usually either remoted into a Linux box from a Mac, remoted into a Linux box from Windows, remoted into Windows from a Mac, or several of those at once.

Pretty much all the software I use is cross-platform, and even Windows is a fairly acceptable Unix nowadays, so the biggest transitioning problem I have is keeping track of which modifier keys to use for my keyboard shortcuts.

Re: Dell XPS 13 Review from a lifelong Mac user

#52

Post by gaius »

krn wrote: post #39

In terms of durability, Dell XPS is a consumer-grade product and should not be relied on for any serious work. The only real alternatives to Apple Macbook in terms of build quality, design and performance are ThinkPad X1 Carbon[1] and Dell Precision 5530[2], which is XPS business-grade counterpart. [1] https://www3.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/thinkpad/thinkpad-x/Th... [2] http://www.dell.com/en-us/work/shop/dell-laptops…

Surface is what Macs should have been. The form factor, the build quality, everything. Jobs would never have allowed those keyboards out the door.

Re: Dell XPS 13 Review from a lifelong Mac user

#54

Post by gervase »

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…

I'm happy to share my thoughts. I developed on Macs for 8 years, then switched to Windows 10 for 2 years (inclusive of Insider builds).

In some ways, the transition was pretty painless. I mainly use JetBrains products, so there was very little pain in the switch there. I expected that, which is one of the reasons why I decided to switch in the first place.

However, what I hadn't predicted was how few of the quality-of-life tweaks I was using had equivalents on Windows. For example, I was using the clipboard history feature extensively on Alfred when I was using Mac, and Ditto is barely a replacement for Windows. Recording screencasts with Screenflow on Mac is painless, and Windows (at the time) didn't have a comparable equivalent. The built-in functionality for window management in Windows is not bad, but it doesn't compare to Spectacle for flexibility.

Those are just a few examples, but collectively, these ended up adding a surprisingly painful amount of friction to my development process, even when the IDE was exactly the same. I finally ended up admitting defeat and switching back to MacOS.

I might conclude that if you're using the out-of-the-box, platform default environment, Visual Studio and Windows 10 are probably going to give a better experience than XCode + vanilla MacOS. Then again, if you're the kind of person whose .vimrc has decades of tweaks, you'll probably be happier in Linux. Basically, my view is to just let everyone do what they want and what they feel comfortable with, coexist with them, and don't try to convert/proselytize in general, which I believe is a pretty non-controversial stance.

Re: Dell XPS 13 Review from a lifelong Mac user

#55

Post by tamatsyk »

Good summary, I share most of the points provided in the post.

Also, I think a few more things worth to mention.

Pros:

- XPS has a decent hardware (I got 16GB, i8Gen, 500GB SSD and forgot about having a few docker containers running on the background which was an issue with my MacBook Pro 15 (8GB, 2.5Gh)

- It is really 1k$ cheaper than the same config MacBook model. Apple's Retina and Touchbar are really cool, however, they still do not have 16GB 13' mac which is a deal breaker.

- Touchscreen. Take your touch bar and put it into your missing 3.5 jack plug, Tim's Team, why would I need a touch bar when I have a touchscreen; (no offense to Apple, I still own a few apples because they are nice)

- the webcam is well described, but it is not that bad, it saves a few inches in size which makes its screen look like it takes all space and there are no borders at all;

- while ubuntu became usable with Gnome desktop I almost did not notice all missing Apple's out of the box features;

- it is very light (~1kg), my backpack can be heavier;

Cons:

- WiFi is super shitty in XPS series. If you have not had any issues yet - then you have not bought one yet. It is better to replace with 30$ adapter to not have issues with differently configured routers;

- It has Windows on it and some features are not supported on Linux. For instance, I see no sense in having fingerprint scanner if it does not work under Linux;

- Be aware that screen scaling might not work on some linux machines. For ubuntu 16.04 I got windows so small so I cannot read the text. Luckily 18.04 fixed it, but still;

Overall, it is the best laptop for Linux I've used so far (Lenovo and Asus are good ones as well), having good hardware and being more or less cheap. I hope Apple will simplify ML and add a bit more RAM to Autumn's laptops, otherwise, there are no reasons to go back.

Re: Dell XPS 13 Review from a lifelong Mac user

#56

Post by [deleted] »

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…

[deleted]

Re: Dell XPS 13 Review from a lifelong Mac user

#57

Post by maxxxxx »

kayoone wrote: post #24

For me it's the little things that keep me on mac. - Amazing touchpad, no need for a mouse at all - Light, yet powerful and great battery life - best in class display - being able to easily copy and paste between iphone macbook - being able to easily send files between all osx/ios devices with zero hassle - being able to take calls on my macbook and transfer them to the phone if needed - bluetooth headphones working…

"- Amazing touchpad, no need for a mouse at all"

that's the number one. I have not seen any other laptop where the touchpad is usable.

Re: Dell XPS 13 Review from a lifelong Mac user

#58

Post by confounded »

sigi45 wrote: post #18

You don't use the trackpad on a lenovo. You don't have to! Srsly while i do own now a macbook pro at work and really like the touchpad, i'm a touch quicker with the red knob in combination with AwesomeWM as a window manager. Main advantage: my hands rests on the device and don't have to move below.

I’m in the same boat; I’m fascinated by my colleagues’ ability to hurl their desktop around with macpad gestures, they’re fascinated by being all-keyboard with a tiling window manager (and occasional use of the nipple-thing when I have to click something).

I disable trackpads, as I only ever use them accidentally.

They both seem like great systems. All I know at this point is that I’m set in my ways :)

Re: Dell XPS 13 Review from a lifelong Mac user

#59

Post by mnm1 »

> It's a paid extension, but it provides control over every aspect of the Magic Trackpad 2.

No, it doesn't. While it's better than the most basic support provided in Linux, it still doesn't provide support for 3 and 4 finger gestures and the existing scrolling support is fairly weak. Yes, still better than Linux, an OS that hates touchpads apparantely, but not what I'd call good at all. Barely usable yes. Passable for a $120 touchpad. Not at all.

Re: Dell XPS 13 Review from a lifelong Mac user

#60

Post by goatherders »

krn wrote: post #39

In terms of durability, Dell XPS is a consumer-grade product and should not be relied on for any serious work. The only real alternatives to Apple Macbook in terms of build quality, design and performance are ThinkPad X1 Carbon[1] and Dell Precision 5530[2], which is XPS business-grade counterpart. [1] https://www3.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/thinkpad/thinkpad-x/Th... [2] http://www.dell.com/en-us/work/shop/dell-laptops…

Rather than say something snarky I would be interested to know what makes you say it is consumer-grade and should not be relied on for serious work. I use mine to run multiple businesses and my bank account suggests I do serious work.
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