Well after spending all afternoon with this new Dell XPS 13 9315 I absolutely love it. The fit and finish feels exactly like a Macbook Air.
I have Linux installed (Pop_OS) and the only two issues I had were getting the webcam running and the fingerprint reader. I managed getting both of them up and now the hardware is 100% operable! I am so happy I kept giving Linux a go and found a great laptop with few compatibility issues.
Thanks to all of you who recommended Dell laptops. There were a couple minor problems, but both were solvable with a bit of ddg searching.
EDIT: I’ve decided to return this Dell XPS 13 based on some of your replies about the 12th gen intel being out of date for the price and build quality issues with Dell in general. I went with a Lemur Pro i7 Raptor Lake, 40gb ram, 1tb storage System76 build for only $200 more. Only downside is I have to wait a bit for them to confirm my order, assemble, and ship. It’ll be nice to have a machine built exclusively for Linux!
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the xps line is awesome, but I’d like to suggest something to whoever reads this comment: stay away from budget consumer grade dells! (aka inspirons and similar limes)
i got an awesome deal on mine (used) but the build quality is atrocious and it’s literally starting to fall apart after like 3 months of use
ik consumer grade crap sucks but dell is the worst offender (…they’re not even trying to hide it like hp lol)I hate to break it to you but it’s not just the budget dells that have build quality issues. I just received a $5k precision that was delivered with fucked up bios settings, non working thunderbolt ports and a trackpad stuck in the down position. I love the laptop but god damn that was frustrating.
I purchased a xps15 a few years ago. It had to go back twice in a year. Once for a fan that died, then again for a fan making bad noise when under load. Stopped using it about 18 months after getting it after the battery stopped working completely out of the blue.
Not to mention Dell’s atrocious customer service…
I’m not buying a Dell again, no matter how cool the design is.
Not just Dell… bought an HP Elite x360 in 2018 and it had to go back twice too; first time because they jammed a physical blocker for non-LTE models into my sim slot (then sent it back after removing it and putting the same blocker back in, afterwards gave me free on-site repair for this issue, fucked up my board during that and came back next day with a replacement board) and second time because the keyboard died after a year. Solid ever since, still running perfectly but these initial issues should not happen with a 2500€ device.
Yea the Latitudes I’ve been getting at work for the last decade have all been shit. Driver issues, ports breaking, keyboard keys coming off, etc. Garbage. Also semi related I’m still using the port replicator I got when I started because none of the docks/usb hubs I got since work with 3 monitors and the laptop screen.
EXACTLY! Got an Inspiron with an i7 1260p. Solid system, atrocious body. Dented the top with the charge cable in my bag THROUGH PADDING, the bottom case snapped while doing a drive change and a replacement also cracked, it’s buckled in the middle 3 times, stock screws fell out, and now it won’t recognize drives anymore. $1300 piese of shit. Switched to a used P50 and soooo much happier.
Maybe I’m not used to quality products as I’m poor in a poor country but I really loved my inspiron 14 …I bough it back in 2011 and decided to buy a new dell laptop in 2019 (inspiron too) because the 14R had died and the tech guy said it was the motherboard. I’ve never had any issues with them …the 14R is all plastic and looks fragile but I dropped it some times and it never broke. The new inspiron I got has an aluminum structure so looks it handles more falls hahaha. Anyway, I had a great experience with dell inspiron laptops regarding hardware and Linux compatibility but I’m not a demanding user. I intend to keep buying dell laptops in the future. Hey turns out the 14R just needed a new power supply and it’s running Fedora smoothly since I upgraded it’s ram.
i mean I’m pretty poor too lol, but the unit i got is objectively bad, quality-wise.
(specs are amazing for the price i got it for tho) like the frame of the display is starting to detach and bend out (not sure why plastic fram is doing that) and the touchpad sometimes gets stuck in slightly lowered position and starts to glitch out. (shaking cursor)
Had an old, used optiplex once. Not great performance due to its age, but it was solid. Super easy to work on (upgrade etc.) too since it had all these parts that folded out like a Transformer, but that also made it quite heavy.
We have 13 inch and 15 inch inspirons at work. The 15 inch is absolute garbage with an awful screen and feels like it’s going to fall apart even though it rarely gets used. The 13 inch is actually pretty nice, almost as well built as my old XPS. Good screen, all aluminum build etc.
actually i like the display in my 15 inch one. It’s a pretty nice ips 120hz panel with decent color accuracy and VRR/AMD FreeSync support (the only downside is bad max brightness)
My god an actual trackball user!
Sorry I just hardly ever see any these days.
I have also found PopOS! to be a fantastic distro. Easy to setup, user friendly, has tons of software that works with it , great UI, and I have not had a main OS patch/update break anything since I think 3 years ago now.
And it also does not punish you too hard if you tinker under the hood a bit!
Only real room for improvement is the PopShop, but thats relatively easy to fix, so I do think it makes more sense for them to focus harder on general stability, compatibility, and the new Rust based DE.
You can always install synaptic or the debian software manager for deb based stuff, and a flatpak store if you get tired of the PopShop and want to stick with PopOS’s deb/flatpak paradigm.
I love my trackballs. I’ll never move on, dammit! (⌐■_■)
I miss the old days when someone was being annoying and you could take the rubber ball out of your mouse and bounce it off their head haha!
I have such mixed feelings about my Ergo, I really want to like it but I feel clumsy on it and it seems like the extra strain on my thumb will take a toll long term with that repetitive stress.
I only use track balls that are bigger and use 4 fingers that way I get way more control, less movement of my joints/wrist, and far more comfortable. Never figured out how to use a thumb one.
I kinda thought that was the way to go as well, but I need to find one that supports my giant troll hands. The ones I’ve tried in the past were too short I think so my hand ended up just on my desk at a weird angle.
try attaching a wrist support? the Kensington expert comes with one I think, I like the slim blade but may be too low profile for you
I got my trackball due to wrist strain last year and have really only felt my thumb start to strain once or twice. I am definitely less precise but that’s still worth the reduced strain. Also makes me try to keep my hands on my keyboard for longer!
Definitely doesn’t feel that way for me. Might have to do with hand shape/size/thumb length/etc…
adding to the trackball love and specifically this thumbball type. I do hate that I can’t get a wired. Turned my wife on to them. Great for anyone who is clutter inclined and does not want a device moving around.
adding to the trackball love and specifically this thumbball type. I do hate that I can’t get a wired. Turned my wife on to them. Great for anyone who is clutter inclined and does not want a device moving around.
Check out ploopy trackballs. They have a wired thumb track ball.
oh man. I hate these are not optical but so much more sustainable.
They do use an optical sensor… PMW 3360.
Trackball gang here. Reporting for duty.
I honestly thought the days of trackball were at an end. I haven’t seen one in ages. I can’t stand them personally but I’m glad they live on nonetheless! It’s good to have choices.
Theres many people that go for ergo mice these days as well as ergo mech keyboard enthusiasts that sometimes put trackballs on their builds.
I use one too.
It’s a lot more convenient as a lazy slob in bed or on the arm of the couch.
I bring mine to work everyday. My manager has one, and oddly enough the manager at my old job did too lmao.
kde runs terribly on popos tho, so its definitely not the best choice if you need that
Sorry to double post, but … kind of a huge part of what PopOS! /is/ is making their own DE in Rust.
They originally started prototyping their idea of a DE by modifying GNOME, but … thats a bit of a story.
They still contribute to GNOME, patching compatibility issues, but they eventually realized that for their window manager and other ideas, they would not be able to convince the largely Ubuntu centric GNOME maintainers to make some critical changes and add needed support that they would need.
So they started two of their own repos to more or less install on top of mainline GNOME and patch in what they needed.
The end result is DE that I find more useful than GNOME in many ways, and PopOS! has since been seemingly largely satisfied with how this has turned out and is now just massively working on developing what will likely be the first ever DE written entirely in Rust.
Yep, thats true.
You can always install synaptic or the debian software manager for deb based stuff
One word: aptitude. Learn no mark your packages as dependency installed (capital M) and do it every update. The only downside is that it doesn’t sync that info with synaptic. But if you use it exclusively for package management you’ll end up with little to no stay packages after dist-upgrade.
The interface is very similar to and predates synaptic, but it’s a terminal tool in ncurses. So even if you lose access to the GUI you still have something friendly to try and recover.
I used them as well, and I know of at least 3 more coworkers who use them as well.
I got started when I got one for free with a used computer I bought. I’ve since then switch full time to using an MX Ergo (like OP) on my desktop, and a cheaper M575 I keep in my laptop bag.
I even game with them, and haven’t touched a computer mouse in probably 2 years.
The MX Ergo is far superior to any other I’ve used, highly recommended.
I’m really happy to be reading your posts. I kind of forgot about the xps line and have been wanting a “cleaner” computer and something with better hardware.
I was looking at Mac’s but you get so little for the money you spend on them.
I think it’s similar cost with the xps line, but you get at least double the ram and storage.
I’ll probably go the XPS 15 when I’m ready to upgrade at this point.
I got an XPS 15 last year, running Kubuntu and I love it except for one design flaw. The wifi card will randomly disappear from the hardware inventory and the only thing that fixes it is a reboot. It’s a $20 replacement part that should be user-replaceable… except for the fact that they soldered it to the motherboard for some inexplicable reason. So I’m stuck using a USB dongle wifi chip. But otherwise it’s great (even plays Baldurs Gate 3 pretty well since the latest hotfixes).
I don’t know what the extended warranty price is in your region but for me with my XPS 15 9500 I would recommend it. The repair guy has been at my home like 5-6x. Stuck pixel screen replacement, factory trackpad defect > replaced > which caused the fingerprint reader to stop working> in the end it magically fixed itself. Use the phone line with your “premium” support the whatsapp helpline fucking sucks.
Besides that it is an amazing laptop, I love it.
Also check out Thinkpad z13 and z16, they are very fine similar machines as well
Gotta keep the ball rolling
Enjoy this little guy and Linux! You won’t regret your choice.
As I mentioned in the other thread, I’d advise to keep your firmware up to date with fwupd. Litterally one command line and your system will automatically update all firmware for you (including the bios). This is too often overlooked while very important and this tool makes the process so simple (no search, no manual download, no complex commands).Pop_OS has a firmware updater built in! Already updated all of it.
Right, I didn’t know updating firmware from the fwupd service was came pre-installed in Pop_OS.
So you only have one more task on your list: enjoying your new laptop! :)
How do you like that trackball? It looks like a nice one.
I’ve been a MX Ergo user for a while now. They’re incredibly comfortable. Logitech trackballs have been my main input device for decades.
It’s a nice thumb-ball. I bring mine to work everyday. I also 3D printed a stand to go fully vertical. I appreciate the two profiles so I can connect to my home PC and my work one. It’s the only mouse I use unless I’m playing games.
I have the same one its really nice and stopped my wrist pain. Have to clean it every so often though but its easy the bottom is magnetic so you just pull it off and clean the inside of the ball part
Honestly, this is a great sequence of posts, and precisely the sort of community interaction that I love to see.
Glad to hear you settled on a S76 eventually, too - I love that enthusiast/developer-tier Linux-focused laptops are becoming more of a thing, and that they’re moreover often from much smaller, independent companies instead of the IT giants.
I have to say that I’m unreasonably excited to get this Lemur Pro.
How did you fix the webcam and fingerprint?
Thank you :)
That machine looks slick af 👌 I find linux distros are so much nicer to use when the hardware itself feels great. Enjoy!
Clean look, good job!
Would you mind sharing your Linux Hardware DB entry? I’m curious about the results.
lol first thing I do when getting a computer is wiping the disk and installing Linux.
First thing I do when getting a computer is setting up the preloaded Linux.
If I buy the M$ Windows crap, they keep making it.
Yooo is that a trackball? I made the switch to a trackball because I’m a giant hipster a few months ago, but mine is an index finger one, not a thumb one. Setup looks good - an XPS is definitely on my radar for whenever the Surface I’ve been using for the past seven-ish years dies, it looks so clean.
Yep it’s the MX Ergo by Logitech. I prefer the thumb style tracks for whatever reason. I’ve been using them for decades.
Huh, how did you get the fingerprint driver working? Or was it not made by some random Chinese company?
I use arch btw :(
i’ll try, thx!
The Arch Wiki has a page for the tool :)
Edit: forgot the link https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Fprint
yeah I’ve tried that, didn’t really work
I just joined recently as well. Put Linux Mint in an XPS and trying to get it all set up.
