What is the reason for the display being so high? Why don't they shift it down for a more balanced look and the ability to integrate a better (Windows Hello) camera?
I see you arent merely satisfied with your neck being bent out of shape from looking down at a 13" laptop screen, you want to snap it straight off your body
Does anyone know if the developer edition is getting a refresh too?
(Also, does anyone else find Dell's website incredibly confusing? Really hard to find a specific model on it---bizarre for a company that got its start with mail order.)
I actually like fans. I think of them as an auditory indicator of the workload/heat of your machine. Rather than a blinking light or looking at something in task manager, my ears tell me all I need to know.
Dual fans should be quieter as the fans can spin slower to provide the same amount of heat dissipation. Fan noise is proportional to the fourth power of RPM, so this sounds like a good thing.
I wish Dell had gotten away from the 16:9 screen aspect ratio which is great for watching movies, but not so great for other stuff, to 3:2 which is much better for productivity work. When I was looking for a laptop last year, I also looked at the Matebook X Pro which had the 3:2 aspect ratio, and it had a lot more usable screen real estate. I ended up going with the XPS 13, but I miss the 3:2 ratio.
Correct me if I'm wrong but the last I heard from the XPS line was that they're 16:10, and while not 3:2 it is much more usable productively; and a super compelling draw for me.
I kinda don't like 3:2 as it is "neither meat, neither fish"
Software adapted for 16:9 ration with huge side toolbars get near no usable work space (photoshop, gimp) and you don't get so much space for documents as proper 4:3 or 16:9 turned vertical
And god forbid you break the screen, nothing but the original panel will fit as all 3:2 panels are custom order
3:2 is great for tablets or convertibles. For me, 16:9 vertical (9:16?) is way to narrow for most web sites. Whereas 3:2 is the sweet spot that works in either orientation fairly well.
The other thing I like about it is when watching pre-hi-def TV shows, the black bars on the sides aren't really that bad, and widescreen content isn't as bad as on 4:3.
I have a matebook, and can confirm that the screen ratio is a dream. So is the rest of the laptop really. You can find them refurbished sometimes for 800-1000, with some serious specs. I've been using it with Windows 10 Pro + WSL, which has been perfect for hobby projects and playing some games / media consumption.
So, they reduced the battery for the third time in a row? This what I call a "Product Manager Curse:"
Just from having around somebody whose work function implies "a duty to extract value" in between the technical decisions, and optimising the product to death, you get products becoming worse with each generation, and not better.
See, a first reduction from ~64Wh to 62Wh might've not been even visible and been a valid "product management" decision, and not impacted the sales.
A second cut from 62 to 56 might've only deterred few power users, and could also be validated from the same standpoint, if evaluated without knowledge of the context.
But the third cut from 56 to 52 will blow up, despite the rest of the product getting the biggest year on year improvement ever.
These are really compelling machines in general, I know some youtubers are saying the style is dated, but I disagree. The only way they get better imo is to have dedicated ethernet. But that's incredibly unlikely these days and many of you probably don't even consider it to be a loss at this point as the world has kinda moved on.
the only downside for me, as a linux user, is the "killer" wifi. My last brush with this card was not pleasant at all, reminiscent of the mid-2000's era of "not working" and "when it does it randomly drops stuff". But I suppose the card is easily replaceable. (as, I have a precision and it's basically an XPS with ECC, a Xeon and a proper intel wifi card).
Now I have to figure out how to convince my IT dept. to buy me one. :)
I had an XPS13 from two generations ago, and I completely agree with the "killer" wifi linux problems.
I'd also completely agree that it was cheap and easy enough to replace. Lots of guides online, and getting a real intel wifi card was like $15. Took me about an hour, and most of that was gingerly opening the case.
I have the XPS 15 9560 with Ubuntu 18.04, and the Killer WiFi in that has been stable (I am handy with electronics, and I bought an Intel WiFI card, but I haven't needed to change it yet).
Apparently the Killer WiFi has serious problems running on Windows.
Puts me off too, has done for years. I thought I had read that it wasn't an issue now? If only they just ditched it for Intel all would be well. The coil whine is the other thing that put me off - with each release I end up searching for it.
Thanks! I didn't realize that techies cared so much about how thin their laptop is.
Maybe I'm an outlier because I'd rather have more ports and convenience than a thin laptop. In fact, I don't like very thin devices because I feel like the thinner they get, the harder they are to repair and the easier they are to break.
The general audience for laptops is far wider than just techies. Techies might actually be the minority. Between this and the fact that many people will never see/need an Ethernet cable in their life it makes sense for manufacturers to compete with specifications that the average buyer craves: thin and light.
They could have included one of those flip down Ethernet ports though [0][1], since I see there is plenty of space under the edges of the laptop to drop that flap.
The Killer AX1650 is an Intel chip and without the Killer software is the same as an Intel AX200. You just need a version of the Linux kernel that recognizes the AX1650 as an AX200, 5.2.2 or later.
I saw a review of the XPS 13 9380 mention the problem.
Googling shows it has been a problem since at least the XPS 9530 (2013). I notice it intermittently on my 9570 depending on load/activity.
If they can't fix it after 5 or 6 generations, I wouldn't have much hope they will ever fix it. Apparently Dell test that the sound levels are below some limit, but that means can still hear the noise.
Agreed on the pageup/pagedown placement. Highly ridiculous. I remapped those keys to left/right to stop accidental keypresses. Not ideal, but mostly works well for me.
> 2) Stupid pageup/down placement. I kept on hitting them when using the arrow keys.
Personally, I'm much more irritated by the Home/End keys position, as they force the hand to do a long movement, when compared to keyboards that map them to Fn+side arrows (which don't require any movement).
Ugh, timing. I just bought the current/old version of the XPS 13 less than two weeks ago. Part of me wants to see if I can return it and get the new one, but the thought of setting up a new machine again and re-copying data gives me pause.
Also not stoked about the new version having a smaller battery than the one I got, especially considering (as a sibling poster mentioned) it loses more than you'd expect while suspended.
Owner of an older 2016 XPS 13 here. I'm mostly satisfied with it, but after 4 years there's a very noticable bulge (due to thermics?) on the left to the touchpad and extending into the keyboard. Touchpad sticks out 1mm+ on the left, and has kindof always been a bit difficult to operate for right-click. Should I be worried the battery will explode or something?
Anyway, bought the XPS because of the matte screen, excellent keyboard, and rich interfaces (for a notebook of this size) incl USB-A and SD both of which I use frequently, but these are gone on the newer model. Also not enthusiastic about USB-C as a power connector; had my Samsung smartphone connector wear out within less than a year's time. It's sad because the notebook generally worked very well for me, but with the changes Dell made ceased to stand out. Any recommendations for alternatives (maybe I should finally come around and buy a Thinkpad)?
I also have an xps 13. great machine but finances were tight at the time so I only got mine with 8 GB of RAM. I've been reading the reviews so I'll know what to get when the time comes to upgrade. the x1 carbon looks like a pretty obvious alternative.
My employer switched to dell laptops, the first gen xps 15 and 13s, and now the precisions. As they get older we're seeing more and more battery swell. We're not sure the root cause, we speculate that it's a specific usage pattern related to the USB-C docks everyone has. Your battery is definitely not okay, you should get it replaced asap. We've looked at some alternatives like the hp spectre, or the lenovo ideapad and the asus zenbook, but none of the felt as nice as the precision line wrt build quality and bang-for-buck.
Yep, you need a new battery. Getting one from Dell is harder than actually replacing it.
USB-C as a power connector work great when the proprietary power supply die as you are waiting to get a replacement battery. (true story) (I have a 9360 model, which doesn't like the batteries for the 9350)
65 comments
[ 4.1 ms ] story [ 123 ms ] thread(Also, does anyone else find Dell's website incredibly confusing? Really hard to find a specific model on it---bizarre for a company that got its start with mail order.)
I ended up buying the standard edition because there was a discount that made it cost less than the developer one (!).
I'm somewhat of stickler for fan noise but I hope this implementation doesn't result in being loud
>> equipped with up to 16 GB of soldered-down DRAM
That's enough for me right now but no room for expansion
>> a 52 Wh battery that can enable operation for up to 19 hours on one charge
Hope real-world battery life comes close
>> Dell’s new XPS 13 with quad-core CPUs will be available starting August 27 at $899.99
Quad-core for less than $1K...nice!
I fight against this craziness by mocking "wide" screens as being "short".
"The display panels feature a 1920×1200 or 3840×2400 resolution"
However 3:2 would be nice, like the Surface Laptop.
https://www.anandtech.com/show/14426/when-ice-matters-dell-a...
Software adapted for 16:9 ration with huge side toolbars get near no usable work space (photoshop, gimp) and you don't get so much space for documents as proper 4:3 or 16:9 turned vertical
And god forbid you break the screen, nothing but the original panel will fit as all 3:2 panels are custom order
The other thing I like about it is when watching pre-hi-def TV shows, the black bars on the sides aren't really that bad, and widescreen content isn't as bad as on 4:3.
Just from having around somebody whose work function implies "a duty to extract value" in between the technical decisions, and optimising the product to death, you get products becoming worse with each generation, and not better.
See, a first reduction from ~64Wh to 62Wh might've not been even visible and been a valid "product management" decision, and not impacted the sales.
A second cut from 62 to 56 might've only deterred few power users, and could also be validated from the same standpoint, if evaluated without knowledge of the context.
But the third cut from 56 to 52 will blow up, despite the rest of the product getting the biggest year on year improvement ever.
Something suggests me that this claim is a plain marketing bs.
the only downside for me, as a linux user, is the "killer" wifi. My last brush with this card was not pleasant at all, reminiscent of the mid-2000's era of "not working" and "when it does it randomly drops stuff". But I suppose the card is easily replaceable. (as, I have a precision and it's basically an XPS with ECC, a Xeon and a proper intel wifi card).
Now I have to figure out how to convince my IT dept. to buy me one. :)
I'd also completely agree that it was cheap and easy enough to replace. Lots of guides online, and getting a real intel wifi card was like $15. Took me about an hour, and most of that was gingerly opening the case.
Apparently the Killer WiFi has serious problems running on Windows.
Why is it incredibly unlikely for Dell to do the same?
Maybe I'm an outlier because I'd rather have more ports and convenience than a thin laptop. In fact, I don't like very thin devices because I feel like the thinner they get, the harder they are to repair and the easier they are to break.
They could have included one of those flip down Ethernet ports though [0][1], since I see there is plenty of space under the edges of the laptop to drop that flap.
[0] https://memestatic1.fjcdn.com/comments/I+think+hp+did+it+pre...
[1] http://bcchardware.com/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.Downloa...
https://www.anandtech.com/show/14194/the-killer-ax1650-a-wif...
https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=247705&p=2
Googling shows it has been a problem since at least the XPS 9530 (2013). I notice it intermittently on my 9570 depending on load/activity.
If they can't fix it after 5 or 6 generations, I wouldn't have much hope they will ever fix it. Apparently Dell test that the sound levels are below some limit, but that means can still hear the noise.
1) poor suspend performance (loosing ~20% battery a day)
2) Stupid pageup/down placement. I kept on hitting them when using the arrow keys.
Barring those two issues, they are great machines.
Personally, I'm much more irritated by the Home/End keys position, as they force the hand to do a long movement, when compared to keyboards that map them to Fn+side arrows (which don't require any movement).
Also not stoked about the new version having a smaller battery than the one I got, especially considering (as a sibling poster mentioned) it loses more than you'd expect while suspended.
Anyway, bought the XPS because of the matte screen, excellent keyboard, and rich interfaces (for a notebook of this size) incl USB-A and SD both of which I use frequently, but these are gone on the newer model. Also not enthusiastic about USB-C as a power connector; had my Samsung smartphone connector wear out within less than a year's time. It's sad because the notebook generally worked very well for me, but with the changes Dell made ceased to stand out. Any recommendations for alternatives (maybe I should finally come around and buy a Thinkpad)?
USB-C as a power connector work great when the proprietary power supply die as you are waiting to get a replacement battery. (true story) (I have a 9360 model, which doesn't like the batteries for the 9350)
They always focus on the 13 in these articles, but I always get the 15, which is often a Precision.