Intel Haswell availability?

I cant comment on futures but we are always looking to stay competitive :)  

I registered specifically to comment on this.

When you offer the XPS Ubuntu with Haswell proc and 32 GB ram option I will buy it.

Thanks for the input. Besides the chip and the RAM what else do you want to see?  Screen size? graphics? Physical size of system?  We are looking into offering a big brother to the current Sputnik and are collecting requirements.

Thanks!

Thanks for replying.

I'd consider a 13, 14, or 15 form factor... not the main concern for me.

Only want quad core processors or better.

Main thing for me is RAM.  It's hard to find 32GB RAM option in any Ultrabook.

Personally I am happy with 1920x1080 although I'd splurge on a 2560x1440 if available.

I'd be interested in dedicated gfx @ 2560x1440, but am fine with Haswell onboard @ 1920x1080.

Antiglare IPS screens please.. don't care for glossy.

What are the restrictions? Do you plan to introduce a completely new laptop or just customise one the existing models as in the case of the current Sputnik (e.g. XPS 14 or XPS 15).

Personally, I'd love to see the same approach as the one taken by Lenovo in case of X1 Carbon, i.e. putting the 14" display into 13" body which shouldn't really be a problem since XPS 13 already has very thin borders.  I hope you'll retain the wedge shape of XPS 13 though; the thickness of XPS 14 is one of things picked out by nearly every review and it's one of the things which would definitely set me off from buying one. The XPS 15 is simply too large.

The 1920x1080 IPS display should be fine even for 14" although I wouldn't mind 2560x1440. Given the expected improvements in graphics performance brought by Haswell, integrated graphics should be enough as well.

In terms of internals, I'd like to see quad core Core i7 CPU, 16B RAM and 512GB SSD.

@corpgreed, @petrhosek,

thanks for the feedback most likely we will look to leverage an existing platform or something on the roadmap, just exploring at this point :)

thx

Thanks @Petrhosek

It this point its too early to give even a vague date.  Stay tuned and thanks again for the input.

Hi Barton,

I am waiting for Dell XPS 13 with Haswell+HD 5100 graphics..but meanwhile can you please comment on these issues as seen on a review somewhere else online ?

1. Vent on the bottom getting blocked..

2. No SD Card

3. No dedicated Home/End/PageUp/PageDown

Do you think these might be valid improvements (especially 3.) for developers ?

1. There is a built-in ridge on the bottom that prevents the vent from getting completely blocked in most instances. If I toss the laptop on my bed, I do make sure that it's upside down because I know the comforter will conform to the bottom a little too well.

2. I went ahead and bought a usb card reader and tossed it in to my little bag that I carry with me in my backpack. It also has usb chargers, usb cables, flash drives, and other small electronic items that I need occasionally. So, not having the built-in reader is ok for me. Honestly, I won't use it more than 3 or 4 times a year. It might be different for others.

3. Personally, I don't mind having to use the Function key for Home/End/PageUp/PageDown (and I do use them). I don't want more keys on the keyboard if it means they will be smaller and I think I'd rather have the arrow keys pressed directly... so that doesn't leave a lot of options.

Also, I'm fairly sure Dell will upgrade the processor/graphics to keep up with the competition.

My own personal pet peve: This isn't necessarily a problem for traditional "developers" but it doesn't make much sense nowadays to have a gorilla glass covered screen and not have touch input (plus, I think a lot of "developers" are going to want to be able to test touch input in the future). I would venture to guess that Dell will probably add touch input with the next upgrade of the XPS 13. I'm not sure I would personally use it, but I wouldn't mind having the option.

I registered specifically to comment on this, too.

Since I'm a heavy Vim user, really want to have another keyboard options, like a HHK keys arrangement.

Especially the control key position.

I am a heavy vim (and screen and terminal user in general) and remapped the caps lock key to the control key nature intended for that location.

Barton, in order of importance I'd like to see:

1) Upgrade of RAM to at least 16GB (even better would be the ability to update it myself in the future but that doesn't found feasible in the small form factors).

2) 15-inch screen

3) Ability to use the XPS 13 docking station (did I just hear boos?).  I want to be able to dock my laptop and immediately connect to 2 external monitors and all the peripherals.

I've just sold off two of my mac books and need a replacement ultrabook. I can't stand trying to make an apple a pc. It doesn't work and it's overrated. XPS 13 is the only computer on my radar at this point, but with Haswell on the horizon, I'm waiting to see the new specs. Does Dell have a specific release schedule? Based on company history, what is the average latency from the introduction of a new processor to delivery in a dell computer?

OMG please do not go to 32 gigs of RAM on a linux system, that's seriously a battery killer! Running just as much as I can possibly realistically run in Ubuntu under Gnome 3, without any VM's, I'm only using 2.5 gigs out of the available 8 gigs. You'd have to be stacking running Windows VM's to use up the existing 8 gigs of RAM on the developer edition. Linux does not use memory like Windows, it has thousands of shared libraries that don't get reloaded multiple times for each application like Windows does. So unless you're doing something dumb like caching in RAM your entire enterprise Java server application, 32 gigs is just wasted battery.