A Developer Edition (with Linux preloaded) will come at some point.<p>Currently there are driver issues of which the non-working audio is most persistent. Most elaborate info on it here:<p><a href="https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/1413446" rel="nofollow">https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/1413446</a><p>In this Reddit thread...<p><a href="http://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/2u0jjd/linux_support_is_terrible_on_the_new_dell_xps_13/" rel="nofollow">http://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/2u0jjd/linux_support_...</a><p>...you find comment from barton808, who identifies himself as the Team Lead of Sputnik (= XPS13 Linux), and gives away that they are waiting/working on the same issues (to be resolved).<p>I think it will make a great laptop. I currently own an XPS13 old version, and think it is just a bit short of Apple hardware. I've heard this new one should be up to par with Apple's hardware while having an eventually more compatible hardware stack.<p>It will probably be the most powerful Linux-preinstalled ultrabook on the market, when releaed.<p>Fingers crossed it may be released soon. :)
The interesting difference between this review and that of most others is that Anandtech endorsed Dell's claims of 15 hours of battery life.<p>Reviews like at The Verge[1] measured the battery life at 6.5 hours.<p>I trust Anandtech more than The Verge to conduct properly controlled tests, but it really does illustrate the point that usage has a far bigger impact on battery life on modern notebooks than it did in the past.<p>1: <a href="http://www.theverge.com/2015/2/13/8030821/dell-xps-13-laptop-ultrabook-review" rel="nofollow">http://www.theverge.com/2015/2/13/8030821/dell-xps-13-laptop...</a>
I had been trying to find a decent developer's laptop for some time, and it led me to the xps 13 "developer edition" (the predecessor to this one). Keep in mind that I <i>really</i> wanted to like that laptop.<p>However, in the end, I went back to my macbook air. There were just too many small headaches to deal with. I'll list them here. I'd like to know if there are any improvements this time around. I'd be curious to know if they're going to do another "developer edition" for this new model.<p>1) The touchpad sensitivity was way off in ubuntu, and I couldn't use normal configs to tune it properly. Sounds like they fixed it.<p>2) The wifi range was very poor compared to mba.<p>3) Battery life was not as good as mba.<p>4) Ubuntu wasn't very good at scaling high dpi resolutions on smaller displays. The mba I have doesn't have a high dpi, and I don't need it for my work. FWIW, the retina class displays in the mbp all are perfect.<p>5) The mba are better balanced. The xps13 was a little wobbly since the weight was not well distributed. It was also slightly harder to open and close.<p>Honestly, all of these things add up. Darwin isn't a "true" *nix, but it's close enough for me. If I'm off the mark on these issues these days, let me know.
It seems great, but I really need a 16GB RAM option. (At least they have the 512GB SSD)<p>With a couple of VMs, and a webbrowser, 8 GB can get tiny, and those machines don't evolve, so I'd like to plan for a couple of years...
I'm surprised that Dell managed to get back to this point, but I think Apple is no longer a no-brainer if you want a "nicer" build quality, and you can start differentiating based on support. I never thought I would buy a non-Apple laptop again, but I've actually been eyeing the Dell XPS and a friend's recent experiences w/ AppleCare makes me want to take every effort to find an alternative hardware vendor, assuming they can hit close to the same quality.
Nice looking unit. I'm going to look seriously at it, instead of a MacBook Air 11, for a travel machine.<p>Dell's claim of "a 13 inch display in the chassis of an 11 inch notebook" is reasonable:<p>Dell 13: 304 mm x 200 mm x 9-15 mm<p>Air 11: 300 mm x 192 mm x 3-17 mm<p>And the weights are within 100 g of each other.
I ordered a XPS 13 in 2014 over the phone since there was a problem with checking out at the website at the time. I spent 15 hours (started logging hours after the 2nd) total fixing their mistake when I realized they didn't order me the developer edition. Those hours were also spent fixing the screw up of them sending it to the wrong address.<p>I did end up getting the laptop. It was pretty nice except I could hear an electrical hiss coming from the bottom of the laptop when the room was quiet.<p>I had a friend who had one and confirmed the sound was coming from his as well.<p>I sent the laptop back and spent another 2 hours with their "support" for that.<p>I'll never buy from Dell again.
This turned out to be a longer first post than I though it would be.
I don't know why people are comparing these "good" laptops to Apple laptops in specs. Apple laptops really have not been better than the best laptops. For every MBPr that has come out there has been a better laptop by one of the tops Asus, Dell, HP, Lenovo, Acer. The reason is I buy Apple is I need a stable operating system. The last 4 Windows based machine I owned crashed when I close/move/sleep/awoke it/plugged in another display (who would think that would crash a computer), the reason was drivers. I switched those laptops from Windows to try Linux and it was marginally better but again driver support did not fix those problems.
I bought 4 non Apple laptops in hopes to get a good one.<p>When I switched to Apple I still faced issues bug only 1/10 the time as when I was with other brands. I hate apple operating system lack of getting things I want. I wish I could have stayed with Windows, I am hampered by using silly work arounds to play video games I love. Linux is great if I didn't have so many configuration issues, installing the correct video driver is a pain (I'm looking at you intel video cards). The system works.<p>I spent 20 years working on windows machines. The last 4 years Windows machines just have had more and more issues which pushed me to something that is stable and will work.
I got a custom built 13.3" Sony Vaio S. It's got 12GB ram, 1TB disk, Intel i7 at 2.9Ghz, 1600x900 display, Blu-Ray Reader/DVD-RW Combo, 3G modem, gbit ethernet, both VGA and HDMI output, 3 USB ports (2 of them 3.0) SD Card and MemoryCard and cost 987 GBP plus tax which I got back on my way out. Oh and it's got very good Linux compatibity out of the box. Resumes from ram without a hitch, I only reboot when I need to get something done with the kernel. I'm writing this while listening music via my bluetooth headset. Battery sustains around 2 hours of work, but it used to be better. It was leaps and bounds ahead of what Apple had to offer with its Macbook PRO line at the time at 2/3 of its weight, and I fear still is.<p>I'm looking at Dell's machine and yes it's got a higher resolution display (but is it <i>better</i> at that display size? I hope!), and presumably an updated processor, but that's it. No nic, no disk spinner, less ports, no VGA, etc. Call me old-fashioned but I can't consider a laptop without a couple easy ways to get data on/off (e.g. ethernet ports, disk spinners) as a development workstation.<p>Top that and I'll pay you.<p>And shame on you, Sony, for not being able to properly sell today's market leader that you came up with two years ago. Shame on you.
I've had the high end version (i7 & hi-res touchscreen) for a couple of weeks as my primary development machine and so far is pretty satisfied<p>The keyboard is more plastic than for instance the Zenbook but good. I've had no issues with the track pad, two-finger scrolling works perfectly. Best trackpad I've had on a PC laptop (don't know what The Verge was raving about, maybe pinch gestures aren't as good as mac?)<p>As for battery issues, It does feel that it doesn’t last too long, like 3-4 hours tops (I run Bitlocker & Chrome though so that has some impact). I don't think this is as much the laptops fault really as it depends mostly on having a screen with very high resolution and depending on how you configure power saving options, what kind of work you do etc.<p>I think it’s pretty safe to say that the Xps "13 is the best PC laptop in this form factor right now until sharp releases the exclusivity on the screen in November, then Asus might give them a run for their money again.<p>To their credit I vowed never to buy a dell laptop again but they proved me wrong. A 14"-15" version of this laptop with more ram would be the ultimate though, larger screen so you can use the resolution better, more battery volume for a little better longevity.<p>I'm not so sure the hi-res version is the best option for developers because of the energy drain, especially if you need to work on battery for a whole day. The power pack buys you some time but very doubtful you'd last a whole day.<p>Also matte screens is often better than glossy for development, at least when working outside or where's there's sun.<p>Then again, you might need touch for development and the touch version with gorilla glass looks much better.<p>Personally the feature I'm dying to get now that we have almost bezel free computers are Amoled screens. Bezelfree where the true blacks of the screen blends into the little bezel there is would be truly droolworthy
I own the generation preceding this (xps 13 9333) and use Ubuntu 14.10 on it. In general I'm pretty happy with it, though the coil whine is an annoyance. The touchpad is good, though if I'm being completely honest it's not _quite_ on par with that of the MBPr I use for work. 128GB hasn't actually been a problem, but I pretty aggressively offload all media on to owncloud so I'm not storing movies, pictures, etc.<p>I bought a refurb on ebay so it wasn't terribly expensive, but at list price it would be a little difficult to justify compared to a MBA. I bought it because I wanted to use Ubuntu as my primary OS and am not completely thrilled about giving money to a company that loves walled gardens.
It's strange that no 28W Broadwell-U machines have been reviewed yet.<p>Since they have almost 2x of the power budget than the 15W ones, I expect them to be a whole different beasts for loads where you need both GPU and CPU to be active.
<i>Amazingly, Dell claims 15 hours 12 minutes of battery life, and on our Light test we hit exactly that.</i><p>That sounds <i>really</i> impressive. Congratulations!<p>I have mixed feelings when it comes to Dell. I use Dell U2713HM. Initially I got the first revision which had issues with a buzzing sound emitted when displaying a pattern on the screen. It completely died after a few weeks. I got a replacement (third revision) and haven't experienced any problems since.<p>I haven't owned a Dell laptop. How good are they when compared to other PC laptops and MacBooks?
For those looking for a Ultrabook form factor workstation with 16GB RAM capability - the HP ZBook 14 looks like a great choice. Anandtech review here - <a href="http://anandtech.com/show/8186/hp-zbook-14-review-mobile-workstation-meets-ultrabook" rel="nofollow">http://anandtech.com/show/8186/hp-zbook-14-review-mobile-wor...</a> . You don't get a ton of battery life out of it but there's a choice of bigger battery.
As much as I love SSD's, is 256GB actually enough for power users? Or are they assuming the OS will be on the SSD and you can hook up an external HD for more space?<p>Just curious.
Switched to Linux a few months ago after I got tired of running out of memory and CPU power on a 16GB i7 MBPr. My productivity has increased 2x. All those little customisations to OS that you end up doing when using Linux really do end up making your life a lot easier in the long run.<p>I think Apple is on the same path as Microsoft was more than a decade ago. They are losing developers.
I own a 2014 XPS 13 and I absolutely love it, but my next machine will be a Macbook. The reason is pretty simple: resale value. Upgrading to the latest and greatest Macbook is absurdly cheap since you can sell your old model for close to the original price. Whereas I'll be lucky to get half of what I paid for my XPS 13.
People I know, who have used this laptop (the previous avatar), never had a good thing to say about this laptop - from the extremely high prices to rampant overheating.<p>3 years back I went for an Air, and till date that's been my only iProduct - yes, the iPrice just doesn't make sense to me, price was the reason I didn't buy any other laptop but the Macbook Air. My needs were clear >= 4GB RAM, 100+ SSD being the prime needs along with extremely good battery life and extremely light-weight and solid machine (And I was indeed lured by the polished/pretty OS - but I do still love my xubuntu). Yes, Air delivered that. I am from India and at that time a comparable machine (wasn't one available really) was available for at least ~30% higher than the Macbook Air price and the that scenario is pretty much still the same (both the higher price part and "alternative not really available" part). (I guess it may not be the same in US or other western countries)