I have the XPS 13 Developer Edition, and it's a fine laptop in many ways... But it's marketed as a Linux laptop, yet requires a proprietary WiFi driver. After I upgraded my kernel a month ago, the WiFi started kernel panicking randomly and often, so I don't bother even using the computer anymore... I just use a full screen terminal on my old MacBook and ssh to a VPS. One day I'll reinstall the driver or something, but, god damn, why must everything suck?

Presumably this is the older non-skylake model. I heard the new one (9350) will ship with an Intel wireless card which already has support in the kernel. But I don't think it's out yet.

I've got the new non-developer version and I did have to jump through some hoops to get the wireless working. And suspend still doesn't work. But other than that it is the best laptop I've used.

I have the same laptop. I wanted to run Debian/sid on it so I knew going in that I was going to need to do something about the wireless card. I researched[1] a bit and bought an Intel Wireless 7260 for ~$25, swapped it in, and it made all the difference.

The card identifies itself as:

    02:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation Wireless 7260 (rev bb)

[1] https://yurovsky.github.io/2015/05/18/dell-xps-13-wifi-linux...

Thanks. The proprietary Broadcom driver worked well enough until it didn't, and now I know firsthand why not to use them, so that's a useful experience at least.

I too was quite frustrated with the wifi card, apparently they've sourced different cards. The Broadcom (I think?) was pure crap in linux, fine in windows. I upgraded to the non bluetooth intel card, everything is fantastic now.

Yeah, Broadcom. Oh, how did you upgrade? Ask the Dell support?

I figured out which part people were having luck with, archlinux forums/wiki, and ordered it on amazon. intel 7265ngw + bluetooth. Looks like I went for BT and turned it off in bios. Currently 22$ + 2$ shipping. Maybe 8 torx 5 T-5 needed to be removed, swapped in a few mins.

How is the touchpad? Is it comparable to Mac?

How is the highdpi screen on Linux?

Oh yeah, the touchpad is frankly awful compared to my MacBook's. I've almost considered disabling it, because I keep brushing against it with my palm causing wild cursor behavior and accidental button presses. It's difficult for me to control even when I do it intentionally.

But I don't use the mouse much anyway (hence ratpoison).

The HiDPI screen is pretty good, I talked about it in a sibling comment. Chromium understands the DPI setting and so does Xterm, and honestly I don't use any other programs. I imagine if I used different desktop applications, I'd probably run into some issues like maybe icons being too small or something.

I don't if this is available on Ubuntu, but recent versions of libinput are way nicer than the old synaptics touchpad driver.

Yes, for 15.10 (and 16.04) install xserver-xorg-input-libinput, then edit the config files:

http://askubuntu.com/questions/649103/proper-touchpad-thumb-...

Interesting, thanks!

> Not even mentioning Dell tells me this guy misses a few things.

I fully expected to see the (2015) XPS 13 mentioned too and perhaps Microsoft's Surface Book (which could be used as a laptop 100% of the time if required).

The way he talked about "Microsoft Surface" made it sound like Microsoft only made the Pro model.

I was not even aware of the surface book, and I was recently in the market for a new power user laptop (ended up getting the dell xps 13).

I just got the new skylake XPS 13 and am loving it. Fantastic hardware.

Fair points. I'm personally not a Dell fan, though I used one for a year that was purchased by my employer, and yes, it didn't completely suck. Just wasn't my first choice.

It did fail as a laptop, though. Something about how it tended to bend on a laptop would cause the physical trackpad "button" to get stuck when it was sitting on a lap in some positions until you picked up the laptop by the sides. :| It was also a lot heavier than my Toshiba.

But as a portable computer, it actually did a fine job.