I'll throw my experience with Linux on Dell's in the ring. I have a 13" Dell Inspiron 7000 (i7 8GB ram). I've had it for 4 years or so. In terms of drivers and overall compatibility with Linux, it's been perfect. I install Xubuntu (have also used Mate), it downloads whatever it needs, and everything works. I can't recall a single instance of something crashing, or WIFI problems, or whatever.
There are two downsides. One, battery life sucks. Relative to a Macbook, it's very bad. But, this isn't a surprise to most people. Second, the touchpad driver is shit. Oh man, does it suck. Palm rejection doesn't work, and I had to enable a setting which disables the trackpad for a few seconds after a key press. Otherwise, it's unusable. That part, is irritating.
Those downsides don't really matter to me, because I'm plugged in and docked the majority of the time. I've considered looking into the touchpad issue more, but it's just not worth my effort atm. Otherwise, it's a great machine!
There are two downsides. One, battery life sucks. Relative to a Macbook, it's very bad. But, this isn't a surprise to most people. Second, the touchpad driver is shit. Oh man, does it suck. Palm rejection doesn't work, and I had to enable a setting which disables the trackpad for a few seconds after a key press. Otherwise, it's unusable. That part, is irritating.
Those downsides don't really matter to me, because I'm plugged in and docked the majority of the time. I've considered looking into the touchpad issue more, but it's just not worth my effort atm. Otherwise, it's a great machine!