[sraquo]

Earlier this year I bought a Developer Edition (Ubuntu) of Dell Precision 5520, which is the business version of XPS 15 9560. Same chassis and hardware, better factory QA and different GPU options.

I very much regret this decision. I spent ~100 hours trying to get it to work properly and to configure Ubuntu (including supposedly simple things like switching Alt and Ctrl keys). At the hourly rate I'm charging, this is more than enough to buy ANY laptop. Next time I'll swallow my pride and just buy a top of the line Macbook Pro.

Out of the box Ubuntu works great, but it is very fragile to updating. For example, updating BIOS to a version that fixes an important CPU bug causes the computer to freeze and shutdown every few minutes at random.

Updating the OS itself caused weird bugs such as being unable to click on app menu items with a USB touchpad. Ditching the default Unity for Gnome3 fixed this particular bug.

The recovery image that Dell provides for Ubuntu simply does not work a few months after release – craps out when it's unable to either fetch or install some package. So I don't even have a way of getting a working version of Ubuntu on this laptop if anything happens to my hard drive.

Oh and the touchpad configs are appallingly bad out of the box. Impossible to use. I fixed 98% of palm interference issues with a few lines of xinput config. I don't know why Dell didn't do that themselves.

And of course, Dell only provides only 7 days of Ubuntu support. After that you're on your own.

Now I'm trying to sell this laptop, but no one on craigslist wants it even at 35% ($900CAD) off the original price. A few months old laptop in perfect condition that is still on warranty.

Speaking of Ubuntu itself, it has been a profound disappointment as well. I will not be trying Dell or linux on desktop for another 7 years at least. My 9 year old Macbook Pro is far superior to this mess.

PS I also tried hackintoshing this laptop, and it worked 95% of the way, but it requires the latest BIOS to work, and that causes random shutdowns regardless of the OS.

[JamesMcMinn]

I've been using the XPS 9560 full-time since February, and have experienced precisely 0 of the issues you describe whilst running a number of Linux variants, including several Ubuntu variants, Fedora and Solus.

> So I don't even have a way of getting a working version of Ubuntu on this laptop if anything happens to my hard drive.

You could simply download Ubuntu directly, or any other distribution. Dell isn't doing anything special to the version they distribute.

> For example, updating BIOS to a version that fixes an important CPU bug causes the computer to freeze and shutdown every few minutes at random.

Have you tried talking to Dell about this issue? Their support, particularity around BIOS issues on their XPS and Precision range has been fantastic in my experience, and they often supply pre-release BIOS versions if they believe it will help, otherwise they tend to replace the laptop.

[sraquo]

> Dell isn't doing anything special to the version they distribute.

From what I've read on their website, they actually do bundle it with custom software like drivers. But really my bigger point is that a lot of things do not work the way they're supposed to if you deviate from the happy path just a tiny bit. In my experience.

> Their support, particularity around BIOS issues on their XPS and Precision range has been fantastic in my experience

Hm, I'll give it a shot, thanks for the heads up.

[satysin]

Try Fedora on it. I switched from Ubuntu to Fedora a while back and couldn't be happier. Not saying you will have a perfect experience but it is worth a shot if you at least like the hardware?

[sraquo]

I don't think so. A lot of my issues are with BIOS and various linux apps or the window manager, not technically the distribution flavour itself. Also, I'm done spending time on this :)

[satysin]

Totally understand. Just thought I would do my bit to promote Fedora when I can ;)

Any idea what you will move onto?

[mtl_usr]

> For example, updating BIOS to a version that fixes an important CPU bug causes the computer to freeze and shutdown every few minutes at random.

I'd return it at this point.

It's defective by design.

[sraquo]

I was told they would send me a replacement if they determine it to be a hardware problem. Return wouldn't be an option (I'm past the first 30 days). I'll try to negotiate with them anyway.