Sikh Posted April 13, 2015 Share Posted April 13, 2015 Im looking for a laptop to replace my SP3. I realized I don't use my SP3 because I didn't commit and buy a dock for it, and installing linux on it is almost impossible because of the proprietary hardware. I have done any and everything and got everything working almost well. Sleep doesnt function and unplugging / plugging in the type cover doesnt work. Wifi sucks but thats because its just a ###### card. Even microsoft had issues with it at launch and still has issues with it every now and then. Anyway, I posted my Sp3 on craigslist to see if people would give up what I'm asking for it and boom, i got some offers. If it ends up happening, I would be getting a ultrabook. I was looking at a macbook air, but the resolution is terrible, so Ive been looking at the Lenovo Thinkpad X1 Carbon and Asus Zenbook. I know the Dell XPS 13 has been getting great reviews, but personally dells quality sucks. What Im looking for is great build quality, i5 CPU, 8gb Ram and minimum of 128gb SSD. This laptop will be primarily a linux machine. I saw today that Dell announced Ubuntu support for the XPS 13, which makes it even more pleasing to me, but the whole DELL thing puts it me. Hoping you guys have some advice. I know the carbon and zenbook have there ups and downs but they are the leaders atm of ultrabooks from what i can see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LUTZIFER Posted April 13, 2015 Share Posted April 13, 2015 Can't get any better than the ASUS Zenbook 303LN. Super thin, superfast, beautiful design, and an awesome gaming machine. I'm definitely impressed with mine. Just love it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sikh Posted April 13, 2015 Author Share Posted April 13, 2015 Can't get any better than the ASUS Zenbook 303LN. Super thin, superfast, beautiful design, and an awesome gaming machine. I'm definitely impressed with mine. Just love it. Thank you for the feedback. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Observer Posted April 13, 2015 Share Posted April 13, 2015 Maybe wait till Windows 10 Release. Could be a good time to get a laptop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sikh Posted April 13, 2015 Author Share Posted April 13, 2015 Maybe wait till Windows 10 Release. Could be a good time to get a laptop. I don't think hardware will change much, do you? Besides that, upgrading will be free so I'm not worried. Also this machine will mainly run linux, windows will just be there whenever i need to use windows which should be rare. The_Observer 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Frank B. Subscriber² Posted April 13, 2015 Subscriber² Share Posted April 13, 2015 What's your problem with Dell hardware? From my experience its build quality nowadays is great. The XPS 13 is imho the best non-Apple ultrabook on the market. +E.Worm Jimmy 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Newinko Posted April 13, 2015 Share Posted April 13, 2015 You need to remember that Dell is a large corporation that sells notebooks of varying levels of quality across the board. Their Inspiron line has historically sucked, but their Latitude or Precision notebooks always were top-notch. As far as hardware is concerned, users are reporting very few troubles with the new XPS 13. When the biggest complaint is about the finicky auto-brightness setting, you know they've got it right. Plus, they have Linux support, and nearly every other Ultrabook without specific Linux support has some annoying quirk or feature that doesn't quite work OOTB. Other than that, if you can afford it, the Samsung Ativ Book 9 (the 2015 model) is top-notch and comes from a long line of high-end Ultrabooks that have all been reliable and well-designed. It is expensive, though. Linux can be installed, though you have to know what you're doing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sc302 Veteran Posted April 13, 2015 Veteran Share Posted April 13, 2015 Dell, hp, lenovo, all about the same anymore. It comes down to do you want platicy or not, do you want black and sleek or not, do you want what looks like a brick or not. I have dell laptops that won't die, I have levovo laptops that won't die, and I have hp laptops that won't die. Not sure what you are looking at for build quality, but it is hard to kill a d630 or the e series dell latitude, same with the thinkpad series, and well the hp's...just don't go buy the ones at bestbuy. None are really meant to be dropped...they have rugged laptops for that or get the panasonic toughbook series. FWIW, I have a few X1 carbons and a few Acer S7's. Both are very nice machines. I like the Acer white on aluminum, makes it feel really good. I like the x1 carbon, but feels rubbery/plasticy in comparison. If I were to put my money into something that I expected to last, the lenovo...if I were to take a risk because the build just feels better, the Acer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Observer Posted April 13, 2015 Share Posted April 13, 2015 I don't think hardware will change much, do you? Besides that, upgrading will be free so I'm not worried. Also this machine will mainly run linux, windows will just be there whenever i need to use windows which should be rare. Hardware no but maybe you will get some good deals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greenwizard88 Posted April 13, 2015 Share Posted April 13, 2015 Dell XPS 13. Hands down best choice. +E.Worm Jimmy 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fezmid Reviews Posted April 13, 2015 Reviews Share Posted April 13, 2015 I've done a few laptop reviews, and the XPS 13 is currently, by far, the coolest one out there right now. https://www.neowin.net/news/dell-xps-13-review-sexiest-ultrabook-on-the-market I'm currently looking at the HP EliteBook 1020, but I don't have any data to share yet, other than pictures: https://www.neowin.net/news/first-impressions-of-the-hp-elitebook-folio-1020 I liked the HP EliteBook 1040 late last year too, but not as much as the XPS 13: https://www.neowin.net/news/our-review-of-the-hp-elitebook-folio-1040-g1 FWIW. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+E.Worm Jimmy Subscriber¹ Posted April 13, 2015 Subscriber¹ Share Posted April 13, 2015 yeah, just because you did not like older products from dell, does not mean they did not seriously improve the quality another vote for XPS 13 or zenbooks since my friends and family all have them and love them Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blaktron Veteran Posted April 13, 2015 Veteran Share Posted April 13, 2015 I have an HP 840 G1 with a haswell i5 and 12GB of RAM and its fantastic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philcruicks Posted April 13, 2015 Share Posted April 13, 2015 840 G1 and 1040 are both good options. Also the Spectre x360 if you want something with some tablty features (if you liked that about your SP3) http://store.hp.com/UKStore/Merch/Product.aspx?id=L0B60EA&opt=ABU&sel=PCNB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iogbrideau Posted April 17, 2015 Share Posted April 17, 2015 What you guys say about Dell goes against the experience I'm having with them at work. We have a lot of e series lattitudes at my workplace, 2 e6330 (one of them that had the motherboard replaced twice), quite a lot of e6510 and e6520, which we often get warranty repairs on, and a lot of precision laptops as well (M4600, M4700, mostly), those are fairly good quality and we haven't had repairs yet on most of them. We have one XPS 13, and we have yet to have trouble with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philcruicks Posted April 17, 2015 Share Posted April 17, 2015 Their enterprise grade Latitude systems aren't too bad, and the XPS are very high end systems, but their normal home grade leave something to be desired. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
limok Posted April 17, 2015 Share Posted April 17, 2015 Another vote for the XPS 13, I've bought one (had a range of VAIOs before this before they Sony sold it off) and the build quality is great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sikh Posted April 20, 2015 Author Share Posted April 20, 2015 Another vote for the XPS 13, I've bought one (had a range of VAIOs before this before they Sony sold it off) and the build quality is great. How does the trackpad work? I haven't had any luck with quality trackpads besides MacBooks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
limok Posted April 21, 2015 Share Posted April 21, 2015 How does the trackpad work? I haven't had any luck with quality trackpads besides MacBooks. the trackpad is a decent size and once you've set the correct pointer speed I can't find any fault in it - only a slight ocd I have with it, there is a very tiny gap between the top of the trackpad and the chassis where sometimes dust gets into it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sikh Posted April 21, 2015 Author Share Posted April 21, 2015 the trackpad is a decent size and once you've set the correct pointer speed I can't find any fault in it - only a slight ocd I have with it, there is a very tiny gap between the top of the trackpad and the chassis where sometimes dust gets into it. Thanks for your response, I would be just as OCD. I wish I could use one before I buy it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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