path: root/published/dellxps13-2.txt

Dell recently updated the company's extremely popular XPS 13 Developer Edition. 

Dell's Linux effort, known as Project Sputnik, is led by developer Barton George, who, along with the rest of the Sputnik team, has done an excellent job of bringing a "just works" Linux experience to Dell Ultrabooks. The XPS 13 Developer Edition has been available for 4 years now and this release marks the 7th version of Dell's Ubuntu powered ultrabook.

Dell isn't the only manufacturer producing great Linux machines. In fact there's almost an embarrassment of riches for Linux fans these days. System76, whose [Oryx Pro](http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2016/11/system76-oryx-pro-review-linux-in-a-laptop-has-never-been-better/) remains my top pick for anyone who needs massive power, Purism, ZaReason and others are all producing solid offerings that work with Linux out of the box. 

Even hardware not explicitly made for Linux tends to work out of box these days. I recently installed Fedora on a Sony Vaio and was shocked that the only problem I encountered was that the default trackpad configuration was terribly slow.

Admittedly, the Vaio is a few years old, which means there's been more time for hardware issues to be addressed. Sometimes getting Linux running on the bleeding edge hardware is still a bit tricky -- or requires running a bleeding edge distro like Arch. That's where efforts like Dell's Project Sputnik come in handy, the hardware is already vetted, the drivers pre-installed and configured for a great out of the box experience.

It also doesn't hurt that the Dell XPS 13 Developer Edition is an exceptionally well built, great-looking piece of hardware. If you want your Linux rig to "just work" *and* be a powerful, svelte little package that weighs under 3lbs, the XPS 13 is the laptop you've been looking for. 

The latest iteration of the XPS 13 line, and the third I've tested, features Intel's new Kaby Lake chip that bumps the clock speed by about 10 percent. The more impressive side of the chipset upgrade is the different graphics architecture which is said to improve performance in 3D graphics and 4K video. The results in this Linux-based model make especially 4K video playback incredibly smooth and not nearly as battery-draining as previous models.

## The Specs

Outwardly there's nothing new to see here. The 7th generation Dell XPS 13 DE uses the same wonderful InfinityEdge display that manages to pack a 13 in screen into a body that looks and feels more like an 11 inch laptop. The model I tested came with the 3200x1800 IPS touch panel. There's also a version with a 1920x1080 IPS non-touch panel, but I think the higher res display is worth the extra money. 

This is quite simply the best looking display I've seen in a laptop. Naturally the HiDPI model suffers a little in battery life compared to the lower res model. I've never used the lower res version so I can't compare battery life times, but more pixels takes more power, so if battery life is your top priority don't go with the HiDPI model. That said, I find the brightest setting (400 nit brightness) to be a bit much indoors. It's great for working outside and goes a long way to compensate for the inevitable glare on glossy screens, but indoors I rarely push the brightness past 60 percent, which improves battery life considerably.

The model Dell sent me featured a i7-7500U Kaby Lake chip with 16GB of RAM and a 512GB solid state drive. As configured the model I tested would set you back $1799. The lowest model, which has the 1920x1080 display, an i5 chip, 128GB SSD and only 8GB of RAM, can be had for $975. For an extra $375 you can step up to the higher res screen and a 256GB SSD. There's also a new option in there for what Dell calls a "Rose Gold" exterior.

The model I tested had the same full aluminum exterior as previous models. Underneath it there's an aluminum frame as well, which provides a stiffness that makes the XPS line feel very solid even at their minimal weight. As has been my experience with most Dell machines, the construction is excellent. I used the previous model for over six months, shoving it in and out of my bag on several times a day every day and it doesn't have a scratch on it. I can see no reason to think the latest model would be any different.

Also unchanged in this release are the ports and layout. There are still two USB 3.0 ports, one with PowerShare for charging your devices (note that USB charging generally requires a trip into the BIOS settings to enable, see [Dell's support site](http://www.dell.com/support/article/us/en/04/SLN155147/EN) for more info). There's also a Thunderbolt port that supports charging, a 3-in-1 card reader, DisplayPort 1.2 video output, VGA and HDMI. As with any laptop this thin, Ethernet requires an adapter (sold separately).

There's the same 720p webcam that has been in the last couple of models, and yes, it's still at the bottom of the lid. And yes, it still sucks that it's down there, though in fairness to Dell, there is nowhere else to put it, the InfinityEdge display comes within 1/8 inch of the edge of the lid. Still, like fellow Ars reviewer Peter Bright, I find [this decision irritating](http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2016/11/review-dells-kaby-lake-xps-13-isnt-quite-good-enough-to-keep-its-crown/): why not just move the display panel down an 1/8 inch and put the camera at the top so it's usable? Or stop pretending that the bottom camera is useful and just ditch the camera altogether. 

The palm rests are made of a carbon fiber composite that I found very comfortable. The keyboard also appears to be the same as previous models. It's a very thin chiclet-style keyboard that works just fine, though coming from the ThinkPad world I still find these keyboards disappointing. More disappointing for some Linux fans, Dell still uses the Windows logo on the super key. 

The touch pad is reportedly the same, though using the testing model next to the previous I felt a noticeable difference with the newer model being somewhat "stickier", which doesn't sound good, but I found my movements were actually more precise with the new trackpad. This was particularly noticeable in Darktable, a photo editing app with some of the tiniest imaginable control elements, which that can be a real pain to adjust, especially on such a HiDPI screen like the one the XPS 13 uses. The problem I experienced previously, where the trackpad would unaccountably freeze at times appears to have been related to something in Ubuntu 14.04, because the new XPS, which comes with Ubuntu 16.04, did nothing of the sort.

Another common complaint about the XPS 13 is a high pitched coil whine that plagues some models. At least in Reddit threads. In the three models I've used I've never encountered this issue. It's possible that the whine comes from something related to Windows drivers (some people report fixing the problem by reinstalling drivers), though I have seen reports of the whine being present on the Ubuntu-based models as well.

## Performance

The previous iteration of the XPS 13 DE was plenty fast and the much hyped Kaby Lake should give performance a roughly 10 percent boost overall, though some tasks, particularly things that involve hi-res video, may see an even bigger performance improvement. In terms of everyday tasks like compiling small programs, browsing the web and so on I did not notice a huge difference from the previous release. One things I did notice, however, was that the Unity interface is considerably snappier, though that may well be a combination of hardware and software improvements. Even for more significant tasks, like say compiling the Linux kernel on a regular basis, the previous version seems to be good enough for Linus Torvalds.

As with previous models the RAM limit is 16GB, which is disappointing but makes sense given the space available inside the very compact chassis. There's only room for one RAM card and so far compatible, low-powered RAM chips at 32GB don't exist. Would it make sense to have a slightly larger profile and ability to go up to 32 or even 64 GB? Sure it would, but for that scenario there's the XPS 15.

After the Kaby Lake upgrade, The other major improvement is the move from a 56wHR 4 cell battery to a slightly greater capacity 60wHR model. That doesn't sound like much, but Dell now claims an astounding 21 hour battery life for the 1080p version of the XPS 13. That claim was largely borne out in Ars testing of that model, which managed to last for over 18 hours in Ars' standard WiFi browsing test. 

If Linux on laptops has an Achilles heel it's power consumption. Straight out of the box, running stock Ubuntu 16.04 I only managed to get 11 hours of battery life in Ars' standard WiFi browsing test. The difference may well be largely attributable to the HiDPI screen, but the good news is that it's possible to get more life of the XPS 13 if you take a dive into the world of laptop-mode-tools. To get started install the package from the Ubuntu repositories. The project has some documentation on how to configure things, but I find the Arch Wiki entry to be more helpful.

After playing with customizations like disabling Bluetooth and tweaking some of the disk-related parts of laptop-mode-tools, I re-ran the Ars WiFi browsing test and managed to get 13 hours, a score I can only beat with my Lenovo x240, which has a far inferior screen, a larger battery and a second battery, making it a less than fair comparison. Suffice to say, in my experience, the Dell XPS 13 is as good as battery life is going to get with such a hi-res screen in such a small package. It's good enough that in all my time with the XPS models I've tested I have never really had to think about battery life. 
                                                                                   
Another change worth noting is the move to "Killer Wireless". Killer is marketing-speak for Qualcomm Atheros cards. There's a bunch of technical upgrades compared to the older Broadcom chips, like much improved throughput and traffic prioritization, which are all good news, but for Linux users the move away from Broadcom more importantly means there are open source Linux drivers that don't suck. 

## Ubuntu 16.04

For a complete rundown of Ubuntu 16.04, see my earlier review. The short story is that I have found Ubuntu 16.04 fairly buggy. Dell does not officially support the just-released Ubuntu 16.10, and given that Dell sticks with LTS releases, it likely never will. Most of Dell's hardware support revolves around a half dozen or so PPAs that come installed and which may or may not work with 16.10. But since this is a review laptop I went for the upgrade to 16.10 and have had no problems in my week of testing. That said, I don't necessarily suggest doing it unless you're comfortable troubleshooting Linux.

The "developer edition" in the XPS 13 line isn't just a code word for ships with Linux installed, you actually get some tools pre-installed. For example Virtualbox is pre-installed, which means you can get your Vagrant-based development environment set up quickly. Ubuntu isn't always completely up to date with every programming language, but with 16.04 things are reasonable. For example, gcc is at 5.3.1 and most languages are current -- Python is at 2.7, with version 3.5 available via the python3 command. Ruby is not installed by default.

Other little touches include the more popular-with-developers Chromium browser (and Chrome if you want the bundled Flash player) instead of the Ubuntu default, Firefox. Dell's own devops tools, like "Cloud Launcher" and  "Profile Tool," are available on Project Sputnik's Github page as well, though none of them have seen updates in several years. 

In my view though what's more impressive about Dell's developer tools is that it doesn't ship with any massive IDEs or any monolithic tools. If you want those they're in the repos, but out of the box there's nothing to get in your way, just a few nice little additions that save you a few apt-get commands.

Finally, there's some good news on the horizon for those of us who like the HiDPI screens. For now, my criticisms of Ubuntu in HiDPI environments still stand from the last review. Things have improved a bit in the move to 16.04 (versus 14.04 in the last model), but most of the improvement comes from Ubuntu moving to newer version of GNOME and GTK+ elements. The problems specific to LightDM and Ubuntu's own interface customizations remain in this release, as do problems with any third-party software, for example GIMP. 

All that said, a recent partnership between System76 and Canonical may provide some improvements to the HiDPI situation in Ubuntu (specifically Unity 7, not the great white whale that is Unity 8). Canonical recently released a statement about the improvements, noting that "some patches that improve HiDPI support are in review and they are expected to land in Ubuntu soon." It seems safe to assume -- judging by the new emphasis on HiDPI bugs in Ubuntu's Launchpad bug tracker -- that many of these fixes will land in 17.04. There's one bug in particular that you'll see if you buy the XPS 13 DE, during the setup process there will be [two header bars](https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ubiquity/+bug/1622686) across the screen. It doesn't affect anything and it goes away once you get done with the setup, but it's a disconcerting way to start out with a brand new machine that supposedly supports Ubuntu. 

While these are welcome improvements, they don't help outside applications like GIMP or Virtualbox. The latter will work with HiDPI screens, but it sometimes takes considerable work to get the guest OS looking good. There are in other words, workarounds for most the HiDPI problems you're likely to encounter, but be aware that HiDPI on Ubuntu, even with Dell tweaking things for you, is far from a "just works" experience right now.

I should probably note here as well that I did install and test both Fedora 25 and Arch on the new hardware and had no problems in either case. For Fedora I went with the default GNOME 3.22 desktop, which, frankly, it's what I think Dell should ship out of the box. It's got far better HiDPI support than Ubuntu and the developer tools available through Fedora are considerably more robust than most of what you'll find in Ubuntu's repos.

## Conclusion

The XPS Developer Edition has developed a strong following over the years and the big question for many fans will be, is this worth the upgrade? If you've got the previous release I would say probably not. If you do a lot of video editing (what kind of developer are you?) or want it to do double duty as a gaming machine then you might see some benefit to the upgrade, but that's a lot of money for not much gain.

If you've got an XPS 13 from further back, say the first InfinityEdge version with a Haswell chip then the upgrade becomes more appealing. The gains in battery life, coupled with performance improvements make a much more convincing case for the upgrade.

If you're new to the idea of buying hardware specifically tailored to Linux and you're wondering why you should, the answer is more complicated. The XPS 13 DE is a fantastic machine, web cam aside, regardless of what OS it's running. But it's an especially fantastic machine for anyone who's tired of wrestling with their hardware just to get their OS of choice set up. If you want a machine that's stylish, reasonably powerful, light in your bag and runs Linux without a hitch the Dell XPS 13 DE continues to make a great choice.