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.

Comments

Still fiddly if you RTFA

[Gothmolly]

"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".

Re:Still fiddly if you RTFA

[egcagrac0]

I think the problem here is the razor-thin window edges.

All the UI's I've used with the thin window edges have been difficult for me to interact with, by mouse, trackpad, or touchpoint ("eraser-pointer"), because of the challenges of hitting a particular very small spot.

Re:Still fiddly if you RTFA

[tortovroddle]

"Screaming frustration" in Unity means "Just Works".

Re:Still fiddly if you RTFA

[Anonymous Coward]

Then try KDE, where you can adjust the thickness of the window edge for grabbing. About six thicknesses to fatten up or slim down.
Yes, they buried the setting, but it's under "Workspace Appearance".

Re:Still fiddly if you RTFA

[kelemvor4]

no, i said "i fucking hate fucking touchpads"

That might be the problem. They're for controlling your mouse pointer, not sex.

Re:Still fiddly if you RTFA

[Arkiel]

Every single Ars Technica laptop review complains about the trackpad. No trackpad is sufficient. As a matter of fact, we should all consider the presence of glowing praise about a trackpad in a Ars Technica review a clear signal that they're all being held hostage by crazed gunmen and the authorities need to be informed.

Re:Still fiddly if you RTFA

[Kenja]

Also still 1,500$. I can't find that much money in the hardware, so where did it go?

Re:Still fiddly if you RTFA

[kwark]

What do you need window edges for? Setup you window manager to use a modifier (alt in my case) key to interact with the window itself, eg:
alt-button1: move
alt-button2: resize
alt-button3: lower/raise window
Beats trying to grab edges, especially with "focus follows mouse" and a high anti focus stealing setting for the wm.

glossy screen

[blackjackshellac]

This is why I will (sadly) never buy one of these.

Re:glossy screen

[Savage-Rabbit]

The eternal rift among users. Glossy, or matte; that is the question. I don't care for matt screens as they dull the contrast and bleed colors together. I can tune out the glare as it doesn't bother me much.

I used to think I cared, then I got a MacBook with a glass screen and joined the 90% of PC users who just don't care either way as long as the display has no stuck pixels.

Re:glossy screen

[Osgeld]

interesting, you complain about color sharness and contrast, but dont mind looking at a reflection of a light source that kills contrast and blurs the screen

Too Expensive

[Luthair]

Nearly 1600 before tax and no user upgradable components? You'd think it was a macbook

Re:Too Expensive

[BobCollins]

Nearly 1600 before tax and no user upgradable components? You'd think it was a macbook

Actually 50% more than the new MacBook Pro I bought last summer. The MBP has upgradable RAM, disk (SSD or spinning), and even the ability to swap out the optical drive for a second disk. And believe me, if Apple gets one thing right, it's that "it just works."

Reminds me of when I moved to Ubuntu 9.04

[Duncan J Murray]

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

Re:Reminds me of when I moved to Ubuntu 9.04

[chipschap]

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.

Mint is pretty good in this regard; that's why I've switched from Ubuntu (and to avoid Unity of course).

As to the original article, though: yes, the product costs way more than I can spend on a laptop... I would have to buy a cheaper laptop and install Linux on my own. I don't at all mind doing this, but it does take time and patience.

The article's author saying that the average user will never be able to live with running Linux, though, strikes me as incorrect. Sure, installing and maintaining Linux may be out of reach, as would be doing all the tweaks necessary with sound cards, etc.

But running it? The average Jane or Joe that mostly needs a browser and little else? I set up a Mint box for my wife; she has no idea she's using a Linux system and doesn't care, as long as she can do email and Facebook and that sort of thing. I know of many such examples.

To be fair, a key thing is to have someone available to maintain the distribution. But there aren't virus issues and "safe browsing" is just about a given, which I think is A Very Big Deal for the typical user.

Sadly, that's actually noteworthy these days

[Opportunist]

"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.

MacBook Pro: How to remove or install memory

[Internal Modem]

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).

Sweet laptop . . .

[Kimomaru]

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.

WTF is wrong with Dell ?

[dargaud]

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.

Dell UK offers you Windows 7 or Windows 8

[Anonymous Coward]

Dell's UK site for the laptop says "Windows 7 or Windows 8 – Choose the operating system that suits you".

Interesting description of "Carbon Fiber"

[Hadlock]

and the laptop's bottom surface is coated in soft checkerboard patterned plastic

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.