[tannhaeuser]

I don't understand the authors choice to limit himself to Apple or Google. You've been able to do development on Linux notebooks (and Windows notebooks, of course) since decades. I can absolutely recommend Dell (and ThinkPad, though not from personal experience) notebooks with Ubuntu preinstalled/officially supported. Or is the question if a Chromebook is en vogue to use this season at Starbucks?

[lettergram]

I use my Arch Linux T450 Lenovo laptopand it's a beast. $500 on eBay + $180 for SSD + $150 for RAM.

My laptop has 20Gb of RAM, 2x 1Tb SSDs, and 10 hours battery life, with 1 hot swap batteries pushing me to 18 hours battery life if I want it. Total cost: ~$900 with tax and shipping

IMO best track pad outside of Apple + best laptop keyboard

[vuln]

I love my x220 came with an i7 upgraded the RAM to 16GB, slapped in a 256GB SSD. The last modification I have to complete is the Full HD screen conversion, I am really excited about this. I have a few of the extended and regular batteries. I tend to just use the extended battery. I daily carry my x220 and I am not sure what I'll replace it with. I also have a mid 2014 MacBook air but the specs are mediocre. The only real benefit the air has is it's slimmer and lighter.

[wilsonnb]

The x220 is too heavy for daily carry in my opinion, plus the screen can be pretty bad if you don't get the IPS one.

I'd have trouble recommending it to anyone these days unless they were looking for something really cheap.

[jamespo]

I wouldn't really describe it as heavy, but that's right about the screen

[mahmoudimus]

Interesting. Do you know if T450 Lenovo supports the hack I use with https://github.com/avibrazil/RDM? I use my 13" macbook pro with a 2560x1600 resolution because I enjoy the larger screen space. IMO this the killer feature.

[pahool]

this looks like my dream machine. Two questions: how is the fan noise, and where did you find 1tb ssd drives so cheap?

[zrobotics]

I'm also running a t450, albeit w/ only 16gb ram and a 500gb ssd. Fan noise is not bad, certainly not loud enough to be distracting. I purchased mine refurb through Amazon for the 6 month warranty, but didn't need to use it. Wifi works great under Debian, but I could not get the Bluetooth card to work reliably. I replaced it with a card designed for the t430, but it wasn't all that easy. I would advise just using a USB Bluetooth adapter.

The only other complaint I have is that palm rejection for the track pad is poor, I eventually disabled the track pad entirely. I prefer the track point anyway, but I know a lot of people hate using them. Keyboard is excellent, IMO better than a MacBook. I would be curious, perhaps the OP used 2 500gb SSDs, you can get drive caddys to replace the DVD drive (I kept it, as I still need to read disks relatively often).

[pasbesoin]

On my T430:

    synclient TouchpadOff=1

There's supposed to be a better alternative to the Synaptics stuff, now, so I read a few months ago, but I forgot to note it and haven't actively searched it out, yet.

[lettergram]

So they often come with 1SSD drive, then eBay the other drives or in my case, student discount Western digital is 30% off + other promo.

No fan noise

[PascLeRasc]

Good specs, but that sounds really heavy.

[lettergram]

Weighs less than my Mac for work - it's 14" vs the 15" Mac

[tedmiston]

There's one Dell model that all of the hardcore Linux devs in the office use that I've heard called the rough equivalent of the MacBook Pro. XPS 15, I believe.

[bhouston]

The Dell XPS 9560 is a 7700hq + NVIDIA 1050. I had it, it was great. Just was forced to upgrade to a XPS 9570 that has a 8750H + NVIDIA 1050 Ti.

It is a great laptop and cost effective for the 9570 right now, $1699 CAD right now with the coupon code: http://www.dell.com/en-ca/shop/dell-laptops-netbooks-and-tab... I have a larger SSD and memory sitting around the office, so I don't count that in the cost.

[brightball]

Look up Dell Developer Edition to see the lineup options. I went with a beefed up Precision 7710 that can handle 3 hard drives (2 NVMe and 1 2.5) and 64 GB of RAM personally. Started with just 16gb and 1 drive but I like the room to upgrade over time. :)

[mhluongo]

XPS 13 user here, big fan

[IanCal]

Counterpoint here, XPS 13 user, hate it. Worst coil whine I've heard on anything, fan sounds like it's catching, WiFi on Ubuntu very unreliable. Trackpad is atrocious.

I think it varies a lot between models.

[qlm]

Same. XPS 13 with Ubuntu. It's not the worst laptop experience I've had but it's close.

The trackpad is a nightmare. The bluetooth adapter randomly dies and I'm forced to restart. About 10% of the time when I close the lid the laptop doesn't actually go to sleep, but instead gets extremely hot, which is worrying when I take it out of my bag only to realize the thing has run down the battery and nearly melted. The list of issues goes on and on.

[jerf]

I can't help with the coil whine, but replacing the Wifi card is cheap and easy. I bought this on, albeit for the 9550: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B0167N9R8E/ref=oh_aui_se... which is currently showing as $25.

Yeah, we can blame Dell a bit for this, but Wifi drivers are a problem for a lot of systems.

Replacing the fan may be worth a try, too. Google for the service manual for your system which will give you a step-by-step instruction guide with pictures, and the parts are easy to come by.

Still can't help with the coil whine or the trackpad, though. (Though generally I've heard people say it's the best trackpad outside of Apple. I can't speak to that, my standards for trackpads seem to be relatively low compared to a lot of people's, because I've been content with a lot of trackpads that the consensus says are bad.)

[mattbreeden]

XPS 13 owner. Had none of those issues, but the keyboard was 100% unusable for me (no hyperbole). Caused so much pain in my fingers I could only use it with an external keyboard attached, defeating the point of it being a laptop.

[PascLeRasc]

Do you get coil whine when you plug in a wired mouse and move it around? My office just got a few Latitude ultrabooks and they all make weird sounds when we use an external mouse.

[IanCal]

It's down to the graphics I think. Video playing, some pictures and any scrolling are pretty bad.

[ortuna]

Have he new 9370 with NixOS, no cool whine. Although I had it on the one I had 2 models ago. WiFi and Bluetooth work fine for me. So maybe they’ve worked the kinks out?

[ianai]

Seconding how horrible the trackpad is.

[some_account]

The noise complaints is why I'm not getting it.

[solomatov]

It's not XPS 15, It's called Precision. Basically, it's a business version of XPS 15 with slightly different hardware and similar appearance.

[_8j50]

Purism and a few other privacy focused laptops are more "chic" if that's the goal.

Does chromebook support virtual machines well (never used it)? If it doesn't I would call that a deal breaker for myself at least.

[3pt14159]

I've generally found most generic laptops super loud when they heat up. Or they have poor fit and finish or ugly screens.

[jchw]

Dell XPS series looks fantastic from the outside, but there are a few things that stop me from wanting one, that I've mostly observed from other owners of XPS laptops, having not owned one myself.

1. The keyboard. It's apparently not so bad once you get used to it, but compared to typing on my Thinkpad I find myself unhappy with it; it feels spongier in comparison, and the key travel is pretty short (though not nearly as bad as the Apple butterfly switches.)

2. The docking situation. Thunderbolt 3 docks are not really that appealing to me because it becomes difficult to drive many displays at 60 FPS with them. In all fairness, the Thinkpad workstation dock can also only drive 2 displays 60hz 1080p OR 30hz 4k, but at least it's reliable, and my Thunderbolt port is still free if I want more displays at the cost of convenience.

3. Linux support is actually really awful. The XPS 13 developer edition is supposedly an exception, but I have heard that it's really only well supported with the exact version of Ubuntu it ships with, and that updates have occasionally broke the system. Admittedly, the same can be said for some Lenovo laptops. My P51 is pretty bad under Linux (though it's gotten to the point of being usable, thankfully.)

4. Reliability. A coworker has replaced his XPS like 2 or 3 times now, and one of the chargers also died. I hope that's the exception. Obviously even Thinkpads are not as rock solid as they used to be, but even though I found this level of failure to be pretty extreme, it lines up with what I've witnessed with other Dell laptops and is one of the primary reasons I've never owned one.

Honestly, the choice of laptop comes down a lot to priority, but I feel like XPS exceeds mostly in the categories of portability and style, two things that I do not value nearly as much as robustness and performance.

More than anything, the most important thing you can do is research the crap out of any option you're considering buying. I've found that Arch Linux wiki pages about laptops are quite useful, with the caveat that you have to be careful to not assume two similar models will perform similarly since that is often not the case.

[tannhaeuser]

I can't really agree.

Having worked on an original IBM Model M keyboard in the 90s and as touch typist, I'm as much as a keyboard snob as could be, and I think the keyboard on the XPS 13 is excellent for what it is. I had the opportunity to compare an X1 Carbon keyboard (or was it another high end Lenovo?) against the XPS 13 in a shop where they had both on display, and preferred the XPS 13 subjectively. The Lenovo, certainly a high end part, had more key travel, and was also quite a bit wider; both facts combined made the outer left and outer right keys "block"/"skew" because they weren't hit straight from the top. Also, the keys were a bit too loose/clacky and felt more like a cheap desktop keyboard. I can't imagine typing on that thing as fast as I can on the Dell. The Lenovo also was quite a bit more expensive than the Dell, but had an atrocious 14" TN display (manufactured to 10+ year old standards) next to the Dell's.

> Linux support is actually really awful ... [XPS] only well supported with the exact version of Ubuntu it ships with

That's not been my experience at all. I'm running the XPS 13 for over two years now and everything works out of the box on my non-Developer Edition model (with the occasional glitch, like once every other month, of WLAN reconnect failure and power management switching into a really slow mode when waking up/opening the lid).

Fully agree with Arch Linux wiki pages; used them as resource to get Ubuntu running on the Dell XPS when this wasn't yet possible out of the box.

[mattbreeden]

> 1. The keyboard. It's apparently not so bad once you get used to it, but compared to typing on my Thinkpad I find myself unhappy with it; it feels spongier in comparison, and the key travel is pretty short (though not nearly as bad as the Apple butterfly switches.)

I think I may be more sensitive to this than most, but the keyboard is absolutely not okay. I had the Dell XPS 13 for over a year, and I could not actually use it as a laptop because the keys brought my fingers such excruciating pain. I could only use it with an external keyboard attached. Previously I had the old generation Macbook air which caused me pain in only one finger (pinky, I think from hitting Ctrl too much), and currently I have a Razer Blade which is a bit uncomfortable on all of my fingers, but not even CLOSE to how bad the XPS 13 was.

I also own a Dell Chromebook 13 and have zero finger pain when using it, the keyboard is a dream. Had some coworkers with Thinkpads, and their keyboards also felt fine to type on (better than the Air, worse than the chromebook)

[namanyayg]

How has your experience been with battery and portability? I'm leaning towards buying a new laptop that I can carry around comfortably. I'm comfortable with remotely working on a more powerful PC if needed. Any models you'd recommend? I much rather would pick anything else over a MacBook.

[tannhaeuser]

I've got a Dell XPS 13", and I'm absoluting loving it; especially the keyboard works great for me as a touch typist/vi user, which I didn't expect since the keyboard is what ThinkPads are acclaimed for. That said, battery mileage is no match to Apple notebooks in my experience. I can get 3 to 4 hours max, though I'm occasionally doing CPU-intense stuff which will reduce this to 1-2 hours. If Apple actually would produce a "Pro" notebook with a usable keyboard and without the TouchBar thingy, and with actual "Pro" port options and replaceable parts, I'd be considering Apple again since I had a good experience with my PowerBook back in the day.

[mattbreeden]

> I've got a Dell XPS 13", and I'm absoluting loving it; especially the keyboard works great for me as a touch typist/vi user

This is insane to me. My XPS 13 caused me excruciating pain to type on. I try to warn people every chance I get. Hurt my fingers more than any laptop I've ever used, to the point where I could not even use the laptop keyboard, I would only use it with an external keyboard.

Best keyboards I've used was my Dell Chromebook 13, followed by coworkers thinkpads.

[tannhaeuser]

That's strange indeed, and goes to show that keyboard preferences are highly subjective. I guess its best if the buyer checks out for his/herself in a shop.

[smhg]

My XPS 13 (second gen) had much better battery life with (what sounds) similar usage.

- you have a recent kernel? Also, 4.17 should bring battery-related improvements

- did you install TLP[0]?

[0] http://linrunner.de/en/tlp/docs/tlp-linux-advanced-power-man...

[tannhaeuser]

Thanks, I'll be checking it out. I've bought my XPS early in 2016 when the Skylake CPUs were new and kernel support/power management was flaky, so I had to install custom kernels and do BIOS patching, etc. I've upgraded to 16.10 since but I guess I need to check out if my kernel is up to date.

[greggarious]

Does it have a replacable battery? I'd be less annoyed about 4 hours of battery if I could swap.

(Also if anyone knows of a model that's got more of a focus on battery life for someone who is SSHing into external machines for most CPU intensive tasks I'd be all ears)

[tannhaeuser]

No, the XPSs don't have replaceable batteries either. The XPS 13 is a very tiny notebook/subnotebook, yet with full-size keyboard and all the performance of a larger notebook (it's very noticeably faster than my 2012 MacMini which also has an i7).

I guess battery mileage is mostly a function of the O/S and drivers, and your power settings and what you actually do on the notebook.

[dzjkb]

I have the Dell XPS 13 9350, bought used. When doing standard programming stuff (firefox + sublime + spotify, no CPU intensive tasks), I usually get around 8 hours of battery, so in practice it's never a problem.

[yhylord]

Maybe try to replace the battery with a new one. My previous one's capacity dropped to ~40%, which would be ~4 hours max under light use, but after I installed a new battery it bounced back to 8~9 hours.

[ATsch]

I use a x230 with the biggest battery. It's decently thick/heavy compared to the modern ultra-slim laptops, but it's compact, fast enough and it set me back barely over 300€ total and the battery lasts 9+ hours.

It sounds like budget is not your problem, but I thought I'd just mention this for any students etc. passing by.

[TimmyMustGo]

I use a x220 because it has a better keyboard. I'm limited to USB2 but honestly I never use them except for my mouse and iOS devices, which are limited to USB2 speeds anyway. But I'm able to hook it up to dual external 1080p monitors. Cost me less than US$100.

[ATsch]

note that you can also use the x220 keyboard in the x230.

x220 keyboards are a bit hard to source for a good price, though.

[wilsonnb]

If you get the x220 with an i7 it comes with a single USB 3, in case anyone is looking to purchase one.

[rianmcguire]

I've got an X270 with the extended battery. Running Linux, it lasts over 20 hours with light use. It weighs less than the 15" MBP I had previously.

[indiandennis]

The xps 15 is quite good in terms or performance and battery life. I have the 1080p model and it usually lasts around 9 hours with light usage on battery.

[PascLeRasc]

ChromeOS is very nice for non-development browsing/writing/music listening which we all do, the 12-13" models are a good form factor and have good battery life. Not to mention they're usually <$300 for the lower-end models.

[pixelrevision]

The only advantage that the chromebook is going to have is being optimized to run on arm. Otherwise switching to any standard flavor of Linux would be a much better bet for a dev.

[ianai]

Ad an XPS owner (9350), I will never own a dell again.

[solomatov]

Could you provide more information why?

[ianai]

The experience I had with its touchpad and screen. The screen is mitigated by buying the FHD version. But the touchpad never works right. Basically two finger scrolling has never worked right. It’s almost like lag in that it’ll keep scrolling after I lift my fingers. Only the actual experience is worse than that. Issue persists past firmware and driver updates/changes.

[solomatov]

I recently bought the latest 9370 and touch pad feels very close to what you have on apple.

[lowry]

Try 7-series

[jdietrich]

It's also worth noting that Windows 10 now has a native Linux subsystem, allowing you to run Windows and your choice of Linux distribution in parallel. This makes Windows a very compelling alternative to Mac OS if you prefer to develop in a *nix environment but also need to run proprietary software.

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/about

[hedora]

Privacy + telemetry concerns were ultimately a deal breaker for me, but hyper-v plus mobixterm’s x11 server also make for a nice setup.

[dabockster]

Or you can do what I've done for years and just run VirtualBox/VMware with port forwarding. A bit harder to set up, but gets the job done.