BETA
This is a BETA experience. You may opt-out by clicking here

More From Forbes

NYT ‘Strands’ #45 Hints, Spangram And Answers For Wednesday, April 17th
Today’s ‘Quordle’ Hints And Answers For Wednesday, April 17
NYT ‘Connections’ Hints And Answers For Wednesday, April 17
One Of The Best Spy Shows Ever Made Lands On Netflix Today For The Very First Time
All Signs Point To The ‘Dota 2’ Crownfall Update Launching Tomorrow
Keep Playing Your Dungeons & Dragons Characters After The Campaign
Edit Story
ForbesInnovationGames

Dell Launches New Ubuntu-Powered XPS 13 9380. Nose Cam Not Included

Jason Evangelho
Senior Contributor
Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own.
I write about Steam Deck, open source software, and desktop Linux.
Following
This article is more than 5 years old.

If you're looking for the best thin and light laptop to run Ubuntu out of the box, Dell's XPS 13 is the ticket (I've used it daily for 7 months straight and can enthusiastically attest to this). And Project Sputnik lead Barton George just announced that the Developer Edition of the 8th generation XPS 13 -- which swaps Windows 10 for Ubuntu 18.04 LTS -- just launched across the US, Europe and Canada.

DELL

Related Reading

I only had two minor complaints about the previous-gen XPS 13. And you know the first one is that nose cam. Dell has listened to feedback and moved the webcam to a more traditional placement at the top of the XPS 13's gorgeous InfinityEdge display. Worth knowing if you've been on the fence for that reason. According to Barton's Blog, my second niggling issue has also been eliminated: "Not only that but the 8th generation developer edition supports Suspend-to-idle natively which allows the system to resume much more quickly from sleep."

XPS 13 9380 Developer Edition Highlights

  • Intel 8th generation i3, i5 and i7 processors (Intel Whiskey Lake U, 15W, non-vPro)
  • Ubuntu 18.04 LTS preloaded
  • InfinityEdge display with top camera placement
  • Easier to open
  • FHD and UHD resolution support
  • Up to 16GB of LPDDR3 memory at 2133MHz
  • 1 x NVMe slot for 2230-128GB / 2280 up to 2TB
  • Thunderbolt 3 (x2) with USB3.1 Gen2 + type-C x1 with USB3.1 Gen2 speed
  • Improved Thunderbolt runtime power management
  • Killer® 1435 802.11ac [2×2] + Bluetooth 4.2

In the US and Canada there are 22 total configurations, but I suspect they all still have Windows keys instead of Super keys. Don't worry, I nag Dell about this weekly.

Find out more at Barton's Blog and Dell.com. And note that if you're browsing the Dell Shop in the US or Canada, the Linux-powered Developer Edition systems can be found under the "For Work" section.

Wanna talk about it? Reach out to me on Twitter. And check out my new website devoted to all things Linux.

Jason Evangelho
Jason Evangelho