Company Updates

The New XPS 13 Developer Edition Now Officially Available

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When you think of languages, are Spanish, French or Japanese not what comes to mind?

Would you like to code on the “sexiest ultrabook on the market?”

If so, then have we got a laptop for you!

Our new XPS 13 which was a CES Innovation Award Honoree and garnered awards from Reviewed.com, Digital Trends, LAPTOP, and so many others that naming them could take up this whole post, is now officially available in our Ubuntu-based developer edition.

TechRadar says with a speedy Broadwell chip, the new developer edition of XPS 13 even “elevates it above the heavily praised consumer edition.”

The previous developer edition of XPS 13, began its life as Project Sputnik, and fans of it have been anxiously awaiting the latest. Many eagle eyes spotted when it recently soft launched on Dell.com.

“Funded by an internal incubation fund set up to drive innovation within Dell, Sputnik went from open-ended exploratory project to official product within nine months,” explains Barton George, our internal developer advocate who came up with the Sputnik idea.

When the new XPS 13 launched earlier this year, the logical question was would there be a developer edition of it, as well? That answer was yes, but it took out teams some time to work through a few things to ensure that it would be the best possible experience for those who purchased it. There were issues with the touchpad and a repeating keystroke that took longer to address than we, and others, would have liked, and we thank everyone for their patience and assistance – especially those who contribute to our Project Sputnik forum.

“These laptops aren’t necessarily just for developers, as anyone can buy them,” Chris Hoffman noted earlier this year in PCWorld. “But many developers do want high-quality Linux hardware that will work without any hassles, and that’s who Dell is targeting with these laptops.”

Find more details on the configurations, availability by country and technical notes on George’s personal blog. You can also learn more about the Sputnik story in this presentation he recently gave at  HackDFW, a student hackathon in Dallas.

(Please visit the site to view this video)

About the Author: Laura Pevehouse

Laura Pevehouse was profiled as one of five “social media mavens” in the March 2009 issue of Austin Woman Magazine and named an AdWeek’s TweetFreak Five to Follow. She has been part of the Dell organization for more than 15 years in various corporate communications, employee communications, public relations, community affairs, marketing, branding, social media and online communication roles. From 2014-2018, Laura was Chief Blogger/Editor-in-Chief for Direct2DellEMC and Direct2Dell, Dell’s official corporate blog that she help launch in 2007. She is now a member of the Dell Technologies Chairman Communications team. Earlier in her Dell career she focused on Global Commercial Channels and US Small and Medium Business public relations as part of the Global Communications team. Prior to that, she was responsible for global strategy in social media and community management, as well as marcom landing pages, as a member of Dell’s Global SMB Marketing, Brand and Creative team. When she was part of Dell’s Global Online group, Laura provided internal consulting that integrated online and social media opportunities with a focus on Corporate Communications and Investor Relations. She managed the home page of Dell.com, one of the top 500 global web sites in Alexa traffic rank, and first brought web feeds and podcasts to the ecommerce site. In her spare time she led Dell into the metaverse with the creation of Dell Island in the virtual world Second Life. Laura has earned the designation of Accredited Business Communicator from the International Association of Business Communicators, and received her Bachelor of Arts in Journalism from Louisiana State University. Before joining Dell Financial Services in 2000, she worked at the Texas Workforce Commission and PepsiCo Food Systems Worldwide.
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