XPS 13 Developer Edition - worth it?

I currently have an Inspiron 15 7000 on order. Recently (yesterday), Microsoft seriously ticked me off by telling me that I need to buy a new Windows license because I replaced the hard drive on my laptop with an SSD. As a result, I'm planning on switching back to Linux as my primary OS so I don't need to worry about losing my purchased OS because I swapped out a single hardware component.

I saw that the XPS 13 Developer Edition is getting its Haswell refresh. Can anyone who owns an earlier model comment on it? Is all of the hardware well supported under Ubuntu (just as a starting point, since it ships with it)? Or would it not be a significantly better experience than putting Ubuntu on the Inspiron I ordered?

Edit: Also, I saw that the Haswell refresh still ships with the last LTS release. Has anyone updated to the latest release? And is it any less stable?

 

Replacing the Hard drive means getting a new Windows License? No way... You just need a passing CD to install your windows version and your serial and you're good to go. Should your laptop be one of these new Windows 8 with embedded BIOS license keys, contact the vendor for getting a CD. Microsoft won't help you when it comes to OEM licenses and/or specific vendor install media.

I completely wiped my HDD on my Win 8 XPS 14 (that means: no serial, no recovery, no windows installed) and when I wanted to get windows 8 again, I just contacted Dell and they ofered to Send me an install dvd. Once I got it, I did an ISO out of it, then made a bootable USB Install media and finally installed it without any problems, then did the windows 8.1 upgrade.

EDIT: your question about the developer edition: depends on price. I wouldn't pay extra or the same as the windows version to get it.

 

I didn't want to go into the details, but my situation is different. The laptop came with Windows 7. I bought the upgrade to Windows 8 directly from Microsoft. If I use my Windows 8 disc, I cannot activate it with my product key because the key is for an upgrade install only and the drive is blank. If I use my recovery media that came with the laptop to restore to Windows 7, I cannot upgrade to Windows 8 because my upgrade key has already been used on a "different" computer.

The XPS 13 Developer Edition is actually significantly cheaper than the equivalent Windows version.

XPS 13 Developer Edition | Dell
XPS 13 Ultrabook

Edit: My question about it being worth it is more related to the fact that my "ideal" laptop size is 14-15" (15" especially for the added value you typically get). I'm not comparing the XPS13 and the XPS13 Developer Edition, I'm more asking if the XPS 13 Developer Edition is a significantly better Ubuntu experience than keeping my Inspiron 15 7000 order and throwing Ubuntu on that.

 

Did you call them?

Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF700T using Tapatalk 4

 

Yes, and the response was "it's a new hard drive so it's a new computer" and that the upgrade key would no longer be valid. I'm waiting for their tier 2 support to call me back, but I'm fed up with the process at this point anyway.

Honestly, I didn't make this thread to get responses telling me to call Microsoft and get Windows working again. I'd really like to keep it on topic and restrict it to posts about people who have experience with the developer edition of the laptop.

 

You are the only one who can decide if that's a good decision or not. Personally, I would rather have a 15" Full HD screen than the 13" one. Size is also not such a concern and the 15" 7000 would be ok to me. About ubuntu... since you have the 7000 install it and try it. If everything works, getting the 13" won't provide a better experience at all. Maybe the 7000 has some issues and which the 13" doesn't have. Just try it.

I can share my experience: have an XPS 14 running Linux Mint and everything works, I'm absolutely happy with its Linux support.

 

Hi raptir

Here are a few links that may help you in case you haven't seen them yet:

Dell's official "Project Sputnik" (aka XPS 13 Developer Edition) forum

ArsTechnica review of the XPS 13 DE

TechCrunch review

Another review I found

These are all reviews of the previous version of the XPS 13 DE. It seems like nobody has the Haswell version yet, they are currently listed as shipping end of December / beginning of January.

I've ordered one, it seems like Ubuntu runs great on it and everything just works without having to tweak much. Some people were having WiFi connectivity issues with their XPS 13 DE, but there are several fixes listed in the forum ( this thread). From what I saw, the problems were mostly with the models in which Dell included non-intel WiFi cards. The Haswell-model has intel cards only (at least that's what the specs say), so hopefully this will avoid any issues.