It affects the E7x40, E6x40, E5x40, E5x50, M4800, M6800, E7450 & XPS 13 2015 under Linux/VMs.
So basically Dell took a few months to fix the keyboard de bouncing under Windows and when they finally released a BIOS update they made the situation a lot worse for linux users (keys would appear to get stuck). After waiting a few more months, they finally released another BIOS update to "fix" the anomaly under Linux (they fixed the "stuck" key problem but many users are still reporting a de bouncing issue, see the latest pages of this thread if you are interested http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/laptop/f/3518/t/19593360 )
They also released a botched BIOS update (when UEFI netwokrk stack is enabled) fairly recently that necessitated the removal of the CMOS battery in order to boot... https://www.reddit.com/r/sysadmin/comments/2m6u4s/dell_latitude_e7440_a11_bios_update_bricks_machine/
Also their fan control & thermal management is a sad joke.
I don't have anything against their business notebooks from a hardware perspective but their BIOS testing process is broken if not in -existing. They're working on improving the situation but for now I recommend to avoid buying a recent notebook from Dell.
So, if you want to buy a Dell machine, just make sure that you know what you're getting into... Once the initial BIOS is declared gold it can take several months to see an issue resolved.
Get a Thinkpad if you can... because the keyboard issue is still not fixed and we don't even know if they're going to release another bios update addressing the problem. Their support (Prosupport) is also clueless about these issues.
I don't know what you're paying for when you buy a Dell business notebook :)
Seems I'm not going to get a Dell in the foreseeable future.
Its really a shame the E7440 looked like a great business machine, but these issues are not acceptable. Thinkpad is not an alternative to me T440p looks terrible :(
I will proably look at getting a Fujitsu with IPS instead. Guess I will just have to live without the trackpoint :)
You should be fine if you pick something from the "30" gen. It's "only" the "40" and "50" gen that is problematic right now. (you'll still have to deal with the dumb fan/thermal control though...)
Maybe you could consider HP as well with their Elitebook?
I was thinking about the E6430 with integrated graphics. Its supposed to run quite cool, at least on Windows. Does anyone know if this is also the case in Linux.
HP Elitebooks looks nice but I don't understand why they don't have any a third trackpoint button? Any Elitebooks you would recommend?
RBBen
74 Posts
0
March 17th, 2015 12:00
He's talking about this thread http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/laptop/f/3518/t/19593360?pi239031352=1
Just going to copy and paste what I've said somewhere else...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HGxYMJdm1c
It affects the E7x40, E6x40, E5x40, E5x50, M4800, M6800, E7450 & XPS 13 2015 under Linux/VMs.
So basically Dell took a few months to fix the keyboard de bouncing under Windows and when they finally released a BIOS update they made the situation a lot worse for linux users (keys would appear to get stuck). After waiting a few more months, they finally released another BIOS update to "fix" the anomaly under Linux (they fixed the "stuck" key problem but many users are still reporting a de bouncing issue, see the latest pages of this thread if you are interested http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/laptop/f/3518/t/19593360 )
There's also a touchpad & trackpoint issue that is still not fixed after more than a year and It looks like a BIOS/EC/firmware issue: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/1258837
Dell also broke USB3 support in the latest BIOS update for the E6540 and on the E6440 http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/laptop/f/3518/t/19610392
They also released a botched BIOS update (when UEFI netwokrk stack is enabled) fairly recently that necessitated the removal of the CMOS battery in order to boot... https://www.reddit.com/r/sysadmin/comments/2m6u4s/dell_latitude_e7440_a11_bios_update_bricks_machine/
Also their fan control & thermal management is a sad joke.
I don't have anything against their business notebooks from a hardware perspective but their BIOS testing process is broken if not in -existing. They're working on improving the situation but for now I recommend to avoid buying a recent notebook from Dell.
So, if you want to buy a Dell machine, just make sure that you know what you're getting into... Once the initial BIOS is declared gold it can take several months to see an issue resolved.
Get a Thinkpad if you can... because the keyboard issue is still not fixed and we don't even know if they're going to release another bios update addressing the problem. Their support (Prosupport) is also clueless about these issues.
I don't know what you're paying for when you buy a Dell business notebook :)
Cheers
speedstep
9 Legend
•
47K Posts
0
March 17th, 2015 12:00
http://www.ubuntu.com/certification/make/Dell/
Dell Sells Desktops and Laptops with Ubuntu.
http://partners.ubuntu.com/dell
So I'm not sure what you are talking about.
UBUNTU 12.04.4 works fine on all my dells desktop and Laptop.
http://www.dell.com/us/business/p/xps-13-linux/pd
BensonHimself
3 Posts
0
March 17th, 2015 21:00
Thanks for the answer.
Seems I'm not going to get a Dell in the foreseeable future.
Its really a shame the E7440 looked like a great business machine, but these issues are not acceptable. Thinkpad is not an alternative to me T440p looks terrible :(
I will proably look at getting a Fujitsu with IPS instead. Guess I will just have to live without the trackpoint :)
RBBen
74 Posts
0
March 18th, 2015 11:00
Hi,
You should be fine if you pick something from the "30" gen. It's "only" the "40" and "50" gen that is problematic right now. (you'll still have to deal with the dumb fan/thermal control though...)
Maybe you could consider HP as well with their Elitebook?
Cheers.
BensonHimself
3 Posts
0
March 18th, 2015 22:00
I was thinking about the E6430 with integrated graphics. Its supposed to run quite cool, at least on Windows. Does anyone know if this is also the case in Linux.
HP Elitebooks looks nice but I don't understand why they don't have any a third trackpoint button? Any Elitebooks you would recommend?