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XPS 13 Developers Edition first impressions
Hi,
My brand new XPS13 (i7/8GB/256GB) arrived today and I'd like to share my initial thoughts with you all.
- Design: nice sturdy ultrabook design with (limited) ultrabook connectivity (only 2 USB ports)
- Ubuntu 12.04 LTS runs very fast and stable (in comparison with my other Ubuntu 13.10 machine)
- Display quality is excellent, very wide viewing angles and the 1080p resolution using Ubuntu is very productive. But noticeable white 'pressure point' in the left corner when using a black background.
- Battery life: I'm getting around 6 hours (first charge) which isn't much in comparison to other Haswell based ultrabooks (the Macbook Pro retina 13 can easily get around 9-10 hours, while using a more power hungry CPU)
- Touch screen: personally I don't see the point of touchscreen when working in Ubuntu (even in Windows). When I want to swipe, I just use my tablet. Maybe a non-touch i7 would be an interesting option.
- Coil whine: I'm experiencing a high-pitched sound when my keyboard backlight is on. When turned off, it's still noticeable, but very low in intensity
- Speakers: Sound quality is decent but on regular base my left speaker makes a quite loud creaking sound.
In brief, I'm very glad a 100% Ubuntu machine is available for purchase with optimal driver support (Sputnik Team: thank you!) but I'm a little bit disappointed in the overall quality. The 'coil whine' issue and the speaker problem are well-known internet-forum topics for over a year, and still Dell isn't able to resolve those issues in the 3th iteration of the XPS 13 product. I'll wait to contact Customer Support for a repair since no clear solution for both stated problems has been found.
But, nevertheless, looking forward to the 14.04 LTS DE version!
cfaber
36 Posts
0
December 7th, 2014 21:00
Don't mean to nitpick here but if the motherboard was installed incorrectly, resulting in a case screw being stripped then dell should (and likely will) replace the defective parts.
The speaker issue is annoying as well, however I believe it's still correctable, I just haven't had more time to figure out how to filter the noise, yes I wish it wasn't there but I still think the build quality is pretty good.
As for the headphones issue, if you're running linux, there are many fixes for this soundcard that are in later kernel revisions (3.17+), running 3.18rc7 on my system now the quality is great. The only complaint is when hooked up to powered loud speakers, without ground filtering you get noise through (such as professional studio monitors) you run into noise issues, but again, really this shouldn't be hooked up to such a system, a better USB / external sound card with proper shielded outputs should be used.
I'm hopeful that dell arrives at a solution as I do enjoy this ultrabook, and it runs supports Linux (my chosen desktop OS) very well.
svrana
15 Posts
0
December 8th, 2014 09:00
The latest motherboards don't suffer from the problem quite as badly as the previous ones, though the sound is still there. I have to be in a very quiet room to hear it and without headphones. This is pretty rare for me these days, and I guess I've learned to live with it.
No, any laptop this expensive shouldn't have these kinds of problems. Let's hope they fix it going forward. It's still a great machine. (I've just placed an order for another one for my day job to replace my aging macbook air)
travsformer
16 Posts
0
December 10th, 2014 06:00
In the end, I decided not to take my chances with the XPS 13, and got a Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro instead. It seems like spending this kind of money is no guarantee you'll get a defective-free device anymore, no matter the brand.
The first unit I received had a fan that rattled loud enough it could be heard from the other end of the living room, a few defective keys on the keyboard and a considerable amount of screen bleed in several different spots on the bottom of the display. Luckily, I was able to get a replacement at the store and didn't have to deal with Lenovo's support, which was AWFUL: they told me to simply clean the fan (on a 2-day-old laptop) and be on my way.
The replacement is quiet as a summer night & all keys work OK, but there's still a bit of screen bleed. The headphone jack sometimes refuses to detect the presence of headphones, or detects them when they're not plugged in, silencing the speakers. The mini-HDMI port is a nightmare - you have to file down the adapter's male plug for it to work, as the laptop's contacts are wedged too far in.
I'm wondering whether the Dell would have been a better bet. The Yoga 2 Pro's 3200x1800 display is more of a pain in the ass than a bonus, the keyboard isn't nearly as good as the XPS series', and battery life is pretty mediocre (about 5h on average). It's still a great machine, very solidly built, all-in-all, but the battery life is probably the biggest deal-breaker.
I guess the moral of the story is that manufacturers aren't willing to lose a dime despite the economy, and to make the products affordable, they cut corners wherever they can. No matter the brand, no matter the product.In the end, it doesn't matter if you spend $1600+ on an ultrabook, you still might get a lemon or a machine with serious design flaws. That's just the way it is....
As consumers, we should really assert ourselves and not stand for this kind of ***....Use the internet to our favor, vent our discontent everywhere we can. Only when sales go down 'cause of this kind of stuff will manufacturers be forced to react and quit treating their customers like we don't matter...