[Swlug] Ultrabooks

[Mark Summerfield]

Hi Matt,

On Mon, 9 May 2016 23:06:08 +0100
Matt Hill via Swlug <swlug at mailman.lug.org.uk> wrote:
> Hiya all,
> 
> My Samsung ultrabook has finally gone and is refusing to be coaxed back 
> into being, so it's time for a replacement. RIP Scrappy  :(
> 
> The Dell XPS 13 laptops get a good review, and with the developer 
> edition I don't have the inner turmoil of paying for an OS that I'm not 
> going to use.
> 
> Obviously there are loads of websites around reviewing them, but I 
> thought I'd shout out and see if anyone here has hands-on experience 
> with them, or has a recommendation for an alternative.

I bought one recently with Ubuntu. It is the older 14.04 LTS and I
haven't dared upgrade to 16 -- although I have switched to Xubuntu (just
by installing the appropriate packages).

I emailed Dell support last week asking if a simple apt-get dist-upgrade
would be okay, but haven't had a reply yet. (My worry is BIOS and
Dell drivers being affected.)

So far, apart from a too-sensitive track pad, it has been excellent. And
the silence is wonderful.

I had to increase the font sizes but that's easily done. Mine is the
bottom of the range (i5 quad core but really dual core plus two
hyperthreaded), but even so I installed VirtualBox 5 (directly from the
web site since the version in the repository is 4), and it runs fine.

Best wishes,
-- 
Mark Summerfield, Qtrac Ltd.
    XindeX - an easy to learn and use application for book indexers
        http://www.qtrac.eu/xindex.html