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Comment by oneeyedpigeon | Hacker News Reader

Shame the laptops are all — I think — 15" and above. And shame that page doesn't provide any information apart from a photo and the model number: at least list the screen size, maybe processor etc. so I'm not completely in the dark having to dip in and out of each one.

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I've got the XPS 13, which is 13" and comes preinstalled with Ubuntu as well. These are merely _new_ models with Ubuntu.

Thanks for the info — the XPS is definitely one of a very small number of candidates to replace my Macbook Pro 13". Is ubuntu totally seamless? What would you say is the biggest downside to that laptop?

It's a great piece of laptop.

It copied the MacBook for all important points.

The touchpad is the only downside to me.

The OS and matte screen are huge pluses.

I'm pretty happy with it so far. I can't really name any downsides that are specifically bothering me (of course, cheaper would always have been better, but I don't think that's specific to this laptop). People have been complaining about the webcam being located below the screen since the bezel is so small on the other sides, but I don't video chat that often so people looking at me from below is not that much of a problem. Another thing is coil whine, which I guess has been present in mine as well, but I'm usually listening to music or am not in a silent environment, so that hasn't bothered me either.

It's a fine laptop, and Ubuntu runs well. The biggest downside for me is the position of the camera. It's underneath the screen.

I use XPS 13 (9350 model from 2016) with Fedora and it is mostly seamless. The only thing that does not work neither under original Ubuntu nor with Fedora was a "docking station", the extra that Dell provided that connects to USB-3 port and provided more ports, monitor connection and power. I just could not get it to work with an external monitor without being too blurry.

Hardware-wise the biggest disappointment was screen. QHD+ resolution is nice in theory, but the screen is just way too reflective. Using screen protector helped somewhat to mitigate the problem, but it is still far from what you get with proper mate screens. The screen can be a lesser issue if it could be opened to a wider angle, but the max angle is just not enough to avoid the reflections from surrounding lamps.

Another thing is the touchpad. It works OK but I do not understand why nobody in PC world can match Apple. Even touchpad on MacBook Air from 2013 is better than what Dell provides. And the issue is not the Linux drivers, as I run Fedora on that MacBook Air as well.

On the positive side the cooling fan is very quiet, way better than MacBook Air. Even under heavy load the noise is not distracting.

The 15" XPS 15/5520 is really in a 14" body. The difference between my XPS 15 and my Clevo 15.6" is night and day in weight, form factor, and battery life but I only sacrifice 32GB of RAM compared to my old laptop (old laptop was 64GB vs 32GB).

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