back to article Dell and Ubuntu certify latest model of XPS 13 ultrabook

Dell's latest XPS 13 ultrabook is now certified for version 22.04 of Ubuntu's operating system. Starting next month, the "developer edition" of Dell's long-running XPS series of thin and light laptops, the Alder Lake-based 2022 XPS 13, will be available with "Jammy Jellyfish" pre-installed, but existing owners can install it …

  1. DS999 Silver badge

    What Apple has "worked out"

    to get those ports back was no longer having Jony Ive in complete control of physical design.

  2. VoiceOfTruth Silver badge

    It would be interesting to see actual numbers of sales

    -> if you're a big customer buying thousands of units, you want assurance they will work

    For servers, I don't dispute this. For Linux laptops, where are all these users?

    1. theOtherJT Silver badge

      Re: It would be interesting to see actual numbers of sales

      I don't have thousands, but I do have a couple of dozen nagging me weekly about when we'll certify a compliant Linux distro that meets all our requirements. The demand might not be massive, but it's definitely not zero.

      1. VoiceOfTruth Silver badge

        Re: It would be interesting to see actual numbers of sales

        I didn't say it was zero. That is obviously not the case. But large enterprises or government departments are typically going to be buyers of thousands of certain laptops. So who is buying the thousands of Linux laptops (or rather Linux certified laptops)?

        1. Missing Semicolon Silver badge

          Re: It would be interesting to see actual numbers of sales

          Developers

        2. theOtherJT Silver badge

          Re: It would be interesting to see actual numbers of sales

          I'm not buying thousands of linux laptops, but I am buying hundreds of laptops total, which I expect will scale to thousands in the next couple of years. I'd very much rather buy the same model for both Linux and Windows users if I can, so it'd convince me to buy Dell (I mean, I already do, but if I didn't it might convince me to switch if I didn't) just so I can have the same support contract etc. for both sets of machines.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: It would be interesting to see actual numbers of sales

      My team buys Ubuntu desktops and laptops from Dell because of their Linux support. We order dozens to hundreds per batch, the largest orders having been about 500 or so at a time.

      Like with any medium-sized organisation we deploy our own managed copy of Ubuntu on them in bulk on arrival and wipe the OEM image. It saves immense time knowing that hardware compatibility won't be a problem.

      Anon because reasons.

  3. theOtherJT Silver badge

    I had hoped from the photo...

    ...that they had certified the 9310 generation. I still can't get the finger print reader to work on mine. Other than that small annoyance tho I've had a great user experience with it on 22.04.

    1. Andy 68

      Re: I had hoped from the photo...

      The UK site has the 9315 with the option to have Ubuntu pre-installed - is that the same as "certified" ?

      This comment brought to by a 9310 running Mint perfectly. It used to have Ubuntu on it, but it refused to upgrade to 20.04 (or maybe 22.04... I forget), Snap kept annoying the *** out of me, and Liam's previous articles persuaded me to take the jump. I love it to bits.

      I don't think Dell do the Developer version for the UK - at least I've never been able to find it. The 9320 seems to go by the name XPS 13 Plus over here, and it does look horrific ( https://www.dell.com/en-uk/shop/laptops/xps-13-plus/spd/xps-13-9320-laptop )

      1. twellys
        Coat

        Re: I had hoped from the photo...

        Ah, Dell are counting on the ZX81 users of yore!

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "When you hold down the Fn key..."

    ... you remember that you hate this laptop.

    From top.to bottom, laptops today are more like portable web kiosks.

    Also, can anyone give a good reason to the majority of people for why all laptops are not 2in1's but, almost all laptops can have crappy keyboards? Greed must be the justification.

    1. YetAnotherXyzzy

      Re: "When you hold down the Fn key..."

      I can't speak for anyone else, but in my own case I find the ergonomics of any laptop to be unacceptable for long stretches unless I've elevated the screen to eye level, which implies a separate keyboard and mouse. Which in turn means I get to use a nice keyboard of my choosing and don't notice the cheap built in one. That's just me though.

      1. Khaptain Silver badge

        Re: "When you hold down the Fn key..."

        Buy a ThinkPad, they quite easily have the best keyboards on the market, well outside if that damned FN key being in the wring place ..

        1. mark l 2 Silver badge

          Re: "When you hold down the Fn key..."

          I find that I have a couple of issues with Linux Mint on a Thinkpad, the function keys work in reverse of how they should actually work as if you have the Fn key pressed when you don't, and the track pad right click doesn't work. Both of these issues work correctly on Windows 10 on the same machine.

          But they are minor niggles which I can put up with as I use a mouse 99% of the time as i don't really like trackpads anyway.

          1. Liam Proven (Written by Reg staff) Silver badge

            Re: "When you hold down the Fn key..."

            I guess it depends on the Thinkpad.

            I only use old ones with full-travel keyboards and for me they work 100% perfectly with Ubuntu.

            One suggestion, if you haven't already: ensure your machine's firmware is updated to the latest version.

          2. Rob Daglish

            Re: "When you hold down the Fn key..."

            The Track pad really is the Achilles Heel of the ThinkPad range - I've seen plenty where they are either too sensitive, not sensitive enough, and then there are those that interpret every click as left or right, no matter what you do with them.

            This includes my current one, which cost my employer just shy of £4K... Still, I never use it without a mouse and keyboard plugged in so it doesn't make much difference!

      2. Admiral Grace Hopper

        Re: "When you hold down the Fn key..."

        The built-in keyboard is for travelling. When you're travelling you use your Travel Scrabble set, when you're in a more stable environment you use the full-size, "proper", Scrabble set. I use the same principle with keyboards (Keychron K8, Gateron Brown switches).

  5. Neil Barnes Silver badge

    The keyboard has no physical top row, which includes the function keys and Esc/PrtScr/Home/Ins/Del

    Without that top row, no sale. I use it a lot.

    1. AJ MacLeod

      Re: The keyboard has no physical Esc key

      Seems they've developed a laptop specifically to make vi nearly impossible to use (rather than just initially appearing impossible to use.) Probably not the best candidate for flogging to Linux developers and I for sure won't be buying one.

      Looks like Framework are pretty much the only choice I have for a semi-sane laptop design now.

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