Ask HN: Dell XPS 13/15 best developer laptop? Preparing for Black Friday - eljbutler
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macmac
I can certainly recommend the XPS 15 as a dev laptop. Don't get the high end
screen it eats battery like crazy. I run Ubuntu as my only OS and it works
perfectly out of the box. Keyboard is excellent and the screen is big enough
for daily use. USB-C hub works very smoothly.

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jkeuhlen
> it works perfectly out of the box.

Did you install a specific version of Ubuntu or something? I have a recent XPS
15 that I installed 18.04 on, and I have had a fair number of problems. My
USB-C hub (from Dell as well) doesn't work properly for USB pass through. My
bluetooth headphones require me to connect, disconnect, and reconnect every
single time to work properly. My wifi drivers will randomly disappear from
time to time. And I have a scattering of other random issues with it.

Most of these feel like "minor" problems, as I can still work productively
with my setup. But I definitely couldn't describe my experience as smooth.

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altacc
Personally I find that the two things that make the most difference to me are
the keyboard and the screen real estate. So if you can find a shop where you
can try typing on a variety of laptops. Other specs you can equalise but the
hardware is fixed when you're on the move. Where I work I have a separate
keyboard and monitor as full size and full travel keyboards are nicer to work
with than most laptop keyboards, including the XPS.

I like the XPS 15 screen size, although for some development on Windows the
high resolution means you're squinting at tiny fonts if the program doesn't
scale up. Performance wise, it does what I ask it to and only really has an
issue with very heavy tasks, which is expected for a laptop of this spec.

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eljbutler
Thanks for the info.

I travel a good bit. Hours on planes where i get lots of work done. However
for this i find slightly smaller screens than 15" easier to manage.

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altacc
My other laptop is an HP Elitebook 1040 with a 14" screen. I'm also happy with
that and it's what I travel with the most. It's a bit thinner and lighter than
the XPS but less than an inch narrower. Compared to that size difference, the
screen of the XPS feels a lot larger.

Something worth noting if you're travelling a lot: the power brick for the HP
is smaller and lighter than the Dell's. Considering that you'll have to carry
that with you, it should be part of the weight calculation.

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KevinAiken
I bought a refurbed Dell XPS 15 9550 a little over a year ago. I love it. I
run Ubuntu on it and I've yet to have any problems.

Only negatives are that the webcams in an odd place, the speakers are awful,
and it's a bit heavy.

The only XPS competitor I considered was various comparable Thinkpad models.
They have a very different look and keyboard feel, so it's really down to
personal preference or what specific deals you can find. Older but still
reliable Thinkpads can be incredibly inexpensive, and are also very easy to
modify.

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kugelblitz
I saw the Dell G5 (entry level gaming series from Dell) with a i7-9750H, 16 GB
DDR4 RAM, RTX 2060 and 512 GB SSD for currently 1260 EUR (screen is Full HD
IPS), that's quite a nice deal.

But in general in regards to laptop / computers, there's no one size fits all.
It really depends on what your focus is.

I'm shelling out for a Mini Tower soon, including a new Ryzen. Not sure yet if
going for the 8 core 3700X or go all in with the 16 core 3950X.

If you like portability, the Dell XPS or something like Razer Blade (Stealth)
or MSI GS series might be nice. If you need power, maybe something more in the
lines of an XMG Ultra with a desktop CPU fits better.

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intersys
It's a great laptop, I have it for 3 years already and it works perfectly...
until the battery died, two weeks ago. Now i'm searching for a replacement and
dell's support is awful. They don't take care the responsibility of the
computer parts. Instead, they forward you to a 3rd party partner who _should_
provide you them. If I only had Apple care..

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inertiatic
I just started using an XPS 13 as my work equipment and it's... Okay?

The trackpad is okay but nothing spectacular, feels worse than a MacBook, the
keyboard is okay but slightly mushy.

Small bezels and generally alright design, but that's about it.

I wouldn't prefer it to any random well specced laptop. A price comparison
site lists my configuration as costing 1700 euro which is a stupid amount of
money if you ask me. My wife's old Zenbook feels about as premium and
certainly held up great after 4-5 years.

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runjake
I was going to go for the XPS 13. It’s a great laptop, but now that it appears
Apple might be making a decent laptop once again, I’ll probably shoot for the
MacBook Pro 16” instead.

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darthoctopus
I have an xps13 (9360) running linux; it's been extremely sturdy and
relatively painless to upgrade/repair (except for the memory, which is
soldered on). it's also very compact. I've had almost no driver issues (one
was resolved by a BIOS update). The battery still lasts ~7 hours after 2.5
years. keyboard is good. would strongly recommend, especially if you're moving
around a lot.

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SamReidHughes
Personally I prefer a 15" Latitude or maybe Precision. It depends on your
needs of course.

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jokinko
I have dell xps 9570 and i DON'T RECOMMEND it...it's noisy,fan is constantly
on, weird noises, coil whining, random freezing...

Buy Lenovo x1

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rurban
I prefer better keyboards, like on the Thinkpad

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1996
Best is cheapest. Because you can have one or more spares. And you don't cry
when it dies or you forget it somewhere

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frou_dh
Most times I've stocked up on hardware spares, when the time comes to actually
use the first or second spare, I don't particularly like the product any more,
and would rather have something else.

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p1esk
LG Gram 17

