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Dell XPS 13 Developer Edition review

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Re: Dell XPS 13 Developer Edition review

#61

Post by kbenson »

davidw wrote: post #39
Al-Khwarizmi wrote: post #36

A laptop targeted to developers should have a TrackPoint to move the cursor without taking the hands off the keyboard, a non-shortscreen monitor to see more lines of code, a matte screen to read the code better, and a numpad to, well, type numbers. OK, I guess I'm asking too much for today's standards, even if all these things were common ten years ago (sigh...), but when I saw "developer edition" I thought I would s…

Agreed about the screen - it's annoying. But pretty much everything has those stupid HD style screens these days. I thought the glossy screen would bother me. It doesn't. Numpad? Never used one. Trackpoint? Not my style - I mostly navigate with the keyboard and the trackpad just launches the pointer into the window I need active, and then focus follows it!

I've never really understood the attraction of focus follow mouse, and it's especially confusing to me when the preference comes from someone who professes to mostly navigate using the keyboard.

Re: Dell XPS 13 Developer Edition review

#62

Post by computer »

Touche wrote: post #27
computer wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many desktop environments can do scaling well enough, in my experience. Not sure about Unity, the Ubuntu default. Edit: for non-retina screens (i.e. it's fine on my 14" 1920x1080 laptop.) For retina (not this laptop), it might not be ideal yet. I took a screenshot (XFCE4) with very high DPI, and you can see some GUI elements don't scale: http://i.imgur.com/2GpqyND.png

AFAIK no linux environments handle HiDPI well at the moment. Gnome 3 added support in a recent support but it's still not great. Also many apps that don't use native APIs look bad, Chrome for example is almost unusable.

I haven't used any retina screens, but I use scaling in XFCE for my 27" 2560x1440 monitor and for a 14" 1920x1080 laptop screen, and it works without any issues on both of those.

What are the native issues with retina (in Gnome 3, for example)? Are there GUI elements that don't scale along?

Re: Dell XPS 13 Developer Edition review

#63

Post by igravious »

wazoox wrote: post #14

I had one of these for some months and I'd say the only culprit is that there are only 1 mini DP and 2 USB ports and nothing else: no SD card slot, no Thunderbold or Firewire. Even a third USB port would have been nice. There isn't any kensington lock port, either. The screen is glossy but for some reason, it's not actually catching too many random reflections (so it's much better than my MacBook which can hardly be…

They are USB3 ports though, aren't they?

Dedicated ethernet would be nice. Thunderbolt would be nice. Firewire would be nice. A DVD/blu-ray drive would be nice. Ultrabooks seem not to have these things. Make no mistake, I would not have bought one if it had been USB2.

   -[0000:00]-+-00.0  Intel Corporation 3rd Gen Core processor DRAM Controller
              +-02.0  Intel Corporation 3rd Gen Core processor Graphics Controller
              +-14.0  Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family USB xHCI Host Controller
              +-16.0  Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family MEI Controller #1
              +-1a.0  Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller #2
              +-1b.0  Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family High Definition Audio Controller
              +-1c.0-[01]----00.0  Qualcomm Atheros AR9462 Wireless Network Adapter
              +-1d.0  Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller #1
              +-1f.0  Intel Corporation QS77 Express Chipset LPC Controller
              +-1f.2  Intel Corporation 7 Series Chipset Family 6-port SATA Controller [AHCI mode]
              \-1f.3  Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family SMBus Controller

Re: Dell XPS 13 Developer Edition review

#64

Post by kbenson »

angersock wrote: post #59
thirdsight wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Someone who gets it! I'm doomed to stay with a 2010 vintage Lenovo T-series by the looks.

...using tools from the late 70s/early 80s no doubt (vim, emacs, etc.)

Unix, DOS/Windows, etc.

Just because it was originally conceived and created then, doesn't mean there hasn't been a fair amount of evolution in those products since that time.

Re: Dell XPS 13 Developer Edition review

#65

Post by digikata »

crazygringo wrote: post #52
Al-Khwarizmi wrote: post #36

A laptop targeted to developers should have a TrackPoint to move the cursor without taking the hands off the keyboard, a non-shortscreen monitor to see more lines of code, a matte screen to read the code better, and a numpad to, well, type numbers. OK, I guess I'm asking too much for today's standards, even if all these things were common ten years ago (sigh...), but when I saw "developer edition" I thought I would s…

Serious question: aside from data-entry people and accountants, who uses numeric keypads anymore? As a developer, I don't exactly type a lot of numbers. And they're too far away from the home position of the hands to make the numpad efficient to use for numbers in mixed alphanumeric text. It really seems like they are rightly turning into a very niche input product, like Wacom tablets, instead of a general-purpose on…

Yup, I'd rather go without the num pad and avoid the minor space and weight increment. If needed, I can always attach a usb number pad.

Re: Dell XPS 13 Developer Edition review

#66

Post by ebbv »

Al-Khwarizmi wrote: post #36

A laptop targeted to developers should have a TrackPoint to move the cursor without taking the hands off the keyboard, a non-shortscreen monitor to see more lines of code, a matte screen to read the code better, and a numpad to, well, type numbers. OK, I guess I'm asking too much for today's standards, even if all these things were common ten years ago (sigh...), but when I saw "developer edition" I thought I would s…

Number pads are such a colossal waste of real estate. Let alone on a 13 inch laptop, the keys would have to be so small.

With regards to wanting a 4:3 display over a 16:9/10; with 1920x1080 resolution do you really need the 4:3? Are you really going to make your terminal/editing window full screen height? I use my rMBP in 1920x1200 and my terminals rarely need to go full screen height in order to see all the lines of code I need to see.

Re: Dell XPS 13 Developer Edition review

#67

Post by photex »

adrusi wrote: post #53
Al-Khwarizmi wrote: post #36

A laptop targeted to developers should have a TrackPoint to move the cursor without taking the hands off the keyboard, a non-shortscreen monitor to see more lines of code, a matte screen to read the code better, and a numpad to, well, type numbers. OK, I guess I'm asking too much for today's standards, even if all these things were common ten years ago (sigh...), but when I saw "developer edition" I thought I would s…

The problem with numpads on laptops is that it shifts the keyboard to the left, resulting in a non-ergonomic typing position. That's much worse than not being able to type in numbers marginally faster. Also using numpads takes your fingers far from the home row, which is in contrast to your trackpoint argument.

This is precisely why I haven't purchased several otherwise very nice looking Linux laptops.

Re: Dell XPS 13 Developer Edition review

#68

Post by Touche »

computer wrote: post #62
Touche wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

AFAIK no linux environments handle HiDPI well at the moment. Gnome 3 added support in a recent support but it's still not great. Also many apps that don't use native APIs look bad, Chrome for example is almost unusable.

I haven't used any retina screens, but I use scaling in XFCE for my 27" 2560x1440 monitor and for a 14" 1920x1080 laptop screen, and it works without any issues on both of those. What are the native issues with retina (in Gnome 3, for example)? Are there GUI elements that don't scale along?

Many GUI elements do not scale. For example apps like Chrome and Skype render very small, almost unusable. I'm guessing these apps are not going through X to render. Others like Firefox render ok, but the icons are a bit on the small side. Even Gnome 3 itself doesn't do a great job, when you are in the Workspaces view the taskbar on the left is a bit small. The Settings/Sound menu in the top right doesn't correctly guess how much horizontal space it has and renders narrowly. Many Gnome apps, like the Settings app, renders a bit small.

I might try and install Mate and see if it is any better. I have no interest in using Unity or XFCE so I can't comment on those.

Re: Dell XPS 13 Developer Edition review

#69

Post by macco »

Al-Khwarizmi wrote: post #36

A laptop targeted to developers should have a TrackPoint to move the cursor without taking the hands off the keyboard, a non-shortscreen monitor to see more lines of code, a matte screen to read the code better, and a numpad to, well, type numbers. OK, I guess I'm asking too much for today's standards, even if all these things were common ten years ago (sigh...), but when I saw "developer edition" I thought I would s…

This is totally shitty naming by Dell. Name it Dell Sputnik and you are fine.

Re: Dell XPS 13 Developer Edition review

#70

Post by pedrocr »

deno wrote: post #17
davidw wrote: post #2

I have one of these and think it's pretty good. I am really happy to have been able to give my money to someone selling me something with Linux on it.

I think the standard for friendly hardware should be open firmware support (Coreboot), rather than what’s preinstalled on HDD.

Knowing that you're not also paying for a windows license and inflating the Windows market share numbers is also nice.
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