Short list of what would persuade me to switch...

May 8, 2012

Posted By:  cmirza

12 Votes

Status: Acknowledged

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I'd like to keep my options open and not completly tie myself to a single platform, so I find Project Sputnik very interesting. Before moving to a Mac, I had been a long time Dell customer. I still use plenty of other Dell hardware because I appreciate the quality and customer service Dell provides. I currently work on a 13" MBA, its my baseline for a development laptop, so if I were to switch it would have to at least meet its specs.

Most important:
  • At least 1440×900 resolution. 1366×768 on the XPS 13 doesn't cut it after using a MBA
  • A better touchpad. I have yet to find a touchpad that comes close to those on Macbooks. The Cypress touchpad on the XPS 13 is as bad as they come. Someone must be able to produce a touchpad that at least comes close to functioning as well a those on Macbooks.
  • Better battery life. From the reviews of the XPS 13, its about an hour short of the battery life of the MBA. If this is due to the fact that the XPS 13 has a smaller footprint than the MBA, I would rather take more battery life over the smaller size.
  • Simple power supply. I really like how Macbooks have a compact power supply, and you can use  flip out prongs to plug it in. I don't like the Dell power supply that I have to carry around a second cable with. I'd like something simmilar to what Apple offers.
Nitpicks:
  • SD card slot. I still use a digital camera, and would rather not have to find an SD card reader everytime I want to transfer photos. Especially when most other laptops have them.
  • XPS logo on the screen. Makes me feel like I'm using a cheesy gaming PC. Just place the standard Dell logo there.
  • Cheesy futuristic font on keyboard. Again, makes me feel like I'm using a cheesy gaming PC. Just use the standard font that all the other Dell PCs use.
  • Carbon fiber on the underside. To be clear, I have no problem with the carbon fiber since it provides technical benefits, just how its exposed. Once again, it makes the machine look like a cheesy gaming PC. Just paint the carbon fiber flat black, so the machine has a clean, professional look.
  • No 'Windows' keys. Since this machine is designed to run Ubuntu, please don't use the same old Windows keys on the keyboard. Don't use an 'Ubuntu logo' or 'Tux' to replace it either, just use something generic like the ◆ found on the Meta keys on old Sun keyboards. Keep things clean and professional.
If these hardware changes were available along with proper driver support (it's gotta 'just work', I have better things to do than struggle to get my hardware working properly in Ubuntu), I'd definitely pick one up.

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