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Ars Reviewer is Happily Bored With Dell's Linux Ultrabook
Ars Technica reviewer Lee Hutchinson says that Dell's Ubuntu-loaded 13" Ultrabook (the product of "Project Sputnik") is "functional," "polished," and (for a Linux laptop) remarkably unremarkable. "It just works," he says. Hutchinson points out that this is a sadly low bar, but nonetheless gives Dell great credit for surpassing it. He finds the Ultrabook's keyboard to be spongy, but has praise for most elements of the hardware itself, right down to (not everyone's favorite) the glossy screen.
"It feels like there is a tiny bit of input lag on the trackpad, which made grabbing Unity's razor-thin window edges an exercise in screaming frustration"
This does not equate with "Just Works".
I want to delete my account but Slashdot doesn't allow it.
This is why I will (sadly) never buy one of these.
Salut,
Jacques
Nearly 1600 before tax and no user upgradable components? You'd think it was a macbook
for the first time from XP.
It was a bit of an anti-climax and a slight disappointment at first. Nothing happened. No pop-ups appeared. No first-time guide. No helpful hints. No gnashing hard-drive activity. Just silence and waiting for my command.
Since then I've come to appreciate this as the #1 reason for using linux - when you actually want to get something done, it just seems to get out the way. It's a shame that more recent distro versions seem to be moving away from this though.
D
"It works" and "it's not riddled with crappy 'trial' ware you can't easily get rid of" has become something worth mentioning when reviewing laptops.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Well, my new Lenovo Twist Thinkpad Ultrabook running Fedora 18 also "just works" (including the touch screen) and didn't require any special "project" to accomplish.
We have heard this line from Dell before. I trust them about as far as I could throw them. Most potential Linux customers don't need a preinstalled Linux laptop from these companies or even a special support division. ESPECIALLY if they plan to charge *MORE* than for their MS-Windows model. For one, many customers won't want Dell's choice of Linux nor the way it was installed.
What we need is commitment from the vendor that the hardware is not Linux hostile and they won't try to avoid their warranty obligation using Linux as an excuse. Even better, how about a nice support page describing the hardware in detail and the names of the Linux drivers and in what kernel for each component and some install tips. None of that is expensive or complex.
There is one thing all Ultrabooks, notebooks and netbooks don't have and that is a good keyboard. I have yet to hear of a *book with a mechanical keyboard.
The current generation MBP has user replaceable RAM and storage. You're confusing the current generation MBP with Macbook Airs and Retina Macbook Pro. Apple even has a support document on the site "MacBook Pro: How to remove or install memory" that covers the current generation MBP introduced in June 2012 (http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1270).
Dell makes some sweet laptops for Ubuntu and this new model seems to continue that tradition. I use the small form factor Latitude E6320 for work and play (with Ubuntu's 13.04 beta) and I'm happier than a pig in mud. If you're looking to move to a fully functional GNU/Linux distribution on a laptop or desktop, I must say that Canonical seems to have their act together. Just remember to run "sudo apt-get remove unity-lens-shopping". Nasty stuff.
Last week I was looking for a Linux ultrabook after my 8 year old one died (wasn't called that back then but I digress). I spent 2 evenings shopping on various sites and I was sure there were some at Dell because we buy Linux laptops from them at work. After failing to find them on their site, I called them up. The answer: no, we don't make Linux laptops. Well, fuck your lousy customer service, you just lost a sale.
Non-Linux Penguins ?
Maybe just the standard definition of a "mechanical keyboard"? That is to say using buckling springs, Cherry switches, etc. This is in opposition to most desktop keyboards, which use rubber domes. I believe most laptops use a scissor-switch setup, since it's thinner, but those are still in the dome family.
Dell's UK site for the laptop says "Windows 7 or Windows 8 – Choose the operating system that suits you".
I find it interesting that they went to all the trouble of making it 'just work', and promoting it as a Linux laptop, yet it still has a Microsoft Windows logo on the keyboard. Fail.
Probably one of the more interesting parts of the chassis as a whole is described as plastic, rather than factory made carbon fiber parts. This piece adds a lot of rigidity, strength and shock absorption (if/when dropped on the corner) without adding much weight, and yet he glosses right over it. Resin infused woven carbon fiber is a wonderful piece of modern material science and it's completely ignored. Dell should be praised for pushing materials like this in to consumer products that cost less than $2000.
moox. for a new generation.