
Dell XPS 13 Review from a lifelong Mac user - geerlingguy
https://www.jeffgeerling.com/blog/2018/dell-xps-13-9360-review-lifelong-mac-user
======
eknkc
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 about the hardware at that
point. It's all about software.

I tried doing that a couple months ago when my MBP went bad as Apple doesn't
know how to build a keyboard anymore. Bought an XPS 13". I think it has great
hardware. Couldn't switch away from macOS. I'd use XPS with macOS over the
shitty Macbook Pro any day.

~~~
morley
I'm surprised no one has mentioned keyboard portability. I find it incredibly
hard to switch from ctrl on Windows to cmd on Mac. In college I had to switch
frequently between Windows and Mac, and it was a nightmare.

Since then, I've committed to only use MacOS on a Macbook and Windows on a
real keyboard. That seems to preserve my muscle memory the best. But things
can be rough when I use a Windows laptop or a standalone Mac keyboard.

~~~
abrowne
I am the same, but with the Mac command layout burned into my brain (and
thumbs). My solution when I switched to Linux from Mac is to make the control
key the one next to the space bar, like command is. Luckily it's super easy to
swap control and super or alt (depending on Mac or PC layout) using xkbd on
Linux. In MATE and KDE it's in the keyboard settings; in GNOME it's in Tweaks
(with Xfce you need to use a config file somehow). I think you can do the same
on Windows with autohotkey but I haven't tried.

~~~
heyoni
Weird. I just switched the command to the outermost key and alt/ctrl with each
other and had no issues with it.

Fixed some wrist pain I was having though from cmd-tabbing with the default
layout!

------
reacharavindh
I have a Dell XPS 13 as my personal machine. It runs Linux. Everything works.

But, I still find myself using my MacBook Pro (provided by work) for almost
everything even at home.

Two things that keep me in the Mac land.

1\. Retina Display and the 16:10 aspect ratio. 2\. Smooth, and usable
touchpad.

XPS13's display is too rectangle and I'm not watching movies in it. It feels
too cramped for looking at code. GNOME out of the box does not do fractional
scaling (125%) hence everything looks either too big or too small to my taste.

I dont have the patience or the know-how to tune the touchpad to be decent in
Linux.

~~~
eksemplar
This is the perfect description of why I’ll probably never leave Mac land. I
want my technology to work out the box, and Mac does that.

Sure I could probably setup the Linux trackpad to be Mac like if I threw
plenty of hours at it, but I don’t want to waste my time like that, not
anymore. I did in my youth, but now I’ll just buy the thing that works.

~~~
karlmdavis
> I want my technology to work out the box, and Mac does that.

Same here, but with a twist: out of the box, Linux makes it easier for me to
install the things I need to do my job. The display, power management, etc.
issues are all frustrating, true, but ultimately not as important.

Different folks have different priorities.

~~~
karlmdavis
I'm a software developer so for me: dev tools, basic shell utilities,
PostgreSQL, Docker, etc.

~~~
koffiezet
All those things work pretty well on OSX. I really really like Linux, but only
on CLI. Every time I touch a desktop running linux I get frustrated. OSX isn't
perfect - but as a productive environment, it's the best fit or me personally.

And I'd love to upgrade my 2013 13" mba with an mbp, mainly for the display,
but the keyboard issues on recent mbp's make me hesitant of spending that much
money on it...

------
procinct
I have a 2015 MBP and a Dell XPS 13 (I forget the year) and the thing that
blew me away the most with Dell is the support. One day I went to turn my XPS
on and it wouldn’t start. After some research it seemed like a dead
motherboard. I was concerned I was going to have to send my laptop away for
months to have it fixed but surprisingly because the XPS is an enterprise
grade machine it qualifies for their pro support. This meant I was entitled to
on premises repair. They sent a guy out to my place and he repaired it in
front of me in about an hour. I very quickly went from a very poor impression
of Dell (due to my laptop failing so soon) to a very good one. I still prefer
my MBP but that was likely the best support experience I’ve ever had.

~~~
subway
The onsite and accidental damage options on ThinkPads was (is?) absolutely
amazing. I think I paid an extra $100, but when I knocked my machine off the
desk, Lenovo dispatched an IBMer to my office with a replacement panel in
under 24 hours.

~~~
mseebach
My wife had a refurbished X40 for the longest time. One time, the fan gave in,
I tried to clean it, but couldn't get it to move. I figured it couldn't hurt
to Google the part-number, and quickly ended up on IBMs country-local website
with a local phone number. I dialed, and braced, half for an infinite IVR
tree, half for being quoted a number in the range of the GDP of a small
country. But neither happened, a few minutes later, a very helpful woman had
quoted me something like $9.46 including postage and taking payment by card.
The new fan arrived a few days later, and the X40 went on to live for a few
more years. That thing was a tank.

------
cannam
I recently sold an XPS 13, an i7 9543 model from 2015, which was the first
laptop in a long time that I regretted buying.

I got it as a Windows machine and never ran anything else on it. Technically
it was broadly fine. The specs were OK, it was reasonably repairable, I had a
hi-dpi screen, the case was solid.

But the keyboard felt really dead, the wrist rest was smeary, the screen had a
grainy impression, the machine was slower than its specs would suggest, and
the 16:9 ratio and thicker/heavier than expected construction meant there
wasn't much to be gained from the narrow bezels on the screen.

I replaced it with a high-spec MS Surface Laptop, which is a risky gambit
because the Surface is effectively completely unrepairable. But it has a
better keyboard, screen (3:2 ratio), and touchpad, it's faster, and the wrist
rest has a nice carpet on it. It's a pleasure to use so far, in contrast to
the Dell.

It's funny how much of this still comes down to personal ergonomic factors.

~~~
vvanders
+1 on Surface. Have a Surface Book with discrete GPU and been really happy
with it overall. Really a fan of the 3:2 aspect ratio.

~~~
xamarinthrw
I've heard this very often. I am interested in knowing more about it. Is it
just a matter of feeling or are there things you can pinpoint which work
better for you? Compared to 4:3 (narrower) and 16:9 (wider)

------
dshep
As far as non-apple laptops go, XPS13 seems a solid choice but I think this
Huawei would be my first choice now (look at that screen!)
[https://consumer.huawei.com/us/tablets/matebook-x-
pro/](https://consumer.huawei.com/us/tablets/matebook-x-pro/)

~~~
dest
Note they have put the webcam in the F6 key.

~~~
gls2ro
It is not on the F6 key but it is between F6 and F7 (a new key added with
camera symbol on it) as far as I can see in the picture with focus on
keyboard.

~~~
dest
Indeed. Good catch

------
skrebbel
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 more honest impression of what I might be missing)

~~~
yulaow
I always had very little sympathy for those who express very strong opinion
_against_ other OSes and their users, professionals or not. In 2018 every one
of the main OSes can be used efficiently for programming purposes, windows10
too especially now that it has the WLS

~~~
abrookins
I've been hearing this about WSL for a while now. However, I just spent a ton
of time (like weeks) actually trying Windows 10 and the Windows Subsystem for
Linux (for those who don't know what WSL is), coming from a Mac, and I gotta
say, WSL isn't there yet for the code I work with. Specifically, it worked
fine for some Python stuff, it built some Go code decently, I figured
something out for Docker, but then it blew up on the Rails apps I use (a
missing syscall implementation breaks unicorn).

Aside from the potential to run into show-stopping problems like that, you may
run into "big company" problems if you work for one, like I do. That is, VPN
support within WSL only half-works, and because it's Windows you may be forced
to follow domain policies that require Windows Defender to run, which slows
down WSL, and blocks you from Insider builds that could fix WSL problems.

You can run a Linux VM on Windows instead of WSL. Which has its own set of
problems and is overall a worse experience than developing on macOS, in my
opinion.

So currently while, as a Mac user, I actually prefer the Windows 10 UI, the
hardware competition, the keyboards, etc., I can't use WSL. Side-projects that
you can adapt to WSL's limitations are one thing, but making it work as your
development environment for a wide-range of professional projects is another.
I saw all this with some actual sadness because I'm tired of investing in
Apple when they've basically abandoned macOS and are making so many hardware
choices I disagree with, that affect me (keyboard, touch bar).

~~~
gecko
Would I be correct that you tried WSL in late summer/fall last year? I'm
asking because WSL got a _pile_ of new syscalls, a couple of which (if I
recall correctly) fixed the unicorn issue you hit. Likewise, there are now
standard GPOs you can distribute that exempt WSL from Defender. I 100% agree
that running a Linux VM can sometimes be a lot better (and it's not exactly
hard, given that Hyper-V has been in Windows for forever and has strong
command-line support), but I find that I can use WSL for virtually everything
these days compared to even six months ago.

~~~
abrookins
Actually, it was as recently as this very week! Running with all the latest
updates on a new Surface Book 2, I ran into a variation of this open issue:
[https://github.com/Microsoft/WSL/issues/1982](https://github.com/Microsoft/WSL/issues/1982).

That was only the last and final blocking issue I ran into, after a series of
minor (or at least, not serious) problems that I powered through during too
many late nights.

Couple of things:

\- Hyper-V. Was excited for this and tried it, since I had already set up
Docker for Windows and pointed the CLI tools in WSL at it. However, Hyper-V
didn't appear to have any support for the "shared folder" concept that VMWare
and VirtualBox do. Is your only option here to set up Windows share and use
Samba?

\- I dislike running VMs generally, but would have gone that route if I could
have gotten a setup I liked. However, after reconfiguring everything to use
VirtualBox (including Docker) and creating a single VM there to do Docker and
Linux stuff on, it seemed to tax the machine too much (i5 8GB SB2). With a
beefy machine that would have worked better, but Windows 10 isn't that
appealing if I have to buy the highest-spec machines and run VMs... that's
exactly where it was 5-10 years ago.

I have a lot more to say about WSL and Windows 10, and it probably deserves a
blog post. I haven't returned the Surface yet because I'm kinda in love with
it, but also if I can't do all my work on it, then it's not something I need
to own.

~~~
gecko

        Actually, it was as recently as this very week! Running with all the
        latest updates on a new Surface Book 2, I ran into a variation of
        this open issue: https://github.com/Microsoft/WSL/issues/1982.
    

Well that stinks. I'd swear I hit this and it got resolved with the inotify-
related patches, but clearly I misremembered. Might be thinking of uwsgi or
something.

Re. Hyper-V: yeah, I do a Samba mount. This in my experience actually performs
a _ton_ better than VirtualBox shared folders, but it's been a long time. I
have no idea how it compares to VMware's implementation. (VMware and
VirtualBox also have the ability to cleanly virtualize a graphics-accelerated
Linux desktop, which is _not_ something I need or care about, but might be a
show-stopper for both WSL and Hyper-V if you do.)

~~~
abrookins
That's okay -- I'm sure they fixed something _like_ that issue! The WSL team
has been crazy busy, and their work so far is super impressive.

VirtualBox shared folders had their own problems. `npm` wants to create
symlinks for commands provided by packages, but VirtualBox doesn't support
symlinks by default on Windows shares. So you have to execute an arcane
command to enable that feature -- every time you restart the computer.

Interesting to hear that performance is decent with the Samba share. I
presumed it would be otherwise. In that case, Hyper-V with Samba may be my
last shot at getting the machine to work for me... we'll see if I can muster
any more enthusiasm.

~~~
Fnoord
It is possible to create directory symlinks in Windows. It is called junctions
[1]

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NTFS_junction_point](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NTFS_junction_point)

~~~
gecko
NTFS actually has support for proper symbolic links, which are not the same as
junction points. I come across this confusion fairly often and I'm not clear
why. (`mklink /d` is what you're looking for, and do note that this is
different from `mklink /j` in meaningful ways. Do note these commands must be
run from an Administrator shell prior to Windows 10.)

[EDIT: Also, reading GP, it looks like their issue is something about
VirtualBox support for symlinks, not Windows support for symlinks. Symlinks
are enabled in Windows by default, so they'd only have to do something special
if they were on a domain that disabled them in the group policy--but in that
case, they wouldn't be able to turn them back on themselves on a reboot
anyway.]

------
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.

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

This is really surprising. Can you say what specific replacement worked for
you on that laptop?

~~~
jonmb
I also have the XPS and have experienced my WiFi dropping. Usually a few times
a week. I've heard you can contact Dell support and they will send you a wifi
adapter but I haven't tried it yet myself. Curious to hear of specific
replacement options too.

~~~
Macha
I had massive issues with the Killer Wifi until I installed an (April 2018
iirc?) driver update from the Dell website. Dell's update tool didn't seem to
install it.

------
fuzzy2
I have a Precision 5520 (basically an XPS 15) at work. At home, I have a
Retina MacBook Pro Late 2013. I still prefer the MacBook, even though it’s a
lot less powerful.

First off, the killer with anything Dell: The firmware is just incredibly
terrible. Sometimes it takes 30 seconds for the initial Dell logo to show.
Others have similar issues, too, but no firmware setting seems to help. The
Latitude I had before also took its sweet time during startup.

The MacBook has a keyboard that is actually usable. The Precision does not.
They keys just don’t feel right and make weird noises. The MacBook touchpad is
better, too. The Precision touchpad tends to make the cursor jump while
clicking.

And last but not least: Windows. Microsoft is trying very hard, but it’s not
there yet. Especially mixed DPI support is still terrible, even in Windows
itself.

However, if given a choice, I’ll take the 4K screen again any time. Once you
go “Retina”, you don’t go back.

~~~
BenoitP
Same sentiment here with XPS 15.

The firmware is confusing the integrated Intel HD Graphics card with the
nVidia GeForce; leading to a hugely yanky windows UI, while the CUDA cores are
sitting idle. Independently of wether the laptop is running on battery.

The issue runs around the Desktop Windows Manager not wanting to be executed
on the proper GPU. I don't know who to blame here, Microsoft, Dell or nVidia.
Probably all of them as this seems like a common support issue no one wants to
engage into.

------
pmontra
> Windows 10 spends about 5 minutes (literally!) identifying a bunch of new
> devices and adding them to the system, with a notification popping up for
> each thing

Really, does anybody knows why Windows needs all this time to identify USB
devices? The same PC does it instantaneously when running Linux.

~~~
pxeboot
Here is a partial explanation that was posted on HN in the past:
[https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20041110-00/?p=...](https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20041110-00/?p=37343/)

~~~
restalis
That looks to me like an apology for a lousy job on the requirements
engineering side. Of all possible use-cases the port-tethering behavior
stroked them as the most logical? The question that should have been
considered is how often can it happen for users to plug the same device on
different port vs. to plug two identical devices? Microsoft here gave more
thought to the case with a leaser likelihood, in my opinion. How about
remembering my device regardless of the port I choose to plug it in and give
me the new-device treatment only when I'll _actually_ deserve it by _actually_
plug a(n additional) new device?

------
mherrmann
I made the switch last year and am pretty happy, especially with Ubuntu
instead of macOS: [https://fman.io/blog/home-and-
hotel/](https://fman.io/blog/home-and-hotel/)

~~~
socksy
I have this in my startup scripts to get rid of the hissing sound with
headphones:

    
    
        #this gets rid of the hissing on XPS 13
        amixer -c PCH cset 'name=Headphone Mic Boost Volume' 1

~~~
mherrmann
I'll try it. Thanks!

------
sigi45
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.

~~~
JadeNB
> i'm a touch quicker with the red knob

I would expect a longtime Lenovo user to know that "the red knob" is not the
official unofficial name for that object. :-)

~~~
sigi45
:-( What is it? I do have a german name in mind (knubbel) but i don't know how
others call it?

~~~
JadeNB
> What is it? I do have a german name in mind (knubbel) but i don't know how
> others call it?

Sorry, I was just making a crass joke. The name I had in mind is rather
anatomical:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pointing_stick#Informal_names](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pointing_stick#Informal_names)
.

------
kayoone
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 rock solid, switching between devices seamless

etc

OSX being somewhat more bearable than windows and slightly worse for my work
than linux is not the most important thing to me.

~~~
maxxxxx
"\- 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.

------
7ewis
Also a lifelong Mac user, was given an XPS 13 when I started at my company a
few years ago. My thoughts were exactly the same as Jeff's.

I thought it would be a good device, it looks good, has a nice form factor,
screen etc. but just doesn't work as well as macOS and a MacBook.

I soon after changed to a MacBook and now have the touchbar Mac, which I love!

~~~
zdragnar
Honest question: what do you love about the touch bar?

I tried used one for almost a year, and never used the touch bar once. I was
forced to use an external keyboard because I needed a tactile physical escape
key (caps was already taken by Ctrl or cmd, I forget which).

~~~
fermienrico
I don't think the GP said he/she loves the touchbar. They said, they love the
touchbar Mac.

I agree with you though, I have a touchbar Mac and I would be more happy with
out the touchbar part.

~~~
7ewis
Correct, wasn't specifically referring to the touchbar, however I do use
BetterTouchTool and have a few custom buttons on there.

They aren't too useful to be honest, but it's cool. I show things like my
companies stock price on the TouchBar.

------
eropple
I was going to get the XPS 13 today and I ended up with an HP Spectre x360 13"
(newer one--i7-8550U, 16GB of RAM, 512GB SSD that'll probably eventually be
replaced with a 2TB when the price comes down). Installing Fedora on it right
now. I'm in on a chunkier trackpad click, and the HP has that over the rather
light Dell click that's common across every Dell I tried. Also, I preferred
the keyboard on the Spectre x360 and the overall look-and-feel of it, plus the
pen (for when I am using Windows) feels a little nicer. I wish I could've
found the newer ceramic white Spectre, which I was _in_ on, but it was a two-
week wait and the black-and-copper looks very sharp too.

Ultrabooks seem to have basically converged. Everybody's running more or less
the same hardware. This has been good for Linux; hopefully my install goes as
well.

~~~
acomjean
Let us know how the install goes.. I'd be curious.

Thanks

~~~
eropple
At a first approximation, everything in the actual machine works. The
touchscreen was picked up immediately, the machine stays pretty cool, it's
reading about 7h40m in battery life (this is the 4K model with the i7 and 16GB
of RAM; I expect more like 4h to 5h). I really like the keyboard, and the
keyboard correctly turns off when it's folded back.

This seems at least as good as the XPS 13. Only downside so far is that the
pen is a little finicky in Krita, but I haven't tested yet if that's a battery
problem (it popped a battery warning right away) or a software problem. But
this thing feels really good. I'll probably keep it.

~~~
acomjean
Thanks for the update!

------
bobowzki
Bought a Dell XPS 13 and then returned it because of the horrible coil whine.

~~~
tomswartz07
The new BIOS updates addressed the whine issues I had. Might have been worth
checking out before just taking it back :)

 __EDIT __: To be clear, my issues were resolved after an update back in Dec
2017:[http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/19/Drivers/DriversDet...](http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/19/Drivers/DriversDetails?driverId=YFTT1)

"Optimize CPU loading to Improve EE noise" is specifically one of the issues
that BIOS update addresses.

~~~
skrebbel
Wow, I'm impressed that a BIOS update can fix a coil whine. Got any background
info on how they did it? Or did they just disable some core hardware feature
for it?

~~~
tomswartz07
I have no idea on the implementation, but it seems that they resolved it with
'CPU loading' optimizations:
[http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/19/Drivers/DriversDet...](http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/19/Drivers/DriversDetails?driverId=YFTT1)

------
bhasi
As another user below commented, this is the old generation of XPS 13, which I
also have. I believe the new version has a more conventional placement of
camera.

I run Ubuntu exclusively on my XPS 13 and have taped shut the camera. The
battery life, display, touchpad, and overall feel of the laptop are all very
satisfactory and up to my standards. I couldn't be happier with it.

~~~
geerlingguy
They moved it from under the screen on the left side, to under the screen in
the middle. Everyone who reviews the new model still agrees the placement is
ridiculous:

> Despite an all-around makeover of the physical design of the system, the
> camera remains stubbornly anchored to the blank expanse below the screen.
> That means any attempt to use it results in a less-than-flattering view,
> emphasising one's neck, chin and nostrils.

Source: [https://www.cnet.com/products/dell-
xps-13-2018/review/](https://www.cnet.com/products/dell-xps-13-2018/review/)

------
H1Supreme
Not an XPS 13, but in a very similar vein, I recently picked up a 13" Dell
Inspiron 7000. It's my first non-Apple laptop in over 10 years.

It's very Mac like in feel. Aluminum enclosure, black keyboard, and for lack
of a better term, feels sturdy. The keyboard feels miles better than the
current keyboards on the MBP, imo.

I installed Ubuntu (Mate) on it, and everything worked out of the box.
Trackpad feels great, screen looks crisp, and I don't find myself missing my
mac at all.

Compared to the cheap, plastic Dell's that I've experienced in years past,
this is a massive step up in every way.

------
dboreham
Costco are selling the 2018 model XPS13 (4K, 16G, 500G) in stores at present
so you can head down there to take a look. I've been using one for a few
months. The article is reviewing (I think) the old 2017 model. It seems odd to
complain about the low resolution of the 1080p display, then also say that the
available 4k panel isn't going to solve that problem. Mine works just great.
According to Lisa on Mobiletechreview the 4K panel has a very wide gamut.

My only beef with my XPS13 (had the same problem with previous Dells) is the
audio drivers are horribly buggy, and you have to fight it to not apply
unpleasant frequency-domain distortion to the signal. The user experience had
to have been designed by someone who never listens to music. It magically
detects when you plug in an external audio sink via the 3.5mm jack. Sometimes
that detection doesn't work, so the sound keeps coming out the internal
speakers. Then, assuming the jack works, you now have the equivalent of a
1970's graphic equalizer turned up "to 11" in the signal path. Guess what? The
application that allows you to control that signal degredation process IS NOT
INSTALLED. You need to spend several hours pull hair before you discover the
forum post where someone explains how to install the right version. Then cross
your fingers it will stay working through the next Win10 or BIOS update
cycle..

~~~
bootloop
Do you have the 2015 XPS13 and are you using it in dualboot Win/Linux? I love
this thing but the audio problems are killing me as now I need it a lot for
video calls. It bothers me that the only reason I would have to update is
because of the audio.

~~~
dboreham
No, I only have the 2018 XPS13. I have other older Dell's that are similarly
afflicted audio blight, but they're not XPS. I haven't dual-booted in 10 years
so can't help with that.

------
bamboozled
Running NixOS on the latest XPS 13 model. I would never go back to a Mac for a
work laptop. It’s the best configuration I’ve ever had, a joy to use.

I love everything about the XPS 13 and having my entire machine configured
from a single configuration file is bliss.

------
vzaliva
I also just switched to XPS 13 but with a 4K display. My main problem is the
touchpad. I could not type without accidentally touching touchpad which causes
random actions like deleting chunks of text, sending unfinished emails or just
jumping around the document. I never had such problem on ThinkPad I had
before. Perhaps it is Dell touchpad calibration issue under Linux.

------
fpoling
The article mentioned various problems with 4K display. In addition to those
it is just too reflective. I ended up with getting a filter for it. It helped,
but still even in the office I have to avoid certain angles not to see
overhead lamp reflections. The fact that the display opening angle is rather
limited has not helped either.

------
blaisio
I'm pretty disappointed with the compromises I have to make to use a Mac these
days. I'm planning on getting one of the new XPS 15s with an i-9 - so excited!

~~~
true_tuna
What you don’t like exchanging all your ports for dongles? And the crappy
keyboard? Or my favorite “Remind me again later” Because who would ever want
the ability to say “no”

~~~
vesrah
Better than your machine rebooting to update on its own.

~~~
true_tuna
Not defending windows, but do you remember when Mac OS allowed you to decline
updates you didn’t need? Or better yet, a Linux variant where you can choose.

------
towndrunk
Anyone have a razer? Wondering what it would be like as a replacement for a
MacBook Pro.

[https://www.razer.com/gaming-laptops/razer-
blade](https://www.razer.com/gaming-laptops/razer-blade)

------
rbanffy
I like the camera placement on these laptops. My hair is getting thin on the
top of my head and this gives me a couple years before I need to adopt the
clean look. ;-)

------
cmurf
Also lifelong Mac user, and now my primary is an HP Spectre running Fedora.
The only big painpoint is a Bluetooth mouse which comes and goes for no reason
I can discern super flakey, where on Windows 10 it's OK; and a distant second
is the trackpad picks up stray palm touches too easily but this also happens
with Windows 10 although maybe not quite as annoying.

The main technical issue driving the switch is VM usage. macOS is not a
friendly VM host, it's a huge memory and CPU pig on its own which soaks up
resources from the guest. And as a guest, macOS is an even worse pig, and also
has an unfriendly license for guesting it on non-Mac hardware. So I'm kinda
over macOS, all of the proprietary stuff I need will run on Windows 10, which
is something of a regression compared to macOS, in particular privacy. But I
only use Windows 10 for certain kinds of work, so it's tolerable.

I do like the system reset and refresh options in Windows 10 though. I've
cobbled together the functional equivalent of this with Btrfs snapshots for /
and /home so I can do either complete resets or just rollback to previous
states, while keeping /home moving forward.

------
boomskats
I’m surprised at the lack of comparison to the X1C6 in the rest of the
writeup. It is what I chose over the XPS, and couldn’t be happier with it
(running f28).

~~~
xur17
I just got the same laptop for work a few days ago, and I've been very happy
with it. Great keyboard + a trackpoint.

------
nailk
Be wary, latest Dell XPS 9370 has noisy fans. Google for "dell xps 9370 fan
noise" to find a lengthy thread on official dell forum about this issue. Dell
is experimenting with bios, issuing new updates, but on my dell xps 9370 the
noise is there.

I had to return my laptop, hoping the shop will refund. Now bought MS Surface
Laptop it is silent (mostly) and I'm happy with it.

Looks like most of the core i7 8* models are noisy.

------
fleebjuice
I'd really like to buy an XPS, but I'm after a US keyboard layout, and I'm in
the UK. You seemingly can't request a layout that is not your locale. This has
been my experience with every laptop I've been interested.

Damn shame; I have a Happy Hacking Keyboard Pro2, and it's the best keyboard
I've ever used, I want as much of that experience as I can get on my laptop.
Being a touch typist, its (not infuriating but slightly) annoying context
switching between work keyboards (UK, caps is caps), my laptop (US mapping on
a UK layout), and PC (HHKP, all US - the most superior layout). I'm pretty
good at switching out my muscle memory, but I do get caught out every now and
then.

Is anybody in the same boat as me? Or does anybody know how I could get around
this issue (not including going over to the US to buy locally - that has
problems of its own, ie. travel and money)?

Admittedly, I know I'm in a very niche minority but dammit I want to give them
my money and I can't find a way..

~~~
foreigner
I'm in exactly the same position, it didn't even occur to me that the layout
might be different. What's the difference between the US and UK layouts?

~~~
fleebjuice
On the US keyboard, the enter key is only one key height and longer, and the
left shift key is longer. This moves a couple of keys around (`\\). The most
notable (especially from a programming point of view) is that the " and @ keys
are switched. I use strings way more than I do anything else, so the US way is
preferable here as its on the home row. The pound sign disappears, but I don't
think I've ever actually needed it, while I need $ all the time.

Perhaps minor, but as I say, noticeable when I switch keyboards that its an
annoyance.

Edit: added some text

~~~
cannam
> the " and @ keys are switched. I use strings way more than I do anything
> else, so the US way is preferable here

Eh? They're both shifted, so why does it matter which one is on which key?

~~~
fleebjuice
I edited too late. See updated post:

> the " and @ keys are switched. I use strings way more than I do anything
> else, so the US way is preferable here _as its on the home row_

Less travel required.

------
kendallpark
The XPS 13 was my first laptop! I've had a 2008 XPS 13, 2012 MBA, 2013 MBP
(work), 2015 MBP, and 2016 MBP (work).

I don't particularly like MacOS but I prefer anything Unix to Windows. I ran
Linux on the XPS and the 2012 MBA. When Retina wasn't well supported on Linux,
I made the switch to MacOS for development. I miss tinkering with Linux, but
grew accustomed to a dev workflow with Mac apps (Tower, nvALT, etc).

The reason I stick with Macbooks: they can take a beating.

My XPS 13 was falling apart after a few years, and had gone through three
(!!!) motherboard replacements (fortunately, under warranty). I've had minimal
issues with my Macbooks. I don't know what the state of the current XPS 13's
is, but all I care about is "how often is it going to break in the next four
years."

The touchbar and the ever so fussy butterfly keyboard on the newest MBPs have
reopened the possibility of me moving back to a Linux XPS 13. I just wish I
could get some kind of update on the durability of that machine.

------
bogomipz
For added perspective here's another recent review of another engineer who
made the switch:

[https://www.kartar.net/2018/03/dell-xps-13-aka-2018-is-
the-y...](https://www.kartar.net/2018/03/dell-xps-13-aka-2018-is-the-year-of-
linux-on-the-desktop/)

------
timonv
I've had the XPS13 for 1,5 years now, came from 10 years Mac, running Linux
for the past 4 years or so. Generally I'm very happy with the laptop, build
quality is great, linux support is spot on, even slack works decently on Linux
these days.

I did get the 4k screen, which is amazing with the touch disabled. Lots of
room if you have great eyes.

Couple downsides however: * They must have been drunk when they decided where
the camera should go * Huge screen wobble after 6 months, maybe the hinges are
just loose and need to be tightened. * Regular charging port doesn't work
anymore. USB-C everywhere however.

I'm happy about the laptop, there's faults but I like it a lot more than my
previous three MBPs. The X1 carbon looks like an amazing follow up, closely
following that.

Also, the new XPS has a virtual longer key travel by using magnets, as a mech
keyboard fan, how cool is that?

------
saagarjha
> However, the XPS 13's fans do kick in quite often, even when just doing
> light tasks like browsing the web or typing. I was hoping it would be more
> like the MacBooks, which usually won't need to ramp the fans up to an
> audible level unless you're doing heavier work, like encoding a video or
> loading a news site web page without an ad blocker... but alas the fans
> often kick in and are audible during normal usage.

I have a friend that returned their XPS and bought a Mac because the fan noise
was driving him up the wall. I don't know how, but somehow Macs just don't
have audible fans most of the time, while most other computers will turn them
for even trivial tasks.

~~~
spatular
Hmm, on my XPS 13 (9360) fan kicks in only after about 5 minutes with one core
fully loaded, and it's not that loud. It usually happens only during Hangouts
videocalls or heavy dev work. Browsing / playing 1080p videos / text editing /
gimp is not enough to trigger active cooling. But I use linux. Maybe he had
windows install with antivirus or whatever hogging CPU...

------
bambataa
The only thing keeping me on Mac is audio software like Ableton and Traktor.
I’m aware that there are Linux alternatives but I have an Ableton licence and
so want to keep using it. If they ever release a Linux version of Live I might
jump ship.

------
gzu
I had a Dell XPS 13 for about 2 months but ended up selling and getting a 2017
Macbook Pro 13 non-touchbar. For the premium you're already spending on an XPS
machine, a Mac for slightly more has so much better hardware. The price
differential ~300-500$ is more than justified by the FULL metal construction,
non-clicky trackpad, and the glorious screen. I immediately regretted my XPS
purchase after noticing the screen’s backlight problems and the quality/amount
the trackpad depressed while clicking. Though I wish the macbook had more
ports and better keyboard, it's not kept me from wanting the XPS back.

~~~
eropple
I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure that a current-generation XPS 13 is
going to have an IPS panel, whether it's 1080p or 4K.

------
TACIXAT
I was just looking at XPSs for a new laptop. My SO has the XPS 15. I ended up
getting a 13" System 76 instead. My main reasons were that I didn't need a
touch screen and the webcam is only good if you're a hand model. I just had an
MBP for work and while they are really well polished I struggle with Apple's
restrictions and ecosystem. That laptop and my previous System 76 were pretty
decked out, and besides running VMs, I didn't really utilize the hardware. I'm
trying something more standard (8GB of ram and an i5) on my new laptop. I
think it will be a good development machine.

------
mhb_eng
I have an XPS 15 and have been quite happy with the it overall, but echo
similar comments about the atrocity of the killer wireless cards and drivers.
It’s mind boggling that those issues could exist in a 2017-2018 laptop.

------
stevewillows
I jump between OSX, Windows, and Linux (using i3) several times per day.

The main struggle for me is hitting HYPER + enter in OSX and not getting a new
term. I should just map it in alfred.

Nevertheless, outside of creating the hyper key in OSX, all other keys have
remained stock. I use sharemouse to jump between systems.

With regards to the article, I'm surprised they didn't mention a really
annoying Magic Trackpad 2 glitch where the cursor slows to about 20% until its
been pressed. It annoys the crap out of me when it happens (not through
sharemouse, but when the trackpad is paired directly with the windows box.)

------
psyclobe
Been running the xps as my daily since november, best laptop I've ever owned.
Totally got alienated from mac due to the terrible keyboard.

That said, macos is still a pretty amazing thing, especially coming back to it
after running linux on a laptop for so long.

But hey, windows on this thing is also pretty awesome, I mean with bash and
wsl running I can test my cross platform apps all on the same machine, while
also having access to the worlds finest debugger, visual studio 2017.

Now if only I could include macos in that mix once in a while...

The only solution is to simply have multiple laptops, depending on your mood,
grab one haah.

------
paulie_a
If I were given a Mac book for free I would sell it immediately and get an xps
13. I currently have one already but it is what a modern Mac should be. It has
Ubuntu, a better display and more accurate track pad.

------
shkkmo
I went with a precision 5520 when I switched from my MacBook Pro and I love
it. 32 GB of RAM, centered keyboard/trackpad of a 15" and a tiny screen bezel
all with full Linux support.

~~~
rhizome
Ah, good to see companies are finally noticing tenkeyless on larger laptops.

------
bcheung
Solid hardware review but I'm more interested in the software user experience.
I'm wanting to transition away for Mac for Node / React development and
professional photography. Unfortunately the lack of Unix and weird things like
backslash in folder paths is holding me back.

I'd be curious to hear stories of any React / Node developers making the
switch and their recommendations. Do you just run an Ubuntu image in a VM for
running all your Node stuff?

~~~
broletariat
I have had limited success using the Windows Subsystem for Linux on my current
project which is mostly FaaS on AWS with ES6/Typescript. It's not perfect but
I would recommend giving it a shot, it's pretty darn close.

------
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.

~~~
geerlingguy
True; it's nowhere near as good as the out-of-the-box experience on macOS, but
it makes for the best trackpad experience I'm able to have on Windows 10 so
far.

------
rsync
"I like a solid but light laptop, and the laptop against which I'll measure
all others is still the 11" MacBook Air—if Apple would update it with a retina
display ..."

That is all anyone wants. A macbook air with a "retina" screen.

Imagine if all you had to do to make millions of customers extra happy _was
also the easiest thing_. No research, no additional R&D, no innovation
required ... just give us a 11" MBA with a higher resolution screen.

~~~
xapata
With what battery life? Is there a minimum requirement? Would you accept a
dramatically lower CPU speed to increase battery life?

------
bitL
If you are looking for a Linux laptop, get one with a HiDPI display. Linux
finally looks great and if you ever use it on HiDPI, you wouldn't want to go
back to FHD. I went from 13" FHD to 13" 3200x1800 and the quality improvement
on Linux Mint/Cinnamon was striking. Hackintosh also (subjectively) looks
better than on original retina MacBook. Touchpad however is massively better
on MacBook.

~~~
TACIXAT
The only bummer for me with HiDPI are the Linux apps that don't support it
yet. If I launch Aseprite or Processing3D the windows are comically zoomed
out. Small price to pay for using the (IMO) best OS for developers.

~~~
bitL
Yeah that still happens :( Some (Blender, Wine) however allow adjusting DPI,
so all you need it is to set it to 2x value.

------
LeoPanthera
A good review of the _hardware_ , but it seems like a lifelong Mac user would
have something to say about switching to Windows 10, as well.

~~~
dest
... or to Linux

------
kuon
About the part "Windows 10 spends about 5 minutes (literally!) identifying a
bunch of new devices and adding them to the system", to be fair, Windows can
run on a gazillion different configuration, while macOS runs only on a few.
I've been ranting against Windows for years, but it actually works well now,
even if it takes a bit of time for the new device setup.

~~~
megablast
What? I can plug a 1000 different mice into my mac and they work in seconds. I
can plug a 100 different external HDDs, and the same. I can plug in a 1000
different keyboard, and they work the same.

------
wooptoo
The low color gamut is the whole reason I modded my Inspiron 7570. The laptops
are good but the panels Dell puts in most of them are very poor.

Article here if anyone is interested
[https://wooptoo.com/blog/inspiron-7570-plus-
plus/](https://wooptoo.com/blog/inspiron-7570-plus-plus/)

------
radicaldreamer
The best laptop I've ever used (I mostly use Mac's at home and at work) is the
Panasonic Let's Note S line of PCs. The closest you can get to a MacBook Pro
15" performance (minus discrete graphics) in a 12" form factor, with plenty of
full sized ports and even a DVD writer. Lighter than a 13" MacBook.

------
modzu
i duno who dell has to pay off at apple to rip off the patents but they NEED
to address the touchpad. Apple absolutely nails it and for such a fundamental
device its mindboggling how broken and deficient it is in _any_ other laptop.

------
SZJX
The 9360 might have been more decent but Dell fucked up the keyboard on the
newest 9370. You can't type with a normal WPM or characters start getting
jumbled up. Just get Carbon X1 or something similar (T480) in that lineup.

------
jagger27
If Dell made one in 16:10 or better yet 3:2 I'd sell my MacBook tomorrow.

------
outworlder
As nice as that Dell is, it still comes with the commoditizing Intel sticker.

------
kleiba
Which linux laptops would you recommend for an under 1000 Euro price point?

~~~
Jach
There are several laptops in the $300-$500 range that would work depending on
your needs. (i.e. the cheaper ones have i3 cpus.) Asus, HP, Dell, Acer, etc.
Make sure to select one (though many are) that you can upgrade -- for lots of
them you can put in up to 32 GB of RAM (some 64), install an m.2 SSD... I've
had my eye on [https://www.amazon.com/Acer-E5-575-33BM-15-6-Inch-
Notebook-G...](https://www.amazon.com/Acer-E5-575-33BM-15-6-Inch-Notebook-
Generation/dp/B01K1IO3QW) for a long time in the event I need to get a new
laptop for personal light dev use -- looks like they just refreshed a newer
model too, linked from that page, though maybe not worth it if you're going to
upgrade it.

------
jaimex2
If you want a solid Linux experience you can't go past the XPS 13. First brand
new laptop I've had where the first night wasn't spend compiling latest kernel
to get X new hardware going.

------
perfectstorm
I never understood the logic of putting a webcam at the bottom of the screen.
why are these laptop manufacturers doing it ? is it just to shave off couple
of inches from the top bezel ?

~~~
KSS42
Yes, to shave a couple of mm off the bezel.

It may also help to reduce the screen thickness because there wont be cable
going from the bottom to the top for the camera.

------
true_tuna
I run Ubuntu (actually Elementary now) on my XPS 13. Works pretty well. Track
pad is not as good as my MacBook was. It also has the graphics card click
which is super annoying.

~~~
azdle
Update your bios:
[http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/19/Drivers/DriversDet...](http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/19/Drivers/DriversDetails?driverId=YFTT1)

That mostly fixed the chirping I had. Still get it for a few milliseconds here
and there, but it's nothing like it was before.

------
Maybestring
No review of the XPS-13 is complete without mentioning that
plugging/unplugging the power cord turns on audio distortion effects.

------
crisscross
My biggest challenge in switching back to Windows would have to be the
trackpad. I haven't used a mouse since switching to MBP

------
goatherders
Had 5 various Macs and then switched to an XPS 13. I really like it. Your
review is an excellent summary.

~~~
geerlingguy
Thanks!

------
dsego
This is last gen XPS, not the new one.

------
HugoDaniel
\- Can you reduce the monitor brightness to 0 ? (full black, off)

\- Can you reduce the keyboard light to 0 ?

~~~
dest
XPS 13 9343 owner here. Yes and yes

------
heisnotanalien
It might be great but it's still ugly.

------
post_break
I have an 8th gen i7 XPS 13. I have high sierra on it. I also have a 13"
MacBook Pro non touch bar. Guess which one I like using the best.

~~~
mulletbum
Your iPhone in VR Goggles?

~~~
post_break
Windows phone and google chrome book.

------
cajuclc
Great review!

------
krn
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...](https://www3.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/thinkpad/thinkpad-x/ThinkPad-X1-Carbon-6th-
Gen/p/22TP2TXX16G)

[2] [http://www.dell.com/en-us/work/shop/dell-laptops-and-
noteboo...](http://www.dell.com/en-us/work/shop/dell-laptops-and-
notebooks/new-precision-5530/spd/precision-15-5530-laptop/xctop5530hwus)

~~~
goatherders
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.

~~~
krn
"Security & Durability

Unlike its consumer counterpart, XPS, the Precision 5530 passed 14 tests for
for MIL-SPEC durability, the standards that the U.S. Military equipment must
pass for ruggedness. That means it can be operated in extremely hot and cold
environments (as low as minus 20.2 degrees Fahrenheit to as high as 140
degrees), survive the shocks of drops and gusts of dusts, among other things."

~~~
goatherders
So it's not approved for military use? Ok, point given.

~~~
krn
That's what a consumer-grade product is: when you get a substantially lower
build quality for what otherwise is exactly the same machine.

~~~
goatherders
So most everything out there including everything Apple is consumer grade? Ok.
Some people (including me) see military grade as enhanced build of the regular
product but whatever. Potato, tomato.

~~~
krn
ThinkPads used by developers (X & T) meet the same military-grade
standards[1]. It depends what do you want to happen, when your machine hits
the ground.

[1]
[https://www3.lenovo.com/hk/en/thisisthinkpad/innovation/thin...](https://www3.lenovo.com/hk/en/thisisthinkpad/innovation/thinkpad-
mil-spec-tested-to-the-extreme/)

