Intel Haswell availability?

Thanks for the review!

Battery life seems a bit low when compared to the Macbook Air 13 (similar processors, video cards, battery rating, etc). Maybe this is because you're backgrounding Youtube or Steam, but I expected to hear something around 10 hours (which is not unrealistic on the OS X box). Maybe battery life would also be better on a newer kernel/release.

All in all, I'm tempted, but the battery life thing is a real problem. My Lenovo X220 with the stickie-outie-battery lasts 6-7 hours, and I was hoping for a significant upgrade.

If you have a chance to run a longer battery test, or perhaps if Barton has some input, I would be very interested.

Personally, I didn't expect 10 hours (of my normal usage) from the XPS 13. I know the MBA has an incredibly good battery life and as far as I know, there is no other machine out there that can come close to it. It may have to do with some power-management-magic within OSX. Therefore, I didn't expect the same thing from the XPS 13. I think the lower resolution on the MBA plays a part in its long battery life, too. One can't have everything. :)

I think it's possible that battery life will be better on the XPS 13 with a newer kernel and/or newer Ubuntu version (because of the Haswell-optimisations). I have to say that I haven't looked into power-management tweaks on Ubuntu yet. I'm happy with how it is now. If it gets any better, then that's great. If not, that's ok too.

I'll report back if I get any significant battery improvements, for sure. But I really don't expect any.

The 6-7 hours you get on your X220, is that under Ubuntu? If so, which version and which kernel? Any power-management tweaks? And what's the usage pattern, screen brightness and resolution with which you get 6-7 hours?

Well, it's not a like for like example, but here is the basic idea for the X220:

• Product SKU: 4287CTO
• Product Name: ThinkPad X220
• Intel Core i5-2520M Processor (2.5GHz, 3MB L3, 1333MHz FSB)
• 12.5" Premium HD (1366x768) LED Backlit Display
• Mobile Broadband Ready, 2x2 Antenna
• 8 GB DDR3 - 1333MHz
• 720p HD Camera
• Intel 120 GB SSD
• ThinkPad Battery 29++ (9 cell, 94 WHr)
• Bluetooth 3.0
• Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6205 (2x2 AGN)

I run Linux Mint 15 64-bit with the MATE desktop (13.04, basically). Screen brightness is at 100%. There is no backlight on the keyboard, and I don't use the keyboard flashlight very often. All power management is stock. Average applications are: Terminal, Thunderbird, Pidgin, and Firefox with about 8 tabs (Flashblock active by default). Libreoffice, Skype, etc all make regular appearances. This is a Sandy Bridge laptop, and while I know the battery has a higher rating than the XPS 13, this laptop has been in daily use for 2.5 years, so the cell can't be as fresh as when it started. But I still easily get 6.5 hours on a full charge.

Apple is advertising 10-12 hours on the MBA 13, which is similar spec to the XPS 13. The XPS 13 Ivy Bridge version we have in the office manages about 4-5 hours on a charge under similar use to what I put it through (although it is running Ubuntu with Unity, I think 12.04). I have a MBA 11 Core 2 Duo which does about 4.5 hours, as another totally unscientific comparison. Oh, and an Arm Chromebook running Xubuntu 13.04 which does about 6 hours.

I wasn't hoping for 12 hours, but I thought 9-10 would be realistic. Battery life is very important to my work -- lots of travel, including places in Africa where power isn't a given. At 6 hours I'm not sure I'd be very pleased. Of course, in the end, I want Linux, not Mac OS X or Windows, so that has to play a part in my decision.

If anyone feels like checking the battery run time under a more recent distro, it would be nice to have some numbers to compare.

Edit: uname -a output: Linux loki 3.8.0-34-generic #49-Ubuntu SMP Tue Nov 12 18:00:10 UTC 2013 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

Not a very fair comparison :-). After all it has a slow CPU, a screen with very low resolution (unusable for me), and you are using the extra battery that is 70% bigger than on the XPS13.

You should be able to see the the remaining life of your battery by looking at the battery status in ubuntu (I just click on the battery icon). There is "Energy (design)" and "Energy when full". On my Vaio it has gone from 52.2 down to 39.3 in about 2 years of usage.

I am also very interested in what the newer kernels, with haswell optimizations, can do for the XPS13 though. On my old Vaio (sandy bridge) power draw is much less on Ubuntu 13.10 than it was on 12.04.

Thanks @Pixel_J for taking the time to put together such a thorough review and sharing it with us all!!

I admit the battery capacity isn't a fair comparison. I'll boot into Ubuntu and see what it lists for the status. MATE doesn't have that handy information.

Other than the battery, I kind of expect this system to be more power hungry, not less. The processor is 35W TDP instead of 15W for the i7-4650U. Of course there are differences in the rest of the hardware, but the march of time should mean that components are more efficient now. I think.

Actually, it's probably not that simple. But I was hoping! Plus, I've read up on some reviews of the last revision under Windows, and they were talking 6.5 hours and more. So maybe something is odd (Flash was always a massive drain on my test MBA 11).

I would bet that an upgrade from 12.04 to 13.10 would increase battery life. Maybe someone in the wild can give it a try.

For me, I just reflashed my Arm Chromebook to 12.04.3 (seems Arm kernels are taking a beating lately) and it seems to work well enough for a backup to the work laptop while I procrastinate over the XPS 13.

Great news, i'll order the hd5000 version one of this days :) Btw if you're not interested in gpu performance you can go with the hd4400 version, it's the basilar difference.

No 512gb version but imagine this could be a diy change?

The dell website (work) has two configs for Ubuntu, both 8gb.  4500u or the 4650u.

http://www.dell.com/uk/business/p/xps-13-9333/pd?oc=sbnb2303&model_id=xps-13-9333

http://www.dell.com/uk/business/p/xps-13-9333/pd?oc=sbnb2304&model_id=xps-13-9333

and there's also the 4200u i5 with windows:

http://www.dell.com/uk/business/p/xps-13-9333/pd?oc=sbnb2301&model_id=xps-13-9333

Today I looked into the new XPS 13 in the UK. The Dell website lists very limited options and I am turning to this forum after an uninspired online chat with a Dell sales person. I am interested in a 512GB HD and 8GB of RAM. They  are certainly not listed on the website and not available according to the sales person. Is it correct that these options are not being offered by Dell? The 512GB not at all and the 8GB only in one configuration. How can this be? I am fine with either the Linux or Windows version as I will install Debian anyway.

Thanks, urbanshepherd. A DIY job changing the hard disk! Interesting suggestion, seems to be the only option for now. I am also waiting to see whether Dell will update the XPS 14 which would be a better option for me, as I need a bit more screen space.

There is now an Owner Lounge on notebookreview forum here (mainly windows version I think):

http://forum.notebookreview.com/dell-xps-studio-xps/742059-xps-13-9333-haswell-owners-lounge.html

In the thread they point to a strange electrical noise issue many people complain about, there is also a thread in Dell's forum about this:

http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/laptop/f/3518/t/19538215.aspx

Someone here can confirm the electical noise reported in the above threads? It seems that the noise comes from behind the upper right corner of the keyboard, and is more audible when the keyboard backlight is on.

I am looking forward the Dell XPS 14", 4th Generation Ultrabook on an i5 or i7 architect as my primary Windows laptop.  Does Dell have a projected date on the delivery of this laptop?