I've had the high end version (i7 & hi-res touchscreen) for a couple of weeks as my primary development machine and so far is pretty satisfied
The keyboard is more plastic than for instance the Zenbook but good. I've had no issues with the track pad, two-finger scrolling works perfectly. Best trackpad I've had on a PC laptop (don't know what The Verge was raving about, maybe pinch gestures aren't as good as mac?)
As for battery issues, It does feel that it doesn’t last too long, like 3-4 hours tops (I run Bitlocker & Chrome though so that has some impact). I don't think this is as much the laptops fault really as it depends mostly on having a screen with very high resolution and depending on how you configure power saving options, what kind of work you do etc.
I think it’s pretty safe to say that the Xps "13 is the best PC laptop in this form factor right now until sharp releases the exclusivity on the screen in November, then Asus might give them a run for their money again.
To their credit I vowed never to buy a dell laptop again but they proved me wrong. A 14"-15" version of this laptop with more ram would be the ultimate though, larger screen so you can use the resolution better, more battery volume for a little better longevity.
I'm not so sure the hi-res version is the best option for developers because of the energy drain, especially if you need to work on battery for a whole day. The power pack buys you some time but very doubtful you'd last a whole day.
Also matte screens is often better than glossy for development, at least when working outside or where's there's sun.
Then again, you might need touch for development and the touch version with gorilla glass looks much better.
Personally the feature I'm dying to get now that we have almost bezel free computers are Amoled screens. Bezelfree where the true blacks of the screen blends into the little bezel there is would be truly droolworthy
The keyboard is more plastic than for instance the Zenbook but good. I've had no issues with the track pad, two-finger scrolling works perfectly. Best trackpad I've had on a PC laptop (don't know what The Verge was raving about, maybe pinch gestures aren't as good as mac?)
As for battery issues, It does feel that it doesn’t last too long, like 3-4 hours tops (I run Bitlocker & Chrome though so that has some impact). I don't think this is as much the laptops fault really as it depends mostly on having a screen with very high resolution and depending on how you configure power saving options, what kind of work you do etc.
I think it’s pretty safe to say that the Xps "13 is the best PC laptop in this form factor right now until sharp releases the exclusivity on the screen in November, then Asus might give them a run for their money again.
To their credit I vowed never to buy a dell laptop again but they proved me wrong. A 14"-15" version of this laptop with more ram would be the ultimate though, larger screen so you can use the resolution better, more battery volume for a little better longevity.
I'm not so sure the hi-res version is the best option for developers because of the energy drain, especially if you need to work on battery for a whole day. The power pack buys you some time but very doubtful you'd last a whole day.
Also matte screens is often better than glossy for development, at least when working outside or where's there's sun.
Then again, you might need touch for development and the touch version with gorilla glass looks much better.
Personally the feature I'm dying to get now that we have almost bezel free computers are Amoled screens. Bezelfree where the true blacks of the screen blends into the little bezel there is would be truly droolworthy