In the next month or so, I’m going to be buying a new laptop. I will be running Arch Linux on it, and using it mostly for programming/typing up notes, watching movies/TV, and some light gaming (I also like doing OpenGL programming). I’ll be using it at college, so a decent battery life would be very helpful. I’ll have around £1000 (about $1500) to spend by then
Because of this, I have narrowed my sights down to the Dell XPS 13 Developer Edition and the Macbook Pro 2015 13". I’m having trouble deciding.
So far, it seems that the XPS 13 has a matte screen, being smaller, and much better Linux support in its favour, while the Macbook has better battery life, a higher res screen (I don’t really care about this), more RAM, and a nicer keyboard in its favour. I’m also thinking that the Mac might be a good idea because I can actually try before I buy, as there is an Apple store not too far away from me. Another point in favour for the Dell is that a Linux kernel dev has one, so support should keep improving
As long as it is possible for the Macbook to actually work with Linux, I don’t mind doing some tinkering to get it to work (I’m no kernel dev, so not that sort of tinkering).
I would prefer one of those two, but if there is another option that fits my requirements and price range that you would recommend, please tell me.
Indeed. I agree. I don't see much point in massive amounts of pixels on a small screen, and the i7 isn't worth that much more.
The thing is, if it's only installing some drivers, messing with some config files, or installing some patches I wouldn't mind. I'd just rather not have a barely functional laptop.
I'd go XPS 13, but that's only because I like matte displays.
They're both on par, build quality wise, but the MacBook does have a noticeably better trackpad and keyboard. It also looks better than the XPS, in my opinion.
I guess with the XPS 13 I could put the money saved into the external battery they sell, which would be helpful. I'm probably going to have to go to the Apple store to try out a Mac.
I was in same position as you are, hardcore Arch user and a programmer. I speak a lot of time looking for a ultrabook. I went and tried out both of them, and Dell XPS is just horrible. There is no feedback on the keyboard, it feels like pressing a sponge. It felt heavy and thick. Also, design is lacking. Macbook has (in my opinion) great keyboard, but it is very polarising so you will have to check it out by yourself. Touchpad is great and there is no discussion about it, so is the screen and speakers - best speakers I've ever heard on a laptop (this is coming from a person that really values good sound quality). Battery is good, it will pull out 9 hours non problem. Laptop is light, thin and small, as it should be. The core M is great and does not lag far behind XPS or Air, macbook can sustain turbo boost almost non stop. And one USB C is not a really big problem tbh.
Most importantly macbook feels like a 1200$ laptop, unlike Dell XPS.
You will be happy with XPS, but for sure macbook will fell better. Also, the looks you get when pulling it out :v And you can charge it from power bank!
I have to agree with this guy, Apple makes great quality laptops. Everything I have used has felt cheap in comparison. The keyboards and trackpads are wonderful on the mac.
I have not used the Dell but I hear very good things about it. I have used but do not own a macbook pro, the 15" one.
No two ways about it, it is good but I must say I hate the keyboards, feels like typing on cheap crackling plastic. Very much a personal opinion.
Design wise I much prefer the Dell, all the macs are super generic. Not an ounce of style about them. But again a personal opinion.
I know bothing about running linux on a mac but i hear plebty of people do so it muct not be that hard, and while a maintainer owns an XPS i can almost assure you another owns a mac. They spread like the plague, which is bot a bad thing in this case.
It is tough but personally I woild get the Dell, mostly because I have not used one and would want to try it.
For use of a laptop it's pretty hard to beat a Macbook to be fair, despite the fact that I'm currently favouring my Windows laptop over my last rMBP (two SSDs in RAID 0 + 1TB mechanical + 16GB RAM in a slim build won me over). Macbooks scroll like butter and other manufacturers have taken to reversing the direction of the finger dragging to match. That says a lot. The XPS is no slouch though so either would be a good choice.
From the operating system side, OSX has more compatibility with software than Linux, whilst being able to run many bigger-name applications that Linux runs. If the software that you use is exclusive to Linux then fair enough but it's worth a go before installing Ubuntu in its place.
Well, I don't much like non-tiling window managers, and I don't really like using non open source (not to a Stallman level). I don't want any walls around my garden! Plus, I've gotten massively used to Arch and Linux in general, being able to change anything, etc - changing would be hard. Dual booting would be useful though, I could make sure that software I write actually works on Linux, Mac, and Windows. I'd definitely be keeping OS X around, for any exclusives that are truly worth it.
I have a re-branded MSI GS70 Stealth from Cyberpower. It's a 17" laptop so a tad bigger than the ones that you're looking at but there are smaller versions available, such as the GS30 2M (which also has its dock). Matte 1080p screen, GTX 675M, i7 4700HQ. It originally came with one 120GB mSATA SSD and 2x 4GB RAM but I upgraded to two 120GB mSATA drives and 2x 8GB RAM. I also swapped out the Killer wireless bluetooth combi card with an Intel wireless AC bluetooth combi card. Boot-up time is almost non-existant
Sorry for the bump, but I feel that this topic could do with a conclusion.
I bought a MacBook Pro today. It's great, loving it so far. OS X is better than I was expecting, but I'm still going to be installing Arch at the weekend - seeing as from what I've read the process for install on a MacBook Pro is different to that on other computers, I'll probably document what I do here, in the hope that it might help others in the future.