Dell XPS developer edition means Frustration, Period!

Question

I was very glad when I heard that project Sputnik led to two developer edition high-end laptops this year. I was very happy to see more OEMs providing Linux-based products. Formerly, I worked with System76 products and I was very happy, everything worked perfectly and the support was great with staff who were Linux experts! BUT, I liked the design of XPS 13 and saw it as an opportunity to support Linux products, so, I made the terrible mistake and ordered XPS 13. I had to push my university to purchase a Linux laptop, because you have to either order Mac or Windows!

Result has been very frustrating so far. It seem for Dell "Developer Edition" means, we put out the hardware and developer eventually figure out how to make it work, by compiling drivers, updating kernels, etc. It is not what a developer edition means!!!

Some problems I encountered:

1- Horrible performance with Dual monitors. I also ordered a 27" UHD Dell monitor along with the laptop. If I turn off the built-in monitor in Display settings it will shut down both monitors, I have to detach the external monitor, and delete monitor.xml file in the conf to reset the settings. I have to leave the built-in monitor on if I want to use an external monitor. Generally, dual monitor setting behaves unreliably. How many developers you saw who did not use an external monitor! The Tray menu items, appear on the built-in monitor when I click on them. External monitor blink once in a while, on wake up the login screen turns into a mess with multiple images.

2- Video card still have problem, it does not support OpenGL properly. I use network visualization tool Gephi. It depends on the proper support of OpenGL, I am using it on two other Linux machines without any problem but it does not work on this laptop. It cannot show visualization and it is a known issue if you do not have right video card driver with proper support of OpenGL.

3- Tocuhpad is not working properly. I noticed with A05 BIOS it is way better than the stories I heard about the touchpad, but still " Disable touchpad while typing" does not work. you cannot fill a form with it, the cursor just keep jumping around. I have to disable tap to avoid this. Drag & Drop does not work either.

I contacted Dell Support, they sent my request to High Complexity Resolution Team. They contacted me, very polite and kind but they did not have the knowledge to resolve the issue. The excuse was "Since this is a developer edition it is being worked on continually as it is an open-end exploratory project."

BUT you do not charge premium price for your exploratory project a $1600 laptop should simply work, as System76 laptops work. Dell with all it is resource sold a very expensive laptop which simply does not work.

I will wait another week and if my issues are not resolved, I will return the laptop and will get a System76 Ultrabook.

DELL-Jared D · Answer

I'm sorry to hear that you've had a bad experience. I've passed this along to our support and social media people and asked them to reach out to you.

FYI, I've used this system with a Dell 27" UHD monitor on a couple occasions (once for an extended session) and didn't notice any performance issues. It may depend on what Linux distribution, distribution version and kernel version you're using (and if using WebGL, the browser you're using). I don't have OpenGL issues either, but maybe your 3D graphics needs are different.

khazraee · Answer

Thank you Jared for your reply and passing the information. I think there are some issues with OpenGL 3D which had not ironed out yet. As I mentioned Gephi uses an OpenGL 3D engine to speed up graph visualization, but it crashes on XPS 13. It is a known issuer when OpenGL 3D does not work properly, Gephi crashes as soon as it start using 3D engine. My five year old ThinkPad is running Gephi for 4 years now without any problem.

I updated to Ubuntu 15.04 (Kernel 3.19.0-26). I heard some folks get a better result with an update. I think the behavior of tray icons is fixed now, but still dual monitor has problems. I have to keep the built-in monitor on. If I turn it off now, the External monitor start blinking when I am opening browsers which have ajax features or embedded media. It is very unusual.

I updated the graphic Driver based on this blog post by Jean-Marc Le Roux from Oibaf PPA. Gephi still does not work (crashes as soon as turning into visualizations), however, I tested WebGL and OpenGL are working but it seems not properly.

DELL-Jared D · Answer

The link to the blog post didn't come through right. Could you reply with it again?

Are there any packages that are part of Ubuntu that you can reproduce the OpenGL issues with? That'd make it easier for us to get help from Canonical, especially if you're able to reproduce with a package in Ubuntu main. It does however seem that the issue is with Intel graphics, which you'll see on any system without a discrete graphics card and the same CPU (possibly all Broadwell CPUs and maybe some less recent ones?), but it's still something that I'd like for us to be able to address.

I don't currently have a 4k external monitor on hand, so hopefully our support team work with you on those issues.

khazraee · Answer

Sorry, for the broken link. Here is the correct one: http://blogs.aerys.in/jeanmarc-leroux/2015/05/10/xps13-developer-edition-updating-the-graphics-driver/

I agree with you that the problem is most likely comes from Intel Graphics. Do you have any suggestion for testing OpenGL capabilities in a way that would be helpful to provide feedback to you. I used GpuTest for benchmarking: http://www.geeks3d.com/20121113/gputest-0-2-0-cross-platform-opengl-benchmark-furmark-lands-on-linux-and-os-x/

DELL-Jared D · Answer

I agree with you that the problem is most likely comes from Intel Graphics. Do you have any suggestion for testing OpenGL capabilities in a way that would be helpful to provide feedback to you.

I don't, but I just talked to our contact in ProSupport about setting up a callback with you.

peterino · Answer

I just wanted to say that I'm very happy with my XPS 13 Developer Edition (Ubuntu 14.04.3 LTS preinstalled, purchased Aug/Sept 2015). Just to make sure there is some balance in the postings in this forum.

I only have some minor issues (TouchPad could be better tuned [1]), and I must admit I haven't yet tried it with external peripherial devices (monitors, keyboard, mouse). The main lack I see is the 8 GB RAM maximum, which makes my device not future-proof (this was my main concern when I decided to buy it after looking for other options for about a whole month; I hope there will be a 16 GB model in 2016).

[1] It should work as nicely as the MacBooks do: Full TouchPad area available for moving around, and single-finger click = left mouse button, double-finger click = right mouse button. (Has this already been suggested on LaunchPad or so?)

chris.peck · Answer

The touchpad is driving me crazy, turning off Tap to Click seems to have made it bearable. Seems like it should just be an X setting that could handle some of this?

peterino · Answer

I've submitted a few bug reports on Launchpad (Canonical) about the touchpad issues:

#1499989 (touch events happen with Tap-to-click disabled)
#1500762 (right-click happens with one finger sometimes)
#1501531 (shipped with Windows 8 Quick Start Guide) ;-)

Have a look, please (everyone), and mark it as "Affects me too" if it does. Cheers!

DELL-Jared D · Answer

peterino: Thanks for going through the work of reporting bugs. I've asked Canonical to at least look over them.

TheNitai · Answer

I've moved from a MacBook anf Surface Pro 3 to a XPS 13. I use dual monitor (a ViewSonic 27"), a Microsoft natural keyboard and a Logitech M570 with their wireless USB connections and hardly have any issues. I use Ubuntu 15.04.

The only issues I've encountered so far are:

Sleep: On resume you can see the screen for like 3 seconds and then it shows you the greeter screen to enter the password. Strange issue.
Trackpad: Yes, VERY annoying. I've disabled "tap to click" but now feel like an idiot in a coffee shop as I'm the only one "clicking away" :)
Wifi: I've exchanged the Wifi card with the Intel 7265 one. Now at least I get the full bars, except the 2 or 3 bars with the Broadcom card. No, idea why Dell ships such a (words that should be written) card with such a high profile laptop.

That said, this is an awesome laptop. I would suggest editing the rather harsh title :)

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Dell XPS developer edition means Frustration, Period!

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