Well after spending all afternoon with this new Dell XPS 13 9315 I absolutely love it. The fit and finish feels exactly like a Macbook Air.
I have Linux installed (Pop_OS) and the only two issues I had were getting the webcam running and the fingerprint reader. I managed getting both of them up and now the hardware is 100% operable! I am so happy I kept giving Linux a go and found a great laptop with few compatibility issues.
Thanks to all of you who recommended Dell laptops. There were a couple minor problems, but both were solvable with a bit of ddg searching.
EDIT: I've decided to return this Dell XPS 13 based on some of your replies about the 12th gen intel being out of date for the price and build quality issues with Dell in general. I went with a Lemur Pro i7 Raptor Lake, 40gb ram, 1tb storage System76 build for only $200 more. Only downside is I have to wait a bit for them to confirm my order, assemble, and ship. It'll be nice to have a machine built exclusively for Linux!
the xps line is awesome, but I'd like to suggest something to whoever reads this comment: stay away from budget consumer grade dells! (aka inspirons and similar limes)
i got an awesome deal on mine (used) but the build quality is atrocious and it's literally starting to fall apart after like 3 months of use
ik consumer grade crap sucks but dell is the worst offender (...they're not even trying to hide it like hp lol)
I hate to break it to you but it’s not just the budget dells that have build quality issues. I just received a $5k precision that was delivered with fucked up bios settings, non working thunderbolt ports and a trackpad stuck in the down position. I love the laptop but god damn that was frustrating.
I purchased a xps15 a few years ago. It had to go back twice in a year. Once for a fan that died, then again for a fan making bad noise when under load. Stopped using it about 18 months after getting it after the battery stopped working completely out of the blue.
Yea the Latitudes I've been getting at work for the last decade have all been shit. Driver issues, ports breaking, keyboard keys coming off, etc. Garbage. Also semi related I'm still using the port replicator I got when I started because none of the docks/usb hubs I got since work with 3 monitors and the laptop screen.
Not just Dell... bought an HP Elite x360 in 2018 and it had to go back twice too; first time because they jammed a physical blocker for non-LTE models into my sim slot (then sent it back after removing it and putting the same blocker back in, afterwards gave me free on-site repair for this issue, fucked up my board during that and came back next day with a replacement board) and second time because the keyboard died after a year. Solid ever since, still running perfectly but these initial issues should not happen with a 2500€ device.
Maybe I'm not used to quality products as I'm poor in a poor country but I really loved my inspiron 14 ...I bough it back in 2011 and decided to buy a new dell laptop in 2019 (inspiron too) because the 14R had died and the tech guy said it was the motherboard. I've never had any issues with them ..the 14R is all plastic and looks fragile but I dropped it some times and it never broke. The new inspiron I got has an aluminum structure so looks it handles more falls hahaha. Anyway, I had a great experience with dell inspiron laptops regarding hardware and Linux compatibility but I'm not a demanding user. I intend to keep buying dell laptops in the future. Hey turns out the 14R just needed a new power supply and it's running Fedora smoothly since I upgraded it's ram.
i mean I'm pretty poor too lol, but the unit i got is objectively bad, quality-wise.
(specs are amazing for the price i got it for tho) like the frame of the display is starting to detach and bend out (not sure why plastic fram is doing that) and the touchpad sometimes gets stuck in slightly lowered position and starts to glitch out. (shaking cursor)
Had an old, used optiplex once. Not great performance due to its age, but it was solid. Super easy to work on (upgrade etc.) too since it had all these parts that folded out like a Transformer, but that also made it quite heavy.
We have 13 inch and 15 inch inspirons at work. The 15 inch is absolute garbage with an awful screen and feels like it's going to fall apart even though it rarely gets used. The 13 inch is actually pretty nice, almost as well built as my old XPS. Good screen, all aluminum build etc.
actually i like the display in my 15 inch one. It's a pretty nice ips 120hz panel with decent color accuracy and VRR/AMD FreeSync support (the only downside is bad max brightness)