How is Dell Studio XPS 16 for Ubuntu?

[diwas]

Hello everyone,
I am planning to buy a new laptop; most probably Dell Studio XPS 16.

I have a few questions regarding this laptop

1. How much is it Ubuntu friendly? It has ATI RADEON HD 3670-512MB graphics card. Is this supported by Ubuntu? I just need this for compiz, so will it work?

2. Apart from being Ubuntu specific, how is this laptop overall (hardware and all)? If you've used this or have heard anything about it (positive or negative) could you please post it here?

3. This system is 64-bit. But Ubuntu 64-bit (as I've heard) is less supported...there are fewer apps. So, is it ok if I order Windows Vista 32 bit? And similarly, install Ubuntu 32?

4. I will be using wireless card a lot, so is Intel® 5300 WLAN Wireless-N (3x3) Mini Card supported?


The specs of this laptop is:


Intel® Core™ 2 Duo P8600 (3MB cache/2.4GHz/1066Mhz FSB)
Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium Edition SP1, 64-bit
Edge-to-Edge HD Widescreen 16.0 inch WLED LCD (1366x768) W/2.0 MP
8X DVD+/- RW(DVD/CD read/write) Slot Load Drive
4GB1 Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM2 at 1067MHz (2 Dimms)
500GB3 5400 RPM4 SATA Hard Drive
ATI Mobility RADEON® HD 3670 - 512MB5
High Definition Audio 2.0
Intel® 5300 WLAN Wireless-N (3x3) Mini Card

The link is:
Dell Studio XPS 16 (http://www.dell.com/us/en/home/notebooks/laptop-studio-xps-16/pd.aspx?refid=laptop-studio-xps-16&s=dhs&cs=19&~oid=us~en~29~studio_great_deals_anav_3~~)

Please do reply!

[FalloutMan]

Yeah itd be great. As far as I know, your wifi card would be fine. i have the 5200 with no issues. People say ATI drivers dont roll well with linux but im using a hd2600 in my lappy and its fine with the restricted (just means canonical doesnt support them) drivers. the only thing I dont understand is why all the 16 inch screens are only 768 up. Thatd **** me off.

[Pogeymanz]

64-bit Linux is much, much better recently. There are only a few apps that are a little bit of a pain to get working, but Ubuntu makes that very easy for you. For example, Skype - it's 32-bit only, but in Ubuntu you can install the 32-bit libraries on your 64-bit installation and Skype will run perfectly fine.

I'd say to just install 64-bit Ubuntu and 32-bit Windows. 64-bit support is still not good on Windows, so I hear.

[diwas]

Thank you...
I've learned something new here. We can install 1 OS 32-bit and other 64? I thought one has to configure it in BIOS; switch to 32 or 64 bit from there. :S

[diwas]

Yeah itd be great. As far as I know, your wifi card would be fine. i have the 5200 with no issues. People say ATI drivers dont roll well with linux but im using a hd2600 in my lappy and its fine with the restricted (just means canonical doesnt support them) drivers. the only thing I dont understand is why all the 16 inch screens are only 768 up. Thatd **** me off.
There is another screen resolution as well u know.


Edge-to-Edge FullHD Widescreen 16.0 inch RGBLED LCD (1920x1080) W/2.0 MP [add $250 or $8/month1]

Does it make any difference? is $250 worth it? :S

BTW, I am not a gamer...i occasionally play FIFA 07 (oh yea that primitive game hehe).
This resolution should be more than enough (1366x768) isnt it?

[FalloutMan]

well higher screen res means more screen real estate. The only time I find myself hating my 14.1 inch screen at 1280x800 is when im editing maps for games or dealing with processing my photos. If you arent a hobbiest photgrapher (i.e. DSLR with 1k^ lenses and 2.5k bodies) then I think that the cheaper screen will be fine. 250 is pretty high imo because most companies I see usually charge 100 for screen upgrades *coughsager or system76cough*. And yeah you can run a 64 and 32bit OS together. I dont think anything in teh BIOS has to do with whether you can run a 64bit OS versus a 32bit. In fact Im running 32bit XP on a teeny partition and 64bit 9.04 as my main OS. another thing is with your screen res, if your game cant run well at teh higher res then you wasted your money. Id just stick with the smaller, cheaper screen.

[diwas]

well higher screen res means more screen real estate. The only time I find myself hating my 14.1 inch screen at 1280x800 is when im editing maps for games or dealing with processing my photos. If you arent a hobbiest photgrapher (i.e. DSLR with 1k^ lenses and 2.5k bodies) then I think that the cheaper screen will be fine. 250 is pretty high imo because most companies I see usually charge 100 for screen upgrades *coughsager or system76cough*. And yeah you can run a 64 and 32bit OS together. I dont think anything in teh BIOS has to do with whether you can run a 64bit OS versus a 32bit. In fact Im running 32bit XP on a teeny partition and 64bit 9.04 as my main OS. another thing is with your screen res, if your game cant run well at teh higher res then you wasted your money. Id just stick with the smaller, cheaper screen.
Thank you for the great piece of advice. I think I will stick with the cheaper one.
My hobby is to watch movies. However, i won't purchase blu-ray movies. BUT, if i get a blue-ray movie disc will it run good in the system provided above?

Plus, the battery life is not good so upgrading my 6-cell (default) battery with 9-cell will do any good?

I am a (future, ie from aug 2009) computer science student...i have moderate interest in photography but not professional one. So, i will stick with the cheaper screen. Really thanks for the advice.

Plus, do u have any negative comments about this lappy???

[FalloutMan]

The only thing I have against dell is thier support has kinda lacked when I dealt with them. Conserning blueray, the highest resolution is 1080p which in computer resolution translates to 1920 x 1080. If you want HD resolution thats the way to go, only if you wanna spend the extra $$. Your laptop will play HD content just fine, its more CPU load than graphical load, and the Pentium M (cpu from so long ago i cant remember lol, i think 2006) could play full HD content. The C2D (Core2Duo) will chew right through that with no issues. The thing about watching movies on a laptop is I find it very cumbersom since you gotta place it on your lap and get teh viewing angle right etc. What I would do if I were you (and what I did since i live in a dorm) is buy a cheaper 22-24 inch LCD with an HDMI input and use that for photoshop/lightroom and wathc movies. That way you can lounge on your bed and not squint to see the screen. concerning battery; if you want ultimate in long life, a computer with a dedicated gfx card will eat that like its goin outta style. My wife has a lappy that gets 5 hours of batt (roughly same specs sans my hd2600, shes got integrated) while I get 2 1/2 hours. The 9 cell will deffinently work for you, you could get up to 4 to 5 hours with the current setup.
The only negative about the laptop is its a Studio. Thats not bad or good, but their inspiron laptops seem to be the same without the nice look. But, if you like it, buy it. I believe it has a backlit keyboard, which admittedly would be nice. You could shop around at other brands like Sager Notebook (here (www.sagernotebook.com)) which use the same company (Clevo) as System76 for their laptops, which many people hold in high regard when it comes to quality. Sager has more choices than Sys76 and includes windows and the price differences are 30ish on the same models sys76 carries. Also, hit up newegg.com and browse their selection of laptops and see if you find one that suits whan you want for the price you want. Just stay away from Lenovo since people seem to get bad results months down the road.
Find something thatll fit your school, if you need battery life, you are gunna have to sacrifice performance, usually in the gfx card sector. I have no idea what your working conditions will be like because all i know is the flightdeck of an aircraft carrier so I cant comment on school settings lol. The laptops we use are a million pounds but you could throw it across the deck and it wouldnt know it moved so ive never had to deal with picking a good laptop fro class. Hell id use a netbook fro school and have my play laptop at home if my budget allowed.

[sim-value]

Thank you...
I've learned something new here. We can install 1 OS 32-bit and other 64? I thought one has to configure it in BIOS; switch to 32 or 64 bit from there. :S

Nope ... It just depends on the software ... cause theres also alot of 32 Bit software you will be running under 64 Bit OS

[diwas]

Nope ... It just depends on the software ... cause theres also alot of 32 Bit software you will be running under 64 Bit OS
Does Guitar Pro 5.2 work good in 64 bit?
I have Guitar pro 5.2's 32 bit version (the normal one..i mean). Is it common for both 32 and 64 bit?

[shrndegruv]

i have a studio xps 16 and really like it. Beware that ATI support is less than optimal; I am still on 8.10. The 1920x1080 screen is awesome--I do software development and need that real estate to fully use my IDE. Battery life is horrible, but that might not matter to some. I get well under 2 hours with the standard 6 cell battery.

[diwas]

Thank you for your reply.

As you said, you're still on 8.10, does that mean 9.10 doesn't support the ATI driver? No compiz? :S

[LookTJ]

Battery life is horrible, but that might not matter to some. I get well under 2 hours with the standard 6 cell battery.
I was going to say this, my sister and cousin both have a studio and battery life is horrible.

[shrndegruv]

Thank you for your reply.

As you said, you're still on 8.10, does that mean 9.10 doesn't support the ATI driver? No compiz? :S

I don't know about 9.10. 9.04 didnt last i checked. 8.10 everything works fine except suspend to disk/ram.

[diwas]

I don't know about 9.10. 9.04 didnt last i checked. 8.10 everything works fine except suspend to disk/ram.
Oh ok.

All in all, this lappy will be great, except the graphics :(