Considering a DELL studio XPS - I want some thoughts, please :-)

siaco · 2009-05-08 14:30:56

Hi all,

I'm thinking of buying a DELL studio XPS 16, but I'm not really sure if I'm happy about it having an ATI card (Radeon HD 3670). I have heard some not-so-positive things about the driver support from ATI thus I'm a bit sceptic.

So, my questions are as follows:
1: How good or bad does ATI work with Linux? I'm not really playing alot of games anymore, but to watch HD movies etc would be nice.
2: Does anyone have Arch on this specific DELL laptop? Anything of it's hardware which isn't supported by Linux?

Thanks for answering :-)

Last edited by siaco (2009-05-08 14:32:02)

uastasi · 2009-05-08 15:26:40

Studio xps 13 is into my wishlist since 16'' is too big for my wishes. Here's a small description about linux compatibility http://www.linlap.com/wiki/dell+studio+xps+16

fumbles · 2009-05-09 02:19:00

uastasi wrote:

Studio xps 13 is into my wishlist since 16'' is too big for my wishes. Here's a small description about linux compatibility http://www.linlap.com/wiki/dell+studio+xps+16

Yeah I've wanted the 13" one, 16 is WAY too big! Although it all depends on what you are going to use it for.

I've tried the open source driver for ATi, which works fine for videos, but I havent tried anything HiDef.... YMMV

siaco · 2009-05-09 18:04:05

Oki, thanks for your replies! :-) I think I'm going to go for one, if not anyone screams something really bad in this thread in near future All reviews are saying it's a good computer, a bit slow gfx card, but I guess that's no problem when I'm not playing any games any more.

LeoSolaris · 2009-05-10 15:04:37

siaco wrote:

Oki, thanks for your replies! :-) I think I'm going to go for one, if not anyone screams something really bad in this thread in near future All reviews are saying it's a good computer, a bit slow gfx card, but I guess that's no problem when I'm not playing any games any more.

Since your not gaming with it, so long as the drivers play video, you should be fine. I would think about sticking to a WM that isn't graphics heavy, like PekWM, OpenBox, or one of the tiling WM's. Perhaps steering away from xcompmgr would be wise as well.

(Just don't forget to randomly fire the graphics up to test the drivers. Who knows, they may improve all of the sudden.)

app4des · 2009-05-13 09:55:01

In my country the Studio XPS 13 has around the same price as the White MacBook, which I think is considered better quality and more.

Also with the recent problems of intel graphics cards, ATI is the best choice right now for open source driver support, so I wouldn't worry about that.

siaco · 2009-05-20 18:11:48

Just though I should fill in a bit here, as I have now bought this laptop and running Arch 64bit on it. So if any other users are considering this laptop, here are a few lines about it:

I have it up and running with LUKS disk encryption, everything works fine so far. I'm running XFCE with just a minor problem that the bottom panel is kinda blinking 3 or 4 times right after boot. Havn't tested webcam nor bluetooth, but sound and everything else seems to work fine.

Two of my biggest problems were to get the wifi up and running and to get an acceptable performance when viewing videos in full screen. As for the wifi; just me not understanding that I needed a kernel module AND a firmware.. (If someone wants to fill me in on why we need a firmware AND a kernel module/ driver, I'd be glad.) I installed the iwlwifi-5000-ucode without knowing I also needed the iwlagn module too. After that was fixed, I am now using network manager with no problems.

I have also had some problem with the Radeon 3670. The performance was bad in full screen videos when I used the xf86-video-radeonhd. (I followed arch wiki). It didn't help to use vide-ati neither, and no settings in the xorg.conf did fix my problem. I also noticed that DRI was failing in xorg.log. After alot of trying I decided to try the git-versions which are found in the AUR. I'm happy to say that I can now watch 720 (the only video resolution I have tried yet) with acceptable quality

All in all, I'm quite happy with the computer so far. A bit warm maybe. Oh, and the screen (full HD version) is SOO nice :-)

litemotiv · 2009-05-22 23:15:24

the microcode is proprietary firmware for the chip, therefore it cannot be included with the open source kernel module (iwlagn). since these kinds of microchips don't have non-volatile flash memory where you can permanently store firmware updates, it needs to be loaded on each boot.

temperaturewise; the radeonhd driver doesn't support power management yet, so it will run at full speed and slightly raise your overall system temperature. dell xps/studio laptops in general are known to run a little hot though, so the ati card might not make too much of a difference.

Last edited by litemotiv (2009-05-22 23:16:11)

venky80 · 2009-06-03 21:32:27

Iam buying this model, have tou tried 1080p videos external monitors anf full hd flash videos from vimeo?
please let me know

siaco wrote:

Just though I should fill in a bit here, as I have now bought this laptop and running Arch 64bit on it. So if any other users are considering this laptop, here are a few lines about it:
I have it up and running with LUKS disk encryption, everything works fine so far. I'm running XFCE with just a minor problem that the bottom panel is kinda blinking 3 or 4 times right after boot. Havn't tested webcam nor bluetooth, but sound and everything else seems to work fine.
Two of my biggest problems were to get the wifi up and running and to get an acceptable performance when viewing videos in full screen. As for the wifi; just me not understanding that I needed a kernel module AND a firmware.. (If someone wants to fill me in on why we need a firmware AND a kernel module/ driver, I'd be glad.) I installed the iwlwifi-5000-ucode without knowing I also needed the iwlagn module too. After that was fixed, I am now using network manager with no problems.
I have also had some problem with the Radeon 3670. The performance was bad in full screen videos when I used the xf86-video-radeonhd. (I followed arch wiki). It didn't help to use vide-ati neither, and no settings in the xorg.conf did fix my problem. I also noticed that DRI was failing in xorg.log. After alot of trying I decided to try the git-versions which are found in the AUR. I'm happy to say that I can now watch 720 (the only video resolution I have tried yet) with acceptable quality
All in all, I'm quite happy with the computer so far. A bit warm maybe. Oh, and the screen (full HD version) is SOO nice :-)

venky80 · 2009-06-17 06:23:39

hi siaco i have bought the same model could you tell me what video drivers are you using and could you post your xorg.conf?

uastasi · 2009-08-06 13:17:04

My studio xps 13 is going to be delivered; delivery has been postponed from 31/7 to 4/8, then from 4/8 to 6/8 and finally from 6/8 to 7/8 so tomorrow should be the day :rolleyes:
Do you recommend 32 bit or 64 bit ArchLinux version?

uastasi · 2009-08-07 12:42:51

Does anyone know how do I disable system beep? There's no option into BIOS menu...
It's driving me nuts!

baw · 2009-08-07 14:24:38

I have a studio xps 13 and the beep is defaulted to a very high level. Super annoying. I got rid of it by following the wiki entry, blacklisting pcspkr and snd-pcsp. Also I put the pc speaker level in alsamixer down to 0 for good measure.

uastasi · 2009-08-11 10:38:04

baw wrote:

I have a studio xps 13 and the beep is defaulted to a very high level. Super annoying. I got rid of it by following the wiki entry, blacklisting pcspkr and snd-pcsp. Also I put the pc speaker level in alsamixer down to 0 for good measure.

This one worked for me. Thank you

uastasi · 2009-08-21 09:14:09

Did anyone find a solution to make the internal mic work properly with alsa?

Arch Linux

#1 2009-05-08 14:30:56

Considering a DELL studio XPS - I want some thoughts, please :-)

#2 2009-05-08 15:26:40

Re: Considering a DELL studio XPS - I want some thoughts, please :-)

#3 2009-05-09 02:19:00

Re: Considering a DELL studio XPS - I want some thoughts, please :-)

#4 2009-05-09 18:04:05

Re: Considering a DELL studio XPS - I want some thoughts, please :-)

#5 2009-05-10 15:04:37

Re: Considering a DELL studio XPS - I want some thoughts, please :-)

#6 2009-05-13 09:55:01

Re: Considering a DELL studio XPS - I want some thoughts, please :-)

#7 2009-05-20 18:11:48

Re: Considering a DELL studio XPS - I want some thoughts, please :-)

#8 2009-05-22 23:15:24

Re: Considering a DELL studio XPS - I want some thoughts, please :-)

#9 2009-06-03 21:32:27

Re: Considering a DELL studio XPS - I want some thoughts, please :-)

#10 2009-06-17 06:23:39

Re: Considering a DELL studio XPS - I want some thoughts, please :-)

#11 2009-08-06 13:17:04

Re: Considering a DELL studio XPS - I want some thoughts, please :-)

#12 2009-08-07 12:42:51

Re: Considering a DELL studio XPS - I want some thoughts, please :-)

#13 2009-08-07 14:24:38

Re: Considering a DELL studio XPS - I want some thoughts, please :-)

#14 2009-08-11 10:38:04

Re: Considering a DELL studio XPS - I want some thoughts, please :-)

#15 2009-08-21 09:14:09

Re: Considering a DELL studio XPS - I want some thoughts, please :-)

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