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Last year when Dell came out with the XPS 13 Developer Edition, I found it to be the best laptop for Linux users. Dell released an upgraded version of the laptop with the latest Intel chip. Once again, Dell was kind enough to send me a review unit and I have been working with it for a few weeks now. Here are my thoughts...
Hardware specs
The review unit Dell sent me came with an Intel i7-7500U processor, 16GB of RAM, 512 GB SSD, and a 3200x1800 touchscreen display.
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The laptop has one of the best displays that I have seen. It’s super bright, sharp and the colors are accurate.
Dell XPS 13 Kaby Lake Developer Edition features the same form factor of the previous generation Dell XPS 13 Developer Edition laptop. However, the trackpad in the Kaby Lake version seems to be made from a different material. It feels rubbery, which in my experience, offers much better control over scrolling as compared to the glass trackpads where your fingers slip on the surface.
There are two legacy USB ports, one USB Type-C port, one SD Card slot, a 3.5 mm headphone jack and power slot. I am not a fan of legacy USB and wish PC vendors would adopt USB Type-C as default so that we can get better support around USB Type-C.
First impressions
Just like its predecessor, the Dell XPS 13 Developer Edition (Kaby Lake) comes with Ubuntu 16.04 pre-installed. Dell has added its own repositories to offer drivers and other packages that are not available through stock Ubuntu repos.
As a result, you not only get a customized boot screen with neat animation, you also get a fully functional multi-touch screen. Everything worked out of the box, and that was expected given that Dell has taken extra pains to pre-load Ubuntu on this system. The trackpad also works flawlessly. I have yet to find a trackpad that matches the experience that Apple offers, but the trackpad on this laptop is quite good.
Dell is also offering a system recovery image for the laptop, which you can write on a USB...