
Dell updates popular XPS 13 laptop with 16:10 screen, IR camera - alphadevx
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2020/01/dell-updates-xps-13-laptop-with-1610-aspect-ratio-screen-ir-camera/
======
spuz
I love the 16:10 ratio screen but a bit disappointed that the page-up and
page-down keys are still squashed above the left and right arrow keys. I have
used the XPS 13 for about 6 months and just cannot avoid hitting the pg-up or
pg-down keys when reaching for the arrow keys which is a nightmare for coding.
I would much rather have those as function keys as they were on the previous
model of the XPS 13.

When I looked into this issue, I found an old thread on a Dell forum where an
XPS 13 user (of a previous model) was complaining that there were no dedicated
page-up and down keys. As someone that uses those keys a lot I get that it
seems Dell's solution to this has caused them to sabotage the functionality of
the arrow keys and is definitely worse than having no dedicated keys for pg-up
and down. I was hoping they would hear feedback from developers or anyone who
uses arrow keys a lot and revert back to the old layout.

~~~
skyyler
We've heard your complaints, and now those keys are backspace and forward
delete.

~~~
spuz
Wait is this a joke or is it real? I've actually gone and taken another look
and now I can't tell what the actual new layout of the keyboard is. I can't
find any examples of photos of the latest model with a UK layout.

Edit turns out I was wrong and now the pg-up and pg-down keys _are_ function
keys again but the left and right keys are now full-size. From what I've heard
from MacBook users, they prefer the inverted T layout that Apple went with
with their latest 16" laptop as it's easier to find the arrow keys by feel. Oh
well I guess it's still a big improvement from last year's design.

~~~
eisa01
It's really funny how PC OEMs copied the broken Apple arrow-key layout from
2016-18...

------
nas
I have a 13" XPS and a 15" Macbook Pro. I wanted to like the XPS but the Mac
is just much better hardware. First, there is no comparison between the
quality of the touchpads. The MacBook one works great but the XPS is terrible
(imprecise movement, accidental movement/clicks from palm). The XPS wifi card
is unreliable, it frequently disconnects. I understand a lot of people replace
it with a better one. The screen is not great. There is no way to disable the
automatic brightness magic going on (terrible for doing photograph
processing). There is no way to turn of the eye blinding charge light on the
front, under the touchpad. For a laptop that is premium priced, I'm
disappointed with the hardware quality. I prefer my Lenovo X230 over the XPS
13.

~~~
throwawaysea
One issue with Windows laptops on WiFi that annoys me is that they aren't
well-tuned to transfer from one access point to another. For example at work I
will often have to disconnect from the network and reconnect to get my laptop
to snap to a nearby access point. Otherwise it stays connected to a far away
point but with weaker connection indicated (by the bars). This never seems to
be an issue with iOS/MacOS devices.

~~~
llampx
Maybe Macs have gotten better, but on my MBP 2015 it would never switch
seamlessly from one AP to another when moving around the office.

------
1e-9
The ars technica writeup does not mention the most significant upgrade of all
in my opinion: 32GB RAM in February. See
[https://bartongeorge.io/2020/01/01/introducing-
the-2020-xps-...](https://bartongeorge.io/2020/01/01/introducing-
the-2020-xps-13-developer-edition-this-one-goes-to-32/)

------
CharlesColeman
That's awesome. 16:9 monitors only make sense for watching video, and are an
abomination for pretty much any kind of work involving text.

I will be very happy when 4k 16:10 or 3:2 desktop monitors become widely
available at an affordable price.

~~~
partiallypro
Microsoft's Surface has the perfect aspect ratio for screens (3:2), imo. Wide
screen devices just look wrong. 16:10 is fine, but it still isn't quite right
(this is also what Apple uses.)

~~~
stevehawk
I very reluctantly gave up my Thinkpad Yoga 2 for a new Surfacebook instead of
sticking with Lenovo but I have no regretted the switch yet. Any chance you
can recommend a USB C hub that retains a USB-C plug on it that will do
DisplayPort out? I have a nice Anker USB-C hub but it only gives me HDMI out
and even though it retains a USB-C plug on it it downgrades it to USB 3.0.

~~~
kaibee
There's two Lenovo docks that do this. One has an integrated GPU that I guess
you can use if you have thunderbolt, one doesn't. Both provide plenty of
displayport/hdmi out.

I think this was it: [https://www.amazon.com/Lenovo-ThinkPad-
Thunderbolt-40AN0135U...](https://www.amazon.com/Lenovo-ThinkPad-
Thunderbolt-40AN0135US-
Capability/dp/B07M6S81CM/ref=sr_1_4?keywords=lenovo+dock&qid=1578085392&s=electronics&sr=1-4)

I bought one to use with my HP work laptop at home.

------
pkilgore
Does any Dell employee lurking have info about why I should consider waiting
for the developers edition rather than just load up my favorite distro on the
consumer hardware?

~~~
lebrad
The reason to get the Developer Edition is to endorse OEM Linux support

~~~
Lio
Further to that Dell will also have configured it with Linux compatible
hardware with solid driver support.

For example, the WiFi and Bluetooth support in dev edition XPS13 is solid.

You’re also paying for OEM firmware updates. I've had several over the life of
my XPS13 even though it’s no longer the current model.

------
giancarlostoro
Looks nice, I'm torn about what my next laptop should be, but at this point
whoever can offer me the most for 1k and I want 16GB of RAM minimum, if that's
not possible, I'm holding back. I'm sick of paying ridiculous money for
basically the same maximum RAM we've been able to buy for a decade (A 2010 MBP
could hold 16GB of RAM, sure it's not DDR4 or better, but it's still useful
and runs just fine).

~~~
CoolGuySteve
Yeah, I replaced my wife's marginally upgraded 2011 MacBook Air recently with
the 2019 MacBook Air because I got tired of looking at that shitty TN panel on
the old Air.

8 years later and the base model $1100 MacBook still has 8GB of ram and 256GB
of storage, just like the 2011 MacBook Air I wanted to replace.

What the fuck happened?

~~~
giancarlostoro
Meanwhile I can get a decent tower that costs about the base price of a Mac
Mini with 16GB of RAM, a decent SSD, and so on, can play GTA5 and the new Tomb
Raider (a buddy of mine built a rig for like under $400 and benchmarked with
those games and was surprised).

~~~
CoolGuySteve
Yeah, the HP Envy 13 I use has a sharper display, a 1TB SSD, and 16GB of RAM,
and twice as many cores for $100 cheaper than the 2019 MacBook Air.

It got crushed by an airline seat reclining but other than some slight warping
it's fine, so the build quality is actually pretty decent on it.

The only things worse about the Envy are the tiny trackpad and the lack of OS
X, but I prefer Ubuntu to OS X these days anyways.

------
jshevek
"Dell estimates that this model will get up to 19 hours of battery life when
configured with an FHD+ display."

I like this trend.

~~~
akvadrako
Up to means you don’t really do anything and set the brightness low.

The trend is actually to have smaller batteries. So if you do anything that
uses the cpu 19 hours can become 3 pretty quick.

------
CoolGuySteve
Maybe one day, the chipset gods at Intel will see fit to bless us with a 13"
ultrabook that has 32GB of RAM.

I can't tell if it's Intel restricting it, but it's suspicious to me that
every manufacturer simultaneously agreed to not ship larger RAM configurations
in this form factor.

~~~
jadbox
The developer model has an option for 32gb!

[https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Dell-
XPS...](https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Dell-XPS-13-DE-
Icelake-2020)

EDIT: the 32gb model isn't available for sale until next month I think

~~~
CoolGuySteve
Oh wow, so the arstechnica article is mistaken. This is great news.

------
ajflores1604
I'm hoping Thinkpad follows this lead and also moves to something not 16:9

~~~
llampx
Lenovo announced the X1 Carbon 2020 as well today, and it looks the same as
the X1 Carbon 2019 and the X1 Carbon 2018. Max 16 GB RAM.

But hey, it has WiFi 6 now.

------
chadlavi
Kind of annoying that you can't get it without the windows logo on the meta
key when buying it with Linux.

~~~
retrac
I'm surprised Microsoft would let them use that logo on a product not sold
with Windows.

~~~
rednixion
They didn't two models ago and there was a special kernel hack/package
installed specifically to keep the windows key from doing anything since there
wasn't an accompanying license, it took less than a minute to remove but still
annoying.

The last model didn't have that keyblock though so I guess they got over it.

------
throwawaysea
This may seem like a minor issue, but the downward firing speakers are a
ridiculous choice for 2020. There are laptops that don't have compromises like
these. Yes we can use headphones or pair an external bluetooth speaker, but
sometimes it is nice to just have your laptop fill your hotel room with sound
and you may not have these other accessories on hand.

------
poulsbohemian
I don't think there is anything particularly different about my development
environment than others, but I really struggle with only 16gb of ram. As much
as I like being mobile, my MBP is "light duty" at best (real work relegated to
my iMac). Thus, disappointing to see the 16gb limit on these new Dell models.

~~~
NilsIRL
What is your development environment?

------
purplezooey
Are keyboards going to get so flat that at some point they are concave...

------
jupp0r
What a disappointing review. Core count? RAM clock rates? I guess it's really
an "enterprise" laptop for people who don't care much about things like that.

~~~
CaptainMarvel
It’s not a review. It’s just a press release/advertisement.

------
mbreedlove
Why would someone want an IR camera?

I can't find any information online about why that would be useful.

~~~
cpascal
It's for Windows Hello (facial recognition login).

