
Dell XPS 13 Developer Edition with Ubuntu 20.04 LTS pre-installed - bhdzllr
https://ubuntu.com/blog/dell-xps-13-developer-edition-with-ubuntu-20-04-lts-pre-installed-is-now-available
======
amarshall
I applaud the change to a 16:10 screen (the ratio used in all Apple laptops
and sadly few others for years). The extra vertical space for the same area is
very welcome; 16:9 feels very cramped at laptop sizes once you add a few menu
bars and headers and banners. I hope more laptop manufacturers decide to go
this direction.

~~~
fartcannon
Agreed. And Id prefer they return to 5x4 for all tablets and tablet PCs. I had
a tablet PC back in 04 that was a 5x4 ratio Toshiba R10 and it was marvelous.
I ran Linux on it! 16 years ago!

~~~
emiliovesprini
No half measures! let's go 1:1 baby.

~~~
RandomBacon
They exist! (Well as a freestanding monitor.) I have one, and it's glorious!

[https://www.eizo.com/products/flexscan/ev2730q/](https://www.eizo.com/products/flexscan/ev2730q/)

~~~
amarshall
I don’t know why, but those proportions rather perturb me. Being so used to
having displays be wider than tall, that almost looks taller than wide. I
think it’s fantastic that it exists, though.

------
pedrocr
At this point, waiting for the mobile Ryzens to appear across the laptop
ranges seems like a good idea. They've crammed 8 cores instead of 4 into the
same TDP and made laptop chips that are in the same ballpark as the dekstop
counterparts:

[https://www.cpubenchmark.net/compare/Intel-i7-10610U-vs-
AMD-...](https://www.cpubenchmark.net/compare/Intel-i7-10610U-vs-AMD-
Ryzen-7-PRO-4750U-vs-AMD-Ryzen-7-4800U-vs-Intel-i9-9900K-vs-AMD-
Ryzen-7-3700X/3738vs3740vs3721vs3334vs3485)

The graphics should also be better than the Intel ones.

So far the only interesting laptop I've seen is the Lenovo T14s which is their
lower-end ultrabook from the X1 Carbon. Frustratingly they've limited it to
1080p screens in the AMD version when the Intel version includes a great 4K
option:

[https://psref.lenovo.com/syspool/Sys/PDF/ThinkPad/ThinkPad_T...](https://psref.lenovo.com/syspool/Sys/PDF/ThinkPad/ThinkPad_T14s_Gen_1_AMD/ThinkPad_T14s_Gen_1_AMD_Spec.PDF)

[https://psref.lenovo.com/syspool/Sys/PDF/ThinkPad/ThinkPad_T...](https://psref.lenovo.com/syspool/Sys/PDF/ThinkPad/ThinkPad_T14s_Gen_1_Intel/ThinkPad_T14s_Gen_1_Intel_Spec.PDF)

~~~
bitL
As you mentioned, AMD laptops are gimped, either by an inferior screen, lower
amount of memory (imagine 8GB limit for an 8-core Ryzen or 16GB limit for a
dual core i3) or some other specification is not up to high end standard.

~~~
neogodless
The HP Omen 15 has a solid 300-nit 97% sRGB screen, 70Wh battery, and dual
channel 16GB. There's also the HP ENVY x360 with available 400-nit/1000-nit
screens paired with 16GB and an 8 core Ryzen 7 4700U. Both a bit pricey but
I'm glad they exist.

I agree the vast majority of AMD laptops have unacceptable compromises baked
in. I can't help but believe this will change now that the APUs are arguably
on par for games and massively more efficient for other tasks.

~~~
bitL
Those HPs are unfortunately still just 1080p (though one is 144Hz). I haven't
used notebooks with that resolution since 2012.

~~~
neogodless
Ha well my eyesight is awful so for me the 1080p is a blessing, especially for
battery. But I can't blame you for preferring the crisp screens.

------
hetspookjee
I seriously hope Dell finally found a way to make more solid laptops because
half of the ~30 XPS laptops I've seen around me needed to be send back because
of issues with the device freezing or with the display.

I started out in November last year with an XPS and after multiple freezes I
requested an repair that would take my laptop out for multiple weeks. Having
seen my previous company send multiple laptops back multiple times I didn't
have much trust in the certainty of resolution for my issues with the xps. My
coworker at the time didn't have any issues with her XPS but I gave up on Dell
and switched to Mac. Sadly my coworkers XPS broke down after 2 months and it's
still being repaired after 5 weeks...

The specs of the XPS certainly are the best and the feel is great and I so
hoped it would be a succes but it just sucks the experience is so bad. I often
hear others still raving and reading about non problems so somehow I still
think I might have seen a really bad batch enter the Netherlands over 2 years
time.

~~~
brianwawok
We have bought 7 or 8 for my startup in the past 4 years. Only one failure
that happened at like month 3. Seems at least average reliability?

In the same time we have had 2 of 4 appple laptops need a new motherboard /
some drastic problem

~~~
dkersten
> need a new motherboard / some drastic problem

Only because apple won’t do simple repairs. Eg, blwn capacitor worth 40 cent?
New motherboard worth hundreds! [1] Of course, to the end user, the effect is
the same...

[1] [https://youtu.be/o2_SZ4tfLns](https://youtu.be/o2_SZ4tfLns) and
[https://youtu.be/K1A9y4S60kg](https://youtu.be/K1A9y4S60kg) for just two
examples

~~~
RNCTX
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I find it highly unlikely that there are repair
contractors with people sitting behind magnifying glasses and soldering irons.

I would suspect that toss and replace is the norm across the whole spectrum of
hardware sellers.

You could debate Apple's design choices like... say... riveted keyboards, and
they'd argue durability as a retort, but I don't think they're any better or
worse than others in terms of warranty work.

~~~
rudiv
From my knowledge of working as an ACMT, Apple processes every part it takes
out of a computer during repair service. I couldn't say how many are fixed in
the manner you're talking about, but I can say that a significant proportion
of parts we received for warranty service were clearly 'remanufactured' parts.
So that kind of toss-and-replace doesn't even really happen at Apple itself.

------
joefreeman
I alternate between a (now ageing 9350-model) XPS 13 running Ubuntu and a
(newish) MacBook Pro (for work), so perhaps my experience is interesting to
some.

I like both, but switching between the two is a bit jarring. The different
keyboard layout is particularly annoying. Maybe this is worse with a British
keyboard though. I switched the Mac to use the 'PC' layout, which helps a bit,
but adapting between the cmd-ctrl-fn is difficult. And there are
inconsistencies in the readline behaviour that I haven't worked out. I'm
fairly indifferent to the feel of the keyboard - maybe a slight preference for
the XPS.

I like the 16:9 ratio of the XPS, but not a big deal.

The 20.04 update has been such an improvement. The fan used to be constantly
running, maybe because of the previously-experimental fractional scaling, but
since the update this runs so smooth. If anyone from Gnome/Ubuntu reads this:
thank you!

The trackpad on the MacBook is obviously nice: support for gestures and the
bigger area. I can't stand the touch bar - I'm constantly accidentally
pressing buttons. TouchID is nice - the fingerprint reader in this new version
sounds good.

Few other things that are better on the MBP: speakers, brightness (especially
the auto-adjusting brightness), and webcam (this version of the XPS has the
webcam below the screen, which sucks).

I don't make any use of the touchscreen on the XPS and I haven't got around to
turning it off from the BIOS. Seems kind of wasteful.

The coil whine on the XPS is really bad. Interested to know if this is
fixed/better on the newer models?

I replaced the battery on the XPS recently, but turns out the battery isn't as
official as Amazon promised so the LED occasionally does an angry flashing
sequence. But yay for being able to replace this.

Also the Dell support turned out to be pretty good. At one point there was an
issue with my screen and they sent a guy to my house to replace the screen for
free.

------
floatboth
> EMEA Offline: Czech Republic, Denmark, Emerging countries, Finland, Greece,
> Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Slovakia, Turkey, South Africa.

Mmm, love shopping in "Emerging countries", gotta get a ticket to there :D

Kinda reminds me of the "hot singles near Anonymous Proxy" banners.

------
nobleach
I had considered buying the 15 inch XPS to replace my Thinkpad X1C (6th gen).
I really need 32 Gigs to run kubernetes and compile GraalVM images locally.
But the latest XPS 15 has the RAM soldered to the board. This means if I want
32 Gigs, I have to pony up the premium price. They do have a Precision that is
basically the same specs that DOES allow upgrading the RAM. The biggest
problem is, Dell's website has the option to remove Windows and add Ubuntu...
but you can't add it to the cart. It complains that McAffe won't fun on my OS
of choice... and I can't remove McAffe! That pretty much stopped me right
there.

~~~
ssivark
Why not the Thinkpad T-series then?

~~~
nobleach
For me, it's been battery life. Even running TLP, my Current ultra-light just
isn't seeing great battery life. It's fine now working from home, and plugged
in all day. But should I ever get back to taking it to meeting after meeting
at the office.... I want to say, I see 4 hours unplugged depending on what I'm
doing. (not watching video)

~~~
fomine3
Modern mobile ThinkPad supports USB Type-C charging. So you can buy any mobile
batteries that supports USB-PD charging (likely 45W is enough)

------
tchaffee
My current Dell XPS had the pretty common battery swelling problem but within
months of purchase. On previous models they replaced it for free but they
stopped doing that. So add a possible battery replacement to their list price
if you still want a Dell. Based on my experience with customer support and
this battery issue this will be my last Dell. I'm looking at Lenovo for my
next laptop.

~~~
nmstoker
If this happened within a year I would simply insist they replace the battery
under warranty and highlight that there was no element of discretion about it.
They would do it.

~~~
tchaffee
I did insist. I don't remember the details anymore because it was a couple of
years ago. I would have taken them to small claims court over it if I had been
in the US but I was overseas long term. Either way, they have lost a customer
who has bought many of their laptops over the decades. Over a $100 battery
that clearly had a manufacturing defect.

~~~
BTBurke
Same thing happened to me. Hours and hours on the phone for battery swelling
which was a known problem.

I was overseas at the time and they dragged the process out long enough that
eventually warranty was up and they told me they wouldn't replace it.

I replaced it myself but I'll never buy a Dell again and recommend others go
with Lenovo.

------
deeg
I've been using the XPS 13 DE at work for 3+ years and it has been a great
experience. It originally shipped with 16.04; I was able to upgrade smoothly
to 18.04 when it was available and I hope to do the same with 20.04.

I use it with a docking station and two external monitors with no problems.
It's normally physically connected to the network so I can't comment much on
the wifi. I don't do anything with Bluetooth.

My personal laptop is a MBP but if Dell ever came out with a XPS 15 DE I would
immediately switch.

------
baylearn
Doesn't look too bad.

The page mentioned that: 10th generation Intel® Core™ 10nm mobile processors
and up to 32 gigabytes of RAM

But on the product page, we can only get either 8 or 16 GB of memory. Do you
know if it's possible to buy these with 32GB of RAM from Dell?

~~~
auggierose
Dell has a strange website. Last time I was looking for a model with lots of
RAM it took me ages until I understood how to get to the part that lets me
configure it freely.

~~~
auggierose
No, seems to me as well that 32GB is not available for Ubuntu.

~~~
JBiserkov
[https://www.dell.com/en-us/work/shop/dell-laptops-and-
notebo...](https://www.dell.com/en-us/work/shop/dell-laptops-and-
notebooks/new-xps-13-developer-
edition/spd/xps-13-9300-laptop/ctox13w10p1c2200u?view=configurations&configurationid=8d492ede-8d20-482a-8e4c-90aa4bd5cdc5)

~~~
auggierose
Oh, they got me again with their site :-D

------
fcanesin
Link to 32GB version: [https://www.dell.com/en-us/work/shop/dell-laptops-and-
notebo...](https://www.dell.com/en-us/work/shop/dell-laptops-and-
notebooks/new-xps-13-developer-
edition/spd/xps-13-9300-laptop/ctox13w10p1c2200u?view=configurations&configurationid=aa4ddc17-c908-4f5f-909e-53d2ce9b898d)

~~~
RandomBacon
One year of ProSupport for free is a pretty good deal at that price (looks
like limited time offer). When I bought mine (32gb with Windows) a couple of
months ago, the same specs were $100 more but without ProSupport. I chatted
with a sales rep and got an upgrade for 1 year of ProSupport and 256gb ->
512gb ssd for about $1 more.

------
Ecstatify
I would recommend strongly to not buy Dell laptops. The quality of the laptops
are very bad. I bought a XPS 15 two years ago for around €2000 and the screen
isn’t working anymore. The laptop hasn’t moved from my desk. Look at the
support pages, there’s so many issues with no resolutions.

Current issues:

Screen distorted - Have to use external monitor

Laptop randomly freezes for 30s - Great for meetings

Bluetooth randomly disconnects all devices

WiFi randomly disconnects

~~~
BTBurke
Agreed. Do not buy Dell. You'll find hundreds of people with the same problem
on support boards, but if you call support they will act like you're the first
one ever to have a problem.

Happened to me with the battery swelling issue on the 2016 model. I would
never buy another Dell after that experience.

~~~
flo123456
The roughly dozen XPS13 we bought for work are mostly fine. And support has
been great on the ones that were not.

------
brianwawok
I just got the 32 GB version! My top complaint after rocking the Ubuntu 13
laptop for the last 4 years was lack of 32 GB option. (Other people complain
about the webcam, but I hardly use it).

Overall has been a great platform.

------
wahlrus
Dang I really hope they do the same with the new xps 15 and 17... But there's
probably no market for this aside from me specifically T_T

~~~
heelix
I've got a 17" in process -- looks like a 5 week delay for it. Picked up a M2
drive that I'll be adding to turn it into my Linux laptop. Pretty excited to
have a good 16:10 screen on something this size, will all sorts of expansion
options when 32G won't cut it anymore.

------
bhouston
I run Ubuntu 20.04 lts on the Dell XPS 13 i7 10700 (12 ht cores!). I bought
the windows version ~8 months ago. It is a great form factor and quiet and
Ubuntu is a dream. I run dual 4k 32 inch monitors from the laptop when closed
via the many USB c ports. It just works.

------
philplckthun
I only ever owned an XPS 13 9350 (~2015) and it suffers from really horrible
coil whine, regardless of whether anything is plugged in or not.

I really wonder whether they’ve fixed this issue, as I’ve heard that some
models after this one still suffered from the same.

~~~
RandomBacon
I have the current model (9300 ~2020) running Ubuntu 20.04. I do not have coil
whine, and I couldn't find anyone else reporting coil whine when I bought it 2
months ago (I bought the Windows version and installed Ubuntu myself).

------
alexeiz
I don't know how Dell makes any money on this laptop. It's too expensive. It's
much cheaper to buy a Windows Dell XPS 13 laptop with the same specs and then
just install Linux on it.

------
drej
What’s the story with full disk encryption on Ubuntu these days? Last time I
checked (a while ago) it was a bit clunky, but now I’m considering a Linux
desktop after 10 yrs of macOS and filevault, so checking my options. Thanks!

~~~
pedrocr
What was clunky? The installer supports it and then all you have to do is
insert the password on boot.

~~~
input_sh
The initial setup is definitely easy, but I wish additional setup would have a
graphical interface. Notably, changing or removing a passphrase, both of which
should be tucked away somewhere in the settings.

Your current options are gnome-disks and cryptsetup, and the former simply
didn't work with long passphrases last time I dabbled with it.

It's also quite difficult to encrypt an existing setup without formatting the
drive. You'd need to unmount your root partition, and since you can't do that
from a running system, you'd need to boot off of a USB stick first. BitLocker
is definitely easier in that regard.

~~~
kadoban
I stopped using it recently, but cryptsetup (with luks if it matters)
definitely allows passphrases. I think my longest was ~50 characters? Not sure
if you were going beyond that.

I can't seem to find any old (or new) complaints about it limiting, or
anything about a fix for same. You sure it was that?

~~~
input_sh
My mistake, I wanted to write that gnome-disks struggled with longer
passphrases, not cryptsetup.

I've edited my comment above to fix that mistake.

------
st-isidore
Good to see this because it means demand for new Linux laptops is still here
(or even growing) but why wouldn’t someone go for a System76 laptop instead
that comes with custom, FOSS firmware too?

~~~
bubblethink
For one, S76 is not shipping icelake. Second, s76 = clevo + coreboot. Not
everyone cares about that. Dell/Lenovo have better hardware, support, etc.

------
cosmodisk
I've been havin XPS 13 for nearly 2 years now. Personally, haven't had any
issues in terms of reliability.I even managed to spill my soup on it a couple
of times and it ended up working after it. Battery capacity halfed over this
period, however I can't comment on this,as I don't know how other laptops
perform in this area.the only weird thing about it is the camera positioned at
the bottom of the screen...

~~~
xmaayyy
I have an XPS 15, my battery now only lasts an hour

------
xellisx
I have a normal XPS 13 for work. I don't like it. I have increase font sizes
on the laptop screen. No expandable memory or storage. Fan on high is normal.
Some versions BigFoot wifi controller that will drop out all the time when
it's slightly warm. One of devs had to get an external cooler to help that
issue, but eventually went for an external WiFi adapter.

------
shawnb576
I am running Ubuntu 20.04 on a Dell XPS 13 9370 from a couple years ago. It’s
amazing! First time I’ve had a Linux distro that really works well including
battery life, sleep, devices etc.

I had previously given up on this and was excited that WSL2 was finally
available, but installed 20.04 and haven’t looked back.

------
acd
Great that Dell is supporting their Laptops with Ubuntu and Linux. I like the
developer experience of Linux. Most things work as they should out of the box
and the system is stable. Plus it feels like the right thing to use open
source software where you can contribute back if you want.

------
pan69
When you click through to purchase, in the Customize section at the bottom
there is a "Keep Your Hard Drive" option up to 4 years. What exactly does this
mean and why up to 4 years and not more, e.g. forever?

------
hsnewman
I ordered my XPS 13 last night, it's not the developer edition, but I plan on
pulling the 128gb ssd and replacing it with a 512 anyway, and at that time
will convert it to Ubuntu 20.04. I can't wait!

------
adamddev1
Does the sound-card make any popping sounds turning on and off?? I have an
older XPS 13-9343 and sadly this was a huge issue with Ubuntu/Linux. It would
pop on and off whenever you used audio.

~~~
RandomBacon
I plug in my speakers through a Thunderbolt dock, and I have not experienced
it. It shows as a USB sound output though. Let me know if you would like me to
try plugging the speakers in directly to the laptop and rebooting it a couple
of times.

~~~
adamddev1
Thanks for the info. Yes that would be great if you could check that. My issue
was the built-in speakers popping whenever audio stopped and started (sound
card turning off and on). It was especially loud and unbearable when using
headphones plugged directly in.

~~~
RandomBacon
The built-in speakers do not pop (tested with nothing plugged in).

When having external speakers or earbuds plugged into the 3.5mm jack, it does
pop.

IMO the pops are not loud and do not at all hurt even with earbuds in.

Dell has a 30 day return policy, so if that's the only thing holding you back,
you can try it for yourself.

------
jagger27
Looks like it comes with Killer WiFi. Pretty questionable choice there.

~~~
Ghostt8117
My laptop has Killer WiFi. I know nothing about it. Why is that a questionable
choice?

~~~
dade_
My laptop as well, it has the worst wireless connectivity of all of my devices
and it just doesn’t come up on book or wake from sleep. I noticed the brand in
the spec, but figured it probably didn’t matter. It turns out that it became
the thing I hate about the machine, and later found they have a hate club on
the Internet. I wouldn’t buy another machine with their wireless. Chip was:
Killer Wireless-AC 1535 (802.11ac)

I just learned that Intel bought Rivet, maker of Killer wifi:
[https://newsroom.intel.com/editorials/intel-acquisition-
may-...](https://newsroom.intel.com/editorials/intel-acquisition-
may-2020/#gs.9esaz5)

------
hedora
> _Start in an instant: A built in lid sensor allows you to open the lid and
> power up in milliseconds, no matter what power-state you are in._

Really? < 10ms resume? From hibernation, too?

------
gregwebs
Is this still a glossy-only screen option? I would happily by the XPS 15 with
a non-glossy screen. I have been forced to use the Precision models with
Ubuntu pre-installed and suffered both mediocre performance, battery life,
build quality, and even the sound output not working.

Unfortunately I am using a Mac from my employer for the first time in years.
It is nice to have hardware that works extremely well again! But the glare is
bad in certain lighting conditions and the touch bar is extremely annoying. I
have caps lock mapped to escape, but it is just a more difficult place to get
my pinky finger to.

~~~
RandomBacon
My understanding is that the non-touch FHD screen is not glossly, but then it
is also not flush. I got the touch FHD to have the edge-to-edge glass. The
glossyness hasn't bothered me, and you can get matte screen protectors cut for
this model off of eBay.

------
vbezhenar
What about Dell Precision series? I thought they are supposed to support Linux
and they certainly carry pretty impressive specs.

~~~
senorjazz
I have an older precision. Built like a tank and then some, great specs, ugly
as hell, on the heavy side, awful battery, huge brick sized charger, but
everything replaceable, takes being dropped in it's stride, takes any abuse it
receives in it's stride.

------
sk0g
I wish they made these available in Australia! Wouldn't even be different to
the US version, power supply aside.

------
yuters
I would buy this laptop in a heartbeat if I could have an ISO keyboard layout
in North America.

------
amedvednikov
Does ThinkPad X/T have something similar? On their website the only option is
Windows.

~~~
bubblethink
No. Lenovo doesn't sell linux laptops in the US on the open market. You may be
able to buy one through the IT sales channel or in some other countries.

~~~
thecureforzits
There was an announcement in April that they will "soon" be shipping some
laptops with Fedora.

[https://fedoramagazine.org/coming-soon-fedora-on-lenovo-
lapt...](https://fedoramagazine.org/coming-soon-fedora-on-lenovo-laptops/)

~~~
amedvednikov
Thanks for the link, hopefully it's available soon.

------
OldTechSucks
gnome is terrible comparing to macOS WM/DM. So many bugs and there is no way
to tweak things like in mac. Please do me a favor and look about it before
buying.

~~~
yjftsjthsd-h
Not that I like GNOME, but that has to be the first time I've seen someone
advocate macOS on the basis of customization. Could you say where you found
macOS to let you tweak something that GNOME didn't? Is this including extra
tools (GNOME Tweak Tool), or pure stock?

------
dis-sys
$1099 for a laptop with only 8G RAM, 256G SSD, 4 slow intel cores and 1080p
LCD? you get far better specs for a phone in 2020 for that kind of $.

~~~
sk0g
Only one of them would allow you to be productive. A big case, screen,
keyboard, etc all adds up.

You're overestimating the performance of phone CPUs and storage too.

