Good summary, I share most of the points provided in the post.
Also, I think a few more things worth to mention.
Pros:
- XPS has a decent hardware (I got 16GB, i8Gen, 500GB SSD and forgot about having a few docker containers running on the background which was an issue with my MacBook Pro 15 (8GB, 2.5Gh)
- It is really 1k$ cheaper than the same config MacBook model. Apple's Retina and Touchbar are really cool, however, they still do not have 16GB 13' mac which is a deal breaker.
- Touchscreen. Take your touch bar and put it into your missing 3.5 jack plug, Tim's Team, why would I need a touch bar when I have a touchscreen; (no offense to Apple, I still own a few apples because they are nice)
- the webcam is well described, but it is not that bad, it saves a few inches in size which makes its screen look like it takes all space and there are no borders at all;
- while ubuntu became usable with Gnome desktop I almost did not notice all missing Apple's out of the box features;
- it is very light (~1kg), my backpack can be heavier;
Cons:
- WiFi is super shitty in XPS series. If you have not had any issues yet - then you have not bought one yet. It is better to replace with 30$ adapter to not have issues with differently configured routers;
- It has Windows on it and some features are not supported on Linux. For instance, I see no sense in having fingerprint scanner if it does not work under Linux;
- Be aware that screen scaling might not work on some linux machines. For ubuntu 16.04 I got windows so small so I cannot read the text. Luckily 18.04 fixed it, but still;
Overall, it is the best laptop for Linux I've used so far (Lenovo and Asus are good ones as well), having good hardware and being more or less cheap. I hope Apple will simplify ML and add a bit more RAM to Autumn's laptops, otherwise, there are no reasons to go back.
Also, I think a few more things worth to mention.
Pros:
- XPS has a decent hardware (I got 16GB, i8Gen, 500GB SSD and forgot about having a few docker containers running on the background which was an issue with my MacBook Pro 15 (8GB, 2.5Gh)
- It is really 1k$ cheaper than the same config MacBook model. Apple's Retina and Touchbar are really cool, however, they still do not have 16GB 13' mac which is a deal breaker.
- Touchscreen. Take your touch bar and put it into your missing 3.5 jack plug, Tim's Team, why would I need a touch bar when I have a touchscreen; (no offense to Apple, I still own a few apples because they are nice)
- the webcam is well described, but it is not that bad, it saves a few inches in size which makes its screen look like it takes all space and there are no borders at all;
- while ubuntu became usable with Gnome desktop I almost did not notice all missing Apple's out of the box features;
- it is very light (~1kg), my backpack can be heavier;
Cons:
- WiFi is super shitty in XPS series. If you have not had any issues yet - then you have not bought one yet. It is better to replace with 30$ adapter to not have issues with differently configured routers;
- It has Windows on it and some features are not supported on Linux. For instance, I see no sense in having fingerprint scanner if it does not work under Linux;
- Be aware that screen scaling might not work on some linux machines. For ubuntu 16.04 I got windows so small so I cannot read the text. Luckily 18.04 fixed it, but still;
Overall, it is the best laptop for Linux I've used so far (Lenovo and Asus are good ones as well), having good hardware and being more or less cheap. I hope Apple will simplify ML and add a bit more RAM to Autumn's laptops, otherwise, there are no reasons to go back.