Dell’s 2018 XPS 13 DE—The best “out of the box” Linux laptop gets the best OS

Dell made a lot of hardware changes to the 2018 XPS—do they play nice with Ubuntu 18.04?

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[SamuelAdams]

That power button placement is a huge turn off for me. I could see myself fat-fingering that all the time whenever I hit the delete key.

Is it physically harder to push, to prevent accidental shutdowns?

 

[Wickwick]

I understand that a USB-A port is thicker than the sidewall of modern ultrabooks, but isn't there an alternate solution? Perhaps a hinged, spring-loaded catch that could come down when I wanted a fat port. The only part fat about the -A port is the rectangular housing to guide in the plug. The bottom of the guide could overlap to the slot in the closed position.

 

[reyman]

That power button placement is a huge turn off for me. I could see myself fat-fingering that all the time whenever I hit the delete key.

Is it physically harder to push, to prevent accidental shutdowns?

Not sure if it's physically harder to push, but you can set it to not do anything when you press it if it becomes a serious issue.

 

[JustCallMeBen]

That power button placement is a huge turn off for me. I could see myself fat-fingering that all the time whenever I hit the delete key.

Is it physically harder to push, to prevent accidental shutdowns?

I assume it's just like the XPS15 which I have: the power button is harder to press,. It's just like you'd expect from a clicky button, you won't accidentally press it while typing.

 

[adamnorman]

I'd like to know about the battery life. As I recall, laptops used to have significantly shorter run-times on Linux than on other OSes. Has Dell (or Linux or Ubuntu) fixed that?

 

[necrosis]

That power button placement is a huge turn off for me. I could see myself fat-fingering that all the time whenever I hit the delete key.

Is it physically harder to push, to prevent accidental shutdowns?

Yes it is. I have the non developer edition that is basically the same thing and you have to put some weight on that button to get it to register.

Also I remember reading somewhere that there are no fingerprint drivers for Linux. Maybe that has changed?

I also have read about issues with the Linux drivers for the wireless card.

I will also say in case it was not mentioned. The **ONLY** thing you can upgrade is the storage. It is a standard NVMe drive. EVERYTHING else is soldered on.

 

[Kesh]

I understand that a USB-A port is thicker than the sidewall of modern ultrabooks, but isn't there an alternate solution? Perhaps a hinged, spring-loaded catch that could come down when I wanted a fat port. The only part fat about the -A port is the rectangular housing to guide in the plug. The bottom of the guide could overlap to the slot in the closed position.

That's just asking for a part that breaks frequently.

 

[josephandrews222]

Here's what I know (and what I'm writing pertains to the 9370 running Windows):

I ordered a loaded XPS 13 9370 a few weeks after release.

*Great-looking device (the white one)

*Very snappy

*Runs hot when stressed

*Deal breaker (for me and others) that caused me to return it: fan noise

=====

I am anxiously awaiting the 9380 (?)...I'm going to give the next iteration another go.

 

[duke007]

I’d get one of these except I really need 32GB of RAM. I routinely break the 16GB barrier during everyday work, but I also need something I can take into a couple hours of meetings. The search continues...

 

[Deleted member 1]

Yes it's a minor thing. But if I'd spend this much on a Linux laptop I wouldn't want to be looking at a Windows button.

There really should be a better keycap for the meta key. Dell make custom keyboards for almost any language so why not change 1 key for the Linux model?

 

[Findecanor]

Was the Dell XPS 13 2018 with a European keyboard any good?

Always when there is a laptop model, manufacturer tend to ship models with US-ANSI keyboards to reviewers, and that is also all that is shown on Dell's web site in this case.
For us Europeans, who have a split left Shift and vertical Enter key on our keyboards, those keys are sometimes very compromised on laptops that had been designed for US-ANSI first.

Getting a laptop where the Enter key is not tiny or that keys have not been moved around in weird ways can be quite a big deal if you are going to type on them all day, every day at work.

 

[vexored]

Am I missing something here? Looking at Dell’s site, it seems for equivalently spec’d versions, the Windows versions can be cheaper.

 

[HiroTheProtagonist]

Am I missing something here? Looking at Dell’s site, it seems for equivalently spec’d versions, the Windows versions can be cheaper.

Windows is subsidized, Linux is not. By the same token, a similarly specced Galago Pro from System76 is about $100 more expensive than Dell's offering, but it's specifically built for Linux (also it's made in the USA).

 

[Findecanor]

I understand that a USB-A port is thicker than the sidewall of modern ultrabooks, but isn't there an alternate solution? Perhaps a hinged, spring-loaded catch that could come down when I wanted a fat port. The only part fat about the -A port is the rectangular housing to guide in the plug. The bottom of the guide could overlap to the slot in the closed position.

That's just asking for a part that breaks frequently.

If it's designed poorly.

Dell XPS 2012 had a Ethernet port with a spring-loaded catch. I wonder how that fared. It was gone on the 2013 model.

 

[Wickwick]

Am I missing something here? Looking at Dell’s site, it seems for equivalently spec’d versions, the Windows versions can be cheaper.

Windows is subsidized, Linux is not. By the same token, a similarly specced Galago Pro from System76 is about $100 more expensive than Dell's offering, but it's specifically built for Linux (also it's made in the USA).

Also, any driver programming and qualifications Dell does for a Windows machine can be underwritten by the hundreds of thousands of units sold. A similar effort for a Linux machine isn't going to get such a large sales base.

 

[paq]

Few comments about using Dell XPS 9560 (15", previous generation) with Ubuntu 18.04:
1. HiDPI is pain. If you use just built-in monitor, than it's ok, but combining it with standart DPI external monitor just does not work properly. It always apply same scaling on both. That was not problem on 16.04 with Unity.
2. Choosing between nvidia GPU and integrated intel means restarting computer. This does not apply to 13" models because they do not have dedicated GPU.
3. Battery life after installing clean Ubuntu was very poor. While in windows I could easily reach 6-8 hours, Ubuntu drained it within 3 hours. Largest improvement was manually switching to integrated gpu in nvidia x server app, but then you loose the ability to use CUDA obviously and for that you need restart. Powertop helped enabling other power saving features and after that I can reach almost same battery life as in Windows.
4. Unlike in windows, I did not find an easy way to undervolt CPU/iGPU (intel XTU).
5. Overall it is definitely not "just works" experience if it is not preinstalled by Dell (like in my case).

 

[ShuggyCoUk]

If you buy the windows version, then do a live install from a normal ubuntu USB stick will you miss anything you get with the Developer Edition. I need both OS's in dual boot anyway, so the cost savings are immaterial.

 

[l8gravely]

That power button placement is a huge turn off for me. I could see myself fat-fingering that all the time whenever I hit the delete key.

Is it physically harder to push, to prevent accidental shutdowns?

It's not that, it's the page up/down key placement, horrible!

 

[orangpelupa]

I understand that a USB-A port is thicker than the sidewall of modern ultrabooks, but isn't there an alternate solution? Perhaps a hinged, spring-loaded catch that could come down when I wanted a fat port. The only part fat about the -A port is the rectangular housing to guide in the plug. The bottom of the guide could overlap to the slot in the closed position.

That's just asking for a part that breaks frequently.

Ethernet in many thin laptops actually already did that and there's no widespread complain of its breaking.

 

[50me12]

No USB Type A ports

Fine by me, it's time to move on.

I'm happy to use an adapter for the sake of progress.

 

[unconcerned]

That power button placement is a huge turn off for me. I could see myself fat-fingering that all the time whenever I hit the delete key.

Is it physically harder to push, to prevent accidental shutdowns?

It's not that, it's the page up/down key placement, horrible!

And the navigation keys. There arrows are one of the most used let and we have this half height abomination...

 

[vexored]

Am I missing something here? Looking at Dell’s site, it seems for equivalently spec’d versions, the Windows versions can be cheaper.

Windows is subsidized, Linux is not. By the same token, a similarly specced Galago Pro from System76 is about $100 more expensive than Dell's offering, but it's specifically built for Linux (also it's made in the USA).

Also, any driver programming and qualifications Dell does for a Windows machine can be underwritten by the hundreds of thousands of units sold. A similar effort for a Linux machine isn't going to get such a large sales base.

All that’s fine, but I don’t see why I wouldn’t always just buy the windows version and install Linux on it. Having the free windows license is never a bad thing for when that one program or game just only works on Windows.

 

[torp]

In what non US countries are you able to custom order one of these laptops? I see a lot of Dells in consumer electronics stores but only fixed configurations. As opposed to Apple where I can order anything customized through two official distributors...

 

[andrewb610]

The change is no small footnote: the move from Ubuntu 16.04 to 18.04 means a completely new desktop, GNOME 3, a major revamp of underlying technologies (more modern GTK libraries)

Updated to gtk3 libraries I assume.

 

[nehinks]

Ugh, that port situation. At least they kept the headphone jack.

My personal preference at the moment is 2 USB C, 2 USB A. Forward looking without pretending you're not going to use existing stuff (or that you want to carry/lose dongles). In all honesty, this bumped the XPS 13 from "most likely to be my next laptop" to "too annoying, look elsewhere".

 

[snajk]

In what non US countries are you able to custom order one of these laptops? I see a lot of Dells in consumer electronics stores but only fixed configurations. As opposed to Apple where I can order anything customized through two official distributors...

It is at least available here in Sweden from dell.se. Not that easy to find though, had to search for it.

 

[toppleb]

I understand that a USB-A port is thicker than the sidewall of modern ultrabooks, but isn't there an alternate solution? Perhaps a hinged, spring-loaded catch that could come down when I wanted a fat port. The only part fat about the -A port is the rectangular housing to guide in the plug. The bottom of the guide could overlap to the slot in the closed position.

something like this?

I wouldn't want any such construction for a usb port tbh, seems like it's asking for problems.

 

[Cat Killer]

If you buy the windows version, then do a live install from a normal ubuntu USB stick will you miss anything you get with the Developer Edition. I need both OS's in dual boot anyway, so the cost savings are immaterial.

a) you signal demand for Linux support by getting the Linux one and putting Windows on rather than getting the Windows one and putting Linux on. The price is generally about the same.

b) on earlier models, the Linux version had a better-supported WiFi chip than the Windows version. I don't know if that is still the case.

 

[dj__jg]

I understand that a USB-A port is thicker than the sidewall of modern ultrabooks, but isn't there an alternate solution? Perhaps a hinged, spring-loaded catch that could come down when I wanted a fat port. The only part fat about the -A port is the rectangular housing to guide in the plug. The bottom of the guide could overlap to the slot in the closed position.

something like this?

I wouldn't want any such construction for a usb port tbh, seems like it's asking for problems.

I've seen far saner ones, in which the bottom part just swivels downwards a tiny bit. This one does indeed look like a recipe for disaster.

EDIT:

For example, this one: https://us.answers.acer.com/app/answers ... er-laptops

Wish my XPS 15 9550 had one of those, would have been useful a couple of times.

Edit 2:

This is the one on the old XPS 14/15 https://blog.dell.com/uploads/2012/06/2 ... 2AEED4.png

I've seen it working on a friends laptop, seemed more than sturdy enough.

 

[Fedster]

Why oh why doesn't Dell sell the 15 inches model (with, prey, 32GB RAM and 1TB SSD) with Ubuntu? why do I need to go through the hassle of installing Ubuntu by hand (after paying more than I need to for Windows)?

 

[Norphy]

The Latitude 7390 series is Dell's business ultrabook. Yes, it's a little bit thicker than the XPS range but it still has reasonably small bezels on the screen but it has a full blown Ethernet port and it has the webcam in a sensible place

https://www.dell.com/en-uk/work/shop/la ... 390-laptop

Given the choice between one of those and an XPS13, I'd get the Latitude personally.

 

[ginger_swag]

For that price I'd just as soon get a System76 for a just-works-Linux experience. They even have 32 Gee Bees!!!!

 

[haar]

That power button placement is a huge turn off for me. I could see myself fat-fingering that all the time whenever I hit the delete key.

Is it physically harder to push, to prevent accidental shutdowns?

you get a pop-up stating that shut-down will occur in 60 seconds... easy to cancel in that amount of time...

of course, if you want shutdown immediately, a bit of a pain because you have to click on shutdown (or use the command line “sudo poweroff” to shutdown immediately, or “shut reboot” or “reboot” depending...)

 

[iamio]

Quick correction

`There's a roughly $200 difference between the two, but the big catch, as far as I could tell on the Dell website is that the 16GB RAM model is only available with the HiDPI screen.`

The Dell website allows you to configure the FHD screen model to have 16GB of RAM.

 

[itsastickup]

What's the keyboard like?

I have a 2015 XPS 13 2-in-1 and the keyboard is amazing, which was noted in the reviews at the time. I've pretty much limited myself to considering only Lenovos and Dells because keyboards are hugely important to me.

 

[boerner]

I like the Dell XPS 13 9370, but I don't like that both the RAM and the Wi-Fi adapter are soldered to the motherboard (via the service manual -> https://topics-cdn.dell.com/pdf/xps-13- ... _en-us.pdf)

I know that soldered down RAM is becoming more common, but the Wi-Fi adapter? I would prefer to able to replace that part should it be necessary...

 

[Voldenuit]

I understand that a USB-A port is thicker than the sidewall of modern ultrabooks, but isn't there an alternate solution? Perhaps a hinged, spring-loaded catch that could come down when I wanted a fat port. The only part fat about the -A port is the rectangular housing to guide in the plug. The bottom of the guide could overlap to the slot in the closed position.

I'd say the solution is to stop making impossibly thin laptops (looking at you, LG Gram, and acer's ... Swift?). The Thinkpad X1 Extreme and X1 Carbon are both plenty thin (0.72 IN and 0.62 IN respectively) and have both USB-C and USB-A ports. I mean, does the XPS 13 actually gain anything from being 0.16IN thinner than the X1 Carbon?

They're available with Ubuntu in some regions, and Jason Evangelho at forbes is writing a couple articles about his experiences with aftermarket Linux on the X1 Extreme.

 

[stuartv666]

Why oh why doesn't Dell sell the 15 inches model (with, prey, 32GB RAM and 1TB SSD) with Ubuntu? why do I need to go through the hassle of installing Ubuntu by hand (after paying more than I need to for Windows)?

Totally agree!!

MANY developers I know (including myself) make extensive use of virtual machines. Most of my work in the last 2 years has been in VMs running under VirtualBox on Mint. I want/need more CPU cores! The XPS 15 has options for i7 and i9 CPUs with 6 cores. That's what I want. And 32GB of RAM and a 2TB SSD, as well. If they had the XPS15 in a Linux version, it would be a no-brainer.

The other issue is that many devs that I know, including myself, who use a laptop as a daily driver are using it docked, with external monitors (at least 2) and external KB and mouse. BUT, when I take my laptop on the road and want to get any work done, I want maximum screen real estate. Running a dev environment and trying to code on a 13" screen is ridiculous. Doing it on a single 15" screen is bad enough. To me, 13" laptops are for manager types who mostly write documents, and for gamers and students who carry their laptop around all the time.

To me, the XPS 13 DE really just barely misses the mark - for use by full-time, professional developers, anyway. The 15, with 6 cores, and the ability to stuff a second drive in there, is on point. It is what I am currently planning to buy. Given that I'm doing the vast majority of my work inside virtual machines, the host OS is actually not THAT important. I would like to stick with Linux, but having it "just work", and having enough cores to work well (for me!) is more important than whether my VMs are hosted on Linux or Windows. Actually, TBH, VMware Workstation works better than VirtualBox anyway. And for actual professionals (versus hobbyists), the cost of Workstation is inconsequential. Windows Hyper-V also works better than VirtualBox and it's built into Windows (so, no extra cost). I have put up with VirtualBox for 2 years because I made that commitment to running Mint as my daily driver. But, even though it works well enough, the fact remains it is not as full-featured or easy to use as those others.