First thoughts: Impressive! As stated in the 10/03/2021 log, on the *Karmi’s Daily Blog Log* page, the Dell XPS 13 9310 arrived this past Saturday:

10/03/2021: The Dell XPS 13 9310 arrived yesterday ‘n WHAT A COMPUTER! Much lighter than the 12.2″ Samsung ‘n about 1/2″ wider, but depth is 1/2″ smaller. I don’t know how they squeeze soooooooooooooo much into such a lightweight ‘n small package!? I set it up w/o internet so I could avoid passwords, Pins, name, etc. and will enter what info I want added later. Connected to internet after setup and updated it. One Windows 10 sticker on the back, and one Intel sticker was on the ‘rubberized‘ keyboard/touchpad area – it came off easily and apparently took all residue with it because no cleanup was needed. Skipped fingerprint ‘n facial recognition stuff. Fast bootup … really *FAST*! Right @ 11 seconds for both startup methods: 1) it starts up by opening the lid. 2) with lid open already, you press the start button. ‘Apevia‘ & ‘Antec Jr.‘ boot WIN10 Pro up in 9-10 seconds, so the ‘XPS13‘ (new name) is a fast booting laptop. Oh, forgot to mention the Bluetooth Microsoft mouse also arrived yesterday ‘n they work great together. Laptop has 1 MicroSD-card slot, 1 headset port, and 2 Thunderbolt™ 4 ports so I didn’t want to waste port space wid a USB wireless dongle. Also have a uni USB C to USB Hub 4 Ports in case I need more ports.

  • NOTE: That quote is from a daily log, which I try to keep short, and sometimes leave out some or all the steps and/or info. In this case, during the original setup, I had used an internet connection (which I rarely do wid Window OSes); however, that setup had insisted that I add a Pin number. That Pin number was needed to login wid, like a password, and I hate ‘Pesky Passwords’ for operating an OS. Thusly, after that original setup, I did a reset ‘n reinstall without internet this 2nd time, so I could avoid passwords, Pins, name, etc. OS then booted right into the desktop w/o needing a Pin number.

I have been testing ‘n tweaking it, getting what I needed registered, establishing accounts where needed, and have it ready today. I’ll do an image backup at some point before I upgrade it to Windows 11.

Also added LibreOffice, Firefox, bookmarks, and some other data stuff. Added Win7 games for Win10. Named the Dell lappy soon after purchased: ‘XPS13’.

Here are some stats ‘n stuff pics:

Much lighter than the converted ‘Sam’ lappy…much thinner also. 2.64 lbs or less seems to be a perfect weight for a lappy. The 12.2” Samsung is 2.93 lbs, and just too heavy for quick portable use, IMHO.

Another pic:

  • I highlighted my selected options in red rectangles.

Total cost was $1434.33 (after 17% code was added). Current starting price is $969.99, which is still a great bargain price, but am not sure if the 17% code is still available. The Intel® Core™ i7-1185G7 Processor was about $400 extra. Upgrading to 16 GB memory and to Windows 10 Pro were not that costly. Wid those selected options, I believe the 512GB M.2 was added in as the compatible PCIe NVMe SSD (?).

After purchased, I had noticed that a $50 McAfee Small Business charge had ‘Snuck’ in, somehow. Not sure if I missed it or they had it ‘Hidden‘ somewhere w/o my knowledge. Tried to get them to remove it, but I would’ve had to delete the order, and then reorder. It was just $50 for a year, and I’ll not resubscribe – fact is, I don’t even have to register it, because it is working anyway.

  • Note: Windows 10’s Windows Security is all that is needed for home users, and it is included free in Windows 10.

Since it is a lappy, wid Dell’s great support and their excellent one-year warranty, I will not be doing a clean install for at least the next year. Honestly, there doesn’t seem to be much added junk ‘n bloat to it – tho McAfee seems annoying wid some notifications. I may uninstall it before the year is up.

Will add this post to the Laptops – New Lappys ‘n Converted Lappys ‘n Barebone Lappys page, under the New Lappys section…

  • Quick Notes: 1) am doing this post wid what seems to be the LibreOffice Writer’s default font: Liberation Serif @ 12 pt. Yeah, just checked it in Preview and it looks better than that Calibri @ 11 pt did in LibreOffice before. 2) have tested Fedora on the lappy…see Linux ‘n USB Flash Drives page on how ‘n why I safely use USB’s wid Linux installed to test on Windows computers. Here’s a Fedora System Info pic from the Dell XPS 13:

LINUX IS LIKE A BOX OF CHOCOLATES – you never know what you’re gonna get!

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