I’m going with this Dell and returning my Lenovo Slim 7 Pro. In my previous thread saying I switched to Windows I read that Dells offer great compatibility. I ordered this Dell XPS 13 and plan on going with Pop OS. Thoughts on this? Good choice?
Edit: Apparently it’s certified with Ubuntu 20.04 LTS. I assume I should go with This particular Ubuntu version then?
If you don’t care about using a webcam (it’s very unstable on linux), the machine is good. However, if you want to use a linux laptop, get a linux laptop, not something conceived for windows with linux as an afterthought. https://linuxpreloaded.com/ has a list of shops that sell linux first hardware
If you do however insist on buying something that’s windows first, it’s advisable to check the linux hardware database with your model first. For example, here’s the model you’re buying. Somewhat consistently, these components aren’t recognized across distros:
- Alder Lake Imaging Signal Processor
- Goodix USB2.0 MISC
- USB Bridge
and no webcam is detected at all. Having one of the Dell XPS 13s myself, I’d rather go for a TuxedoComputers laptop if given the choice, but if you don’t have that option and don’t care about the webcam, then it’s good choice.
Just want to add that Framework isn’t quite Linux first, more like Linux second / Linux conscious. With some tweaking it works great but there are sometimes little issues that crop up, especially if you’re using the newest machines.
For example, when I got my Intel 12th gen Framework last year, X was super laggy (opening a terminal and typing a few characters might take several seconds). You’d have to end up disabling some kernel power management setting. That was fixed in later kernel releases and was because it was new hardware, but their focus pre-release was making sure Windows worked well on it, not Linux. Technically even now there’s some kind of conflict between the ambient light sensor and the screen brightness keys and the fix has always been to disable the light sensor, so I’ve never actually used that feature on my laptop (unsure why Windows is unaffected).
It’s still a great laptop and I absolutely love them, but I think other shops like System76 should get credit for their top-tier Linux support.
I had my framework AMD and I havent encountered any problem with fedora 39; besides very early bios (only affecting batch 1 and early batch 2, I believe) and a AMD display bug (which is documented in detail and fixable with one command).
Everything else works extremely smoothly, including webcam, brightness key, ambient light sensor, and privacy shutter. Honestly, I would put their support against any linux first laptop, their support team is very responsive, and their support lead was the ex-support lead from system 76.
One more bit of information: the very laptop on the fedora workstation webpage is a framework laptop. They seem to be on very good term with most distro developers, and likely will get more attention when something goes wrong.
I think most of the problem you mentioned are the nature of new hardware, not caused by poor support from framework.
One of the reason I landed on framework is because they offer cutting-edge hardware that other manufactures don’t.
I think they are still the only linux manufacture that uses AMD 7040U chip, which is a great everyday chip with excellent power efficiency. This kind of make them stand out from the competition for me.
I don’t think their Linux support is bad, but it’s not Linux first. If Windows users had to run a command to fix a display bug it would have been held back until it was fixed. With something like System76 you get a laptop with Linux preinstalled that just works, no commands necessary.
Keep in mind I called them Linux-conscious / Linux-second. They still focus on making it a fantastic machine for Linux users, but I think it’s a little less than some other shops provide for Linux.
Thanks for the comment. That was the impression I got as well, but a few other comments I’ve read (on other threads) seemed to imply it was a linux first laptop.
I do remember the first time I opened the page, it was a windows laptop and was the reason I decided against buying one. Your comment does confirm it for me. I’ll add a note to my previous comment.
God I love Kbin, never change
Yeah, the randomness keeps things spicy. Upvoting a thread and getting the error page just makes me want to try to upvote things harder
Specs look good for the price, and those machine work great with Linux (I’m using Ubuntu 22.04 on the slightly earlier 9310 right now).
The only slight downside of the 9315 is that the SSD is soldered to the motherboard. Make sure you back up your data regularly, because there might be no way to get anything off the machine if it breaks.
There’s also something of a lack of IO; just one USB-C on each side (which is nice, because you can plug the charger into either side). But I have no issues with Bluetooth headphones, and monitors with USB-C have always worked great for plugging larger numbers of peripherals in.
XPS13 has very highly positive reviews from several sources. I’ve had the same dilemma as you 3 years ago and went with the XPS13 9310 and I’m extremely happy with it. So much that I bought an on sale Razer Book 13 for my wife since it’s almost an XPS 13 with a different name.
Note that I don’t have the “developer” version of the XPS but it runs with no issues at all. I can install Linux myself, don’t need someone to do that for me and I’m not using Ubuntu anyway. Also, the delivery delay were insane when I bought it and I was extremely lucky to find a “regular” version in one of my local stores.I’ve tried a lot of laptops over 30 years and no brand was convincing enough to get me returning to them every time. I just go where I can find the hardware I need enclosed in a well-enough robust case and I’m done. All the parts are sold by the same manufacturers anyway. The difference between brands is just which parts are assembled together and how well it’s done.
As a bonus, it’s also nice that the firmware of the XPS 13 (including th,e bios) can be updated with fwupd.
I think the XPS 13 is a nice device.
For reference: I think your mistake was buying a Lenovo laptop without the word “ThinkPad” in the name. There are Lenovo Thinkpad something devices. They are (usually) more likely to support Linux. And there are Lenovo comsumer devices and they’re a mixed bag.
I’ve been using XPS 13 as my “daily driver” for about 4-ish years now (I think the 9300 model came out in late 2019? Maybe 2020. I can’t remeber tbh). It’s been running Debian and I’ve never really had any problems with it. I didn’t order the Developer Model as I wasn’t going to run Ubuntu and I don’t really need Linux preinstalled (and as added bonus, it comes with Windows OEM license, which you can use in your QEMU).
It has a shit battery time, but so does every Linux laptop. I don’t want biometrics on my devices, so I’ve never used the facescanning or figerprint sensors, no idea if they work, I’d assume they do.
I’ve connected it to a USB-C hub with dual 1080p screens, webcam, microphone, external USB etc in the office. Works perfectly. I travel quite a lot, it’s light and easy carry, I bought a small USB-C travel charger. Trackpad palm detection in Linux is bad, so I normally carry a small travel mouse with me and disable the trackpad if I need to do some writing.
It’s got a SD-micro card slot, which is very useful, I can store my disk encryption keys on it and take it with me when I need to leave the laptop in hotel rooms etc.
Never had a problem connecting it to any presentation display at customers. I miss ThinkPad keyboard layout, but it is what it is. Not a dealbreaker.
Overall, it’s served me well over these years - and there’s not much signs of wear and tear on it. Solid build quality.
Ultra thin laptops look cool, but suck in almost every other way. If you need thin then get a MacBook Air.
Dell laptops like the XPS 13 and 15 are recommended on many compatibility lists including the official Ubuntu certification page. Not only do they look fantastic but they are highly compatible with Ubuntu which is what drew me. The whole point of my purchase was compatibility remember.
Yeah, I’m sorry to say that is a result of good marketing. I work at a university and we have experience with a good number of XPS laptops.
We saw at least a 60% problem rate, and Dell’s support was dog slow. Batteries being the weak spot. Because it’s thin it is more fragile, we saw a number of broken screens, and keyboards. One survived a Gatorade spill, but another failed after a water spill. Go figure
A three year warranty helped, but we were out of a laptop for months at a time, more than once on the same laptop.
Partly because of you I ended up returning the Dell XPS 13 and getting a System 76 Lemur Pro instead ༼ つ ◕_◕ ༽つ💻
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Would have sworn yesterday you made a lengthy post saying you switched back to windows? What the hell happened in 14 hours?
Get a proper lenovo thinkpad it’s way better than a Dell. My x1 carbon is amazing.
On kbin the thumbnail for this post is a nude woman sucking a lollipop. WTF
Do you have a link to that?
You know… just so I know what it is and don’t click on it by accident.
Look at the link through kbin and you’ll see it
https://kbin.social/m/linux@lemmy.ml/t/727861/I-m-returning-my-Lenovo-laptop-that-gave-me-tons-of
and it directs me to best buy for some reason?
I really wish they’d fix this issue already. I’ve never seen it persistent on any other website before.
You know “they” is one dude, right?
This is the only way I have seen porn on kbin, even after going out of my way to subscribe to the NSFW magazines in kbin. No porn has even shown up in my feed.
It’s a bit like the 80s or 90s when we had to rely on the porn we could scavenge. Kids today do not know the significance of a Sears catalog.
I remember the days of deciphering the scrambled tv channels on cable during the late hours perusing the late night adult programming as it scrolled in its warped and distorted menagerie of shapes and colors, feeling exited to spot an errant boob or something.
But it was enough! Kids these days have access to gigs of HD video… not sure if that’s a good thing.
I have great experience with my framework AMD, excellent Linux hardware support and excellent support team. I have never encountered less problem on any system I own, including dell and hp.
Linux specific manufactures like system 76, tuxedo, slimbook, starlab, and nova custom are also great options, but I cannot endorse them since I never used any of them.
With framework, you get:
- assembled in Taiwan, with many components made in Taiwan
- better upgradablity (upgrade CPU, main board and battery)
- 3:2 display with reasonable DPI (but need fractional scaling)
With other linux manufacture, you have
- (some) coreboot, system76 even has intel ME disabled.
- standard screen resolution (1080P is bit grainy for me but you dont need fractional scaling)
- preconfigured and preinstalled linux distro.
BTW, I think most of these laptops have great windows support as well (but check before you buy), so you are not locked into linux.
Another vote for the framework. They are the only manufacturer actively supporting Windows and Linux.
Don’t know about Pop OS, but I’m running an XPS 13 (9380) with Arch using Wayland without any issues.
Same, I would go to Arch (for me the best distro, it’s clean), and if you want something easier just Linux Mint.
EDIT: I would forget about PopOS, really think this distro suck.
