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Dell's 2015 XPS 13 - A Real MBA Challenger
- Thread starter rittchard
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It's always round the corner? I have heard that more on these forums as wishful thinking rather than at Apple's keynotes lately. I hope Apple is not making any more excuses and getting their act together.
Seriously? Size, weight, form factor, battery life, graphics resolution, screen quality, graphics processing power, file transfer speeds, storage capacity, web browsing performance - are you saying none of these things matter to 99% of users?
Anyway, I encourage people to read the original post before throwing in comments that really are not pertinent to the discussion. This was never intended to be a discussion about which OS is better. As I mentioned, due to work software compatibility, Windows is simply the more practical OS for me. I tried Parallels and it just wasn't efficient. I've been using MBAs in Bootcamp as my primary machine at work the past 2 years. Due to PC gaming, I've been using iMacs in Bootcamp even longer. Honestly I don't actually care which OS I use as long as it doesn't get in the way. So yes, for me, the hardware is extremely important.
Yes, not easily user-replaceable. Just exactly how difficult remains to be seen, though.
Your hate for anything "Windoze" is cute. Carry on.
Traumatic experience No exaggeration, lost all my school file due to malware and crappy drivers and BSODs
That's why there's freedom of opinion.
Love Intel stuff though
I just bought one at the Microsoft store, non touch, i5 128GB. This a absolutely gorgeous machine. Thin, light, even the mat screen has great color. My only issues are that the SD card sticks out, and the power connector, traditional , not a break away.
The only time the fan came on was when installing updates, but honestly, I heard it because the room was dead quiet.
Oh, I took off that intel sticker, I hate those on windows machines.
I believe with windows 10 coming in the fall, and the changes being made, I don't regret not getting a touch screen.
I will have to see what the new mac book air offers next, if apple has a screen as nice as this, I will have to buy one of those as well.
The only time the fan came on was when installing updates, but honestly, I heard it because the room was dead quiet.
Oh, I took off that intel sticker, I hate those on windows machines.
I believe with windows 10 coming in the fall, and the changes being made, I don't regret not getting a touch screen.
I will have to see what the new mac book air offers next, if apple has a screen as nice as this, I will have to buy one of those as well.
You should think about making backups. I have had a hard drives go bad on my mac, but it was a non issue due to my multiply backups. I have been using macs for 6 years now and before that I used windows PCs, I never had a hard drive go bad with a windows machine.
Never had a bad hard drive on my mac and my previous PC ever. It was just that Windoze and the crappiness within it screwed up my data. I learned my lesson though and now have backups just in case but this time it won't be because of OS/drivers/viruses/etc. It'll be because of the drive failure which any OS can't ever prevent but then Windoze will kill SSD and HDD far more prematurely than OS X will ever do.
They sure do. Constant 100% disk activity and always does weird disk activities which will wear out the HDD and SSD far more prematurely than OS X. I have never experienced random, continuous and abnormal 100% disk activity on OS X EVER!
That's always been a thing with Windoze so prepare to have a reliable hardware if you will use that POS OS.
I never had 100% constant disk activity on a windows machine and never had a hard drive on a windows machine die. Funny thing is, I have had one drive fail on a mac and another one almost fail. I changed the drive out before it completely failed.
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Completely agree!!!
One word for you:
BOOTREC.EXE
Although, I will say that once your HDD starts dying, Win7 does not do a good job of automatically fixing it... that whole "repair your installation" nonsense usually does not work, and it requires a dive into DOS to repair your disk so it is bootable.
Malware? Havem't had that on a windows machine in the last 8 years... ever since I discovered a great program called ESET32, and gave Norton the boot.
But back OT, MBA is the best laptop ever, and I look forward to seeing to Apple jumping back into the lead now that Dell is giving them serious competition.
I am seeing a new MBA 12 to replace my wife's 2010 MBA11.
Can anyone who have the laptop tell me what wifi chipset it uses?
That is, does it use Intel's or Broadcom's chip? I can't find this information anywhere, and Dell's driver page for the XPS 13 has drivers for both.
If it has Intel's, I'm mighty tempted to buy one. I don't need one -- my MBA is serving me just fine, but damn does that thing look slick!
That is, does it use Intel's or Broadcom's chip? I can't find this information anywhere, and Dell's driver page for the XPS 13 has drivers for both.
If it has Intel's, I'm mighty tempted to buy one. I don't need one -- my MBA is serving me just fine, but damn does that thing look slick!
Can anyone who have the laptop tell me what wifi chipset it uses?
That is, does it use Intel's or Broadcom's chip? I can't find this information anywhere, and Dell's driver page for the XPS 13 has drivers for both.
If it has Intel's, I'm mighty tempted to buy one. I don't need one -- my MBA is serving me just fine, but damn does that thing look slick!
Mine lists "DW 1560 Wireless Driver" on the order's "itemized list". A quick bing search brings up Broadcom results, so I'm going with "not intel". I'm supposed to get my touchscreen version delivered Tuesday, so I can answer any more specific questions then.
Can anyone who have the laptop tell me what wifi chipset it uses?
That is, does it use Intel's or Broadcom's chip? I can't find this information anywhere, and Dell's driver page for the XPS 13 has drivers for both.
If it has Intel's, I'm mighty tempted to buy one. I don't need one -- my MBA is serving me just fine, but damn does that thing look slick!
It uses both and the one you get may probably be dependent on your country and seller. I would lean towards the Intel 7265 if purchased in the resellers but you'll likely get the Broadcom if bought directly at Dell.
http://www.notebook-driver.com/dell/dell-xps-13-9343-laptop-driver-utility/
That sucks. This knocks out one major justification I could give myself for upgrading -- Linux compatibility. Broadcom is crap, while Intel is excellent.
Two guesses on what Apple uses.
Intel 7265 is excellent for Linux where the card doesn't have much firmware issues compared to Windows.
Don't lose hope though. Just check the laptop at retail brick and mortar stores and launch device manager to see what WiFi it uses.
But it look absolutely hideous - surely?! It looks like a relatively thick chunk of black plastic. Ugh! And it's all about how it feels, too... I have two MacBooks and a Dell laptop (thanks to my work). Quite honestly, I loath even touching the thick chunk of plastic crap, with its dreadful trackpad. Really, I mean it! It is a low point of my day to have to touch and use the Dell when I am used to MacBooks and the gloriously smooth and responsive glass trackpads. Go away Dell, and others, with your horrible, cheap-feeling machines.