Dell XPS 13 Returns With Kaby Lake, Ubuntu, Rose Gold Finish

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It does seem strange to put a price premium on a Linux laptop. Anybody interested in getting Linux would know how to reformat a Windows laptop and install Linux on it to save money.
 


Ah.
 
Maybe this time with working docking station through Thunderbolt3 (the TB15 debacle isn't a nice story...) and no super annoying coil whine?
 


Going by the current gen. Regular business model starts with an i3, 4GB RAM and 128GB SSD. The Developers model starts with an i5, 8GB RAM and 256GB SSD. The Developers model with Ubuntu is actually $100 cheaper than a similarly equipped Windows 10 Pro model.
 
As a developer of Linux based software, I have to say that this device misses the mark for me. It's expensive and has too few cores (2 cores, 4 threads is a joke!) for compiling anything large with gcc. It's so utterly sad that Intel is calling these things i5 and i7, when they are actually i3s... Then there's absolutely terrible GPU. I couldn't develop on this thing, it would be a lesson in frustration.

A real development laptop would have 8 cores, 16 threads, and at least 384 Radeon shaders to be useful. Hopefully Zen will spur OEMs to start releasing computers that are actually worthy of 2016 - 2017...
 


If they did that, the required cooling solution and battery wouldn't fit in this form factor. And does ANYONE offer an 8c16t laptop? The current entry point for HEDT is 6c12t.
 
As a developer of Linux based software, I think you just made that up. That might be your dream spec, but it's hardly a standard.

Tons of devs use laptops with way lower specs. I challenge you even to show me a laptop with 8 cores that's usable on an airplane.
 
That was the point. Realistically, the tech exists to make that happen, yet no one does. If I were to buy a laptop for development, I would get one with a 4 core, 8 thread i7, 16GB ram, some modest nvidia gpu, and a 256gb ssd. Unfortunately, no one pairs such a combo is an inexpensive chassis with a 1080p screen. Plastic chassis? Fine by me! Dual core processor? Yeah, no thanks...
 
Well, I don't really follow the laptop market, but it seems there were systems which approximated your updated spec in the not-so-distant past.

The i7-2760QM was a 4-core, 8-thread Sandybridge with 2.4/3.5 GHz Base/Turbo clock. Dell used them in some of their Latitude models. Here's a refurb:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834295776

I don't know if the RAM is upgradable to 16 GB, and you'd definitely have to swap out the HDD for a SSD. I wonder how heavy they were & what res the screen is. Actually kinda tempting, even when you factor in the upgrades.

Then again, the TDP on that CPU is 45 W.

According to ark.intel.com, here are your options, if you want 4c/8t in a mobile CPU under 40 W:

Code: 
   CPU       Turbo     TDP
-------------------------
i7-3612QM  3.10 GHz  35 W
i7-3632QM  3.20 GHz  35 W
i7-4702MQ  3.20 GHz  37 W
i7-4702HQ  3.20 GHz  37 W
i7-4712MQ  3.30 GHz  37 W
i7-4712HQ  3.30 GHz  37 W
i7-4722HQ  3.40 GHz  37 W

Even if you drop the thread requirement, it seems there are no quad-cores below that (until you get down to Atom cores).

The list gets much bigger, if you raise the TDP to 45 or higher, but that puts you well into the mobile workstation segment. Even 37 W seems much higher than you'd be able to use on battery. And when you plug it in, it might be hard to find laptops that can dissipate 37 W without sounding like a hairdrier.
 
Ubuntu hen Dell, they know how shit their sales are when their product are tied to Windows,
people look at their product and see 'just another junk that runs windows'

well Dell !!!!!! Ubuntu is free why pocket 200$ on a free product ???
 
Do any of the pci-e drives offer hardware encryption on this system? It seems like some of the salespeople in my organization would love this machine but our procurement department won't purchase if they cannot get self-encrypting SSD's. This seems to be the trend at Dell, they offer non-encryptable SSD's for consumer models and business models, and charge an arm and a leg to 'upgrade' to an encryptable drive when purchasing the system through them.
 
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