Ubuntu on Dell XPS 15 9560 (2017)

Question

There are other questions about the XPS 15 (such as this one) but they all seem to be several years old and relate to an older XPS model. This question is specifically about the XPS 15 9560 released in 2017.

I am considering buying this laptop and I am, as always, concerned about dual boot support and lack of driver functionality in Linux. I would appreciate if someone who has this laptop and runs both Windows and Linux (or has run both at some point) comment on the following:

• Driver support, both audio/video, in terms of things like multiple monitors, GPU performance etc.
• Battery life -- is Ubuntu a drain compared to Windows, or maybe vice versa?
• Any additional comments? Was anything "functional" but very annoying to set up?

I've seen plenty of reviews about the laptop itself, but I'd like to get some comments purely from an Ubuntu dual boot perspective.

Solution 1

I have been using the Dell XPS 15 9560 in a dual boot configuration for a few weeks now. I am running Windows 10 and Ubuntu 16.04. It all works fine, except the finger print reader under Ubuntu, which I didn't manage to have detected.

I mainly use it for programming, and for machine learning I use Tensorflow and the laptop GPU. I haven't yet run battery intensive applications (e.g. games) while under battery, but I can say that, under Ubuntu, switching from NVIDIA to the integrated graphics (under NVIDIA X Server Settings) and lowering the display brightness, I would get an estimated battery life of 6-8 hours. With NVIDIA GPU and display brightness maxed out, 2-3 hours.

Installing Ubuntu Desktop from USB was quite easy, just had to disable the RAID support under BIOS (the provided SSD is anyway not a RAID). I had tried installing Ubuntu Server, that usually detects and handles RAID at installation time, but with this laptop it didn't.

Under Ubuntu I am running the latest NVIDIA drivers automatically installed by Ubuntu updates, 375-51; under Windows, the latest NVIDIA drivers available.

Solution 2

I dual boot this laptop with Ubuntu 16.04. I had to do a bit of tinkering to get everything working right, particularly the NVIDIA GPU.

1. Upgrade to mainline kernel (at least 4.9.10, but latest version is at 4.9.15). I however use kernel 4.10.2 presently.
2. Use nvidia-375, not nvidia-378 drivers
3. Add some GRUB boot params
4. update to latest BIOS from DELL

Battery life when using Intel is good - I get up to 7-8 hours, but drops when I use NVIDIA (I've to admit that I did not tweak the power consumption. Dual monitor support works, all other hardware works, like touchpad, wifi, camera, sound etc.

Here's a link to a Github page that outlines what you need to do.

Comments

[Admin]

I would suggest to broaden your search scope when looking for linux support for a laptop, here's a pretty extensive thread about XPS 15 9560: bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=223056 I have both a Dell XPS 13 (2015) and a Dell Precision 5510 (2017, business version of XPS 15) and I haven't had any problems with either of them.

[Admin]

@mgor the question isn't "what's a good Linux laptop to buy".

[Admin]

Do you know yourself what the question is? The laptop comes with Windows. So will it run Windows: check. I gave you a thread with great details on how well it will work with Linux. So will it run Linux: check (maybe not everything will work out-of-the-box though). The comments about my Dell laptops maybe wasn't really clear, the intention was to say that in general Dell hardware does not have any problems running Linux. Dell does great work for Linux with project Sputnik. Does grub have any problem with dual boot: no.

[Admin]

I didn't ask if it runs Windows. How Dell performs in general was also not my question.

[Admin]

+1 This question could have better answers, given that there are users who have attempted to install Ubuntu on Dell XPS 15 9560 and actually wrote down their experience.

[Admin]

Similar model & its issues: Dell XPS 13 9360 16.04 worked after nvme firmware & BIOS update, 16.10 did not, new rEFInd for NVMe askubuntu.com/questions/884991/…

[pzkpfw]

"some grub boot params" isn't very helpful as a point, also please don't answer by linking to external sources, normally answers should be self contained

[danielp]

Is it full HD or 4K?

[danielp]

Was yours FHD or 4k?

[Fanta]

The one I have is Full HD with matte IPS display.

[danielp]

What kind of programs were you running for the 6-8 hours? Do you have TLP installed btw?

[Fanta]

I was developing a program, so running the IDE (PyCharm) and my program itself, VLC to test the output, Firefox to read the documentation. I didn't install TLP.

[neuronet]

Add some grub boot params. Could you give any details?

[Attila Naghi]

How did you manage install nvidida ? see my post here: askubuntu.com/questions/1007981/…