I’m going with this Dell and returning my Lenovo Slim 7 Pro. In my previous thread saying I switched to Windows I read that Dells offer great compatibility. I ordered this Dell XPS 13 and plan on going with Pop OS. Thoughts on this? Good choice?

Edit: Apparently it’s certified with Ubuntu 20.04 LTS. I assume I should go with This particular Ubuntu version then?

  • baseless_discourse
    31·
    11 months ago

    I had my framework AMD and I havent encountered any problem with fedora 39; besides very early bios (only affecting batch 1 and early batch 2, I believe) and a AMD display bug (which is documented in detail and fixable with one command).

    Everything else works extremely smoothly, including webcam, brightness key, ambient light sensor, and privacy shutter. Honestly, I would put their support against any linux first laptop, their support team is very responsive, and their support lead was the ex-support lead from system 76.

    One more bit of information: the very laptop on the fedora workstation webpage is a framework laptop. They seem to be on very good term with most distro developers, and likely will get more attention when something goes wrong.

    I think most of the problem you mentioned are the nature of new hardware, not caused by poor support from framework.

    However, one of the reason I landed on framework is because they offer cutting-edge hardware that other manufactures don’t.

    I think they are still the only linux manufacture that uses AMD 7040U chip, which is a great everyday chip with excellent power efficiency. This kind of make them stand out from the competition for me.

    • festus@lemmy.caEnglish
      3·
      11 months ago

      I don’t think their Linux support is bad, but it’s not Linux first. If Windows users had to run a command to fix a display bug it would have been held back until it was fixed. With something like System76 you get a laptop with Linux preinstalled that just works, no commands necessary.

      Keep in mind I called them Linux-conscious / Linux-second. They still focus on making it a fantastic machine for Linux users, but I think it’s a little less than some other shops provide for Linux.

      • baseless_discourse
        2·
        11 months ago

        They do let their Windows DIY user fix problems, for example the new AMD laptop requires a modified ISO, since the Windows installer don’t have up-to-date wifi drivers.

        Also Windows user needs to use command prompt to install firmwares, whereas Linux users don’t need to.

        All of these are documented in detail in their guide: https://guides.frame.work/Guide/Windows+11+Installation+on+the+Framework+Laptop+DIY+Edition/116

        So I don’t think they prefer Windows than Linux. It is just the nature of cutting-edge hardware: I believe they made the tradeoff between cutting-edge and stability (keep in mind, you can buy older hardware as well), not between Windows and Linux.

        The only thing they can do better is have laptop preloaded with linux, but I cn kind of understand keeping laptop in stock with three different OS’s and a DIY version while keeping everything up-to-date is a logistic challenge. Yet several linux laptop manufacture do offer that option.