Dell XPS 13 (9370)

I have this urge, this 'need', to search the national bartering site marktplaats.nl for these little gems that are in that pool of mud. Marktplaats' search engine is worthless. It looks to be written using GW-Basic by a 12 year old. So you must be dedicated to spend some time, doing a lot of things manually, what you normally would get a computer to do for you.
The search phrase was 'dell xps', fill in your zipcode, radius of 10 miles, search, and then 'sort on distance'. Among the ads for wintertires for your truck, this ad popped up, about a girl selling 8 XPS computers. Eight? Better be a little careful with this one. The price was right, which was another red flag. At $150 a pop you cannot be choosy. Turned out to be the office manager of an IT company selling surplus equipment.

XPS-13, what is in it?

These were computers used by professionals. They dated back to 2018, but were taken care of with care. The systems had

The battery was in bad shape but that was told before the buy. It has a 5 minute capacity. All in all this is a very classy looking machine. With its all metal outsides (bottom plus lid) and the carbon fiber insides of the clamshell.

Opening it up

This turned out to be a challenge: the case was held tight by 8 tiny 'M2 x 3' screws with a Torx T4 or T5 head. I didn't have them so small in my toolboxes... After the screws are out you have to find an edge to put your pocket knife in, to separate the lid from the case. Not a difficult task.

The inside

The inside reveals that the XPS is the state of the art product line. Twin fans, cooling twin heatpipes. A large battery, an NVME slot atop the battery.

More in the Linux section

Of course the machine was liberated by removing the Windows off of its drive and BIOS. Read all about it in the Nikkel chapter of the linux section. Windows and Dell put up a real fight. There were moments I felt so desperate that I considered reselling the machine at marktplaats...