On the Pinebook Pro, the trackpad and keyboard aren’t great. I’m hesitant to say horrible, but it is a very cheap machine so you get what you pay for. I have one of the ISO keyboard “batch 2” machines. I got it last week and the keyboard issues have made it largely unusable for me.
Ignoring the trackpad, the keyboard will sometimes refuse to register keypresses or will repeat keys. This is particularly problematic when you type fast (like a password). On mine, the tab key also gets stuck rather often. The trackpad doesn’t have much control for fine movements, which makes resizing windows... interesting. And the trackpad frequently activates spontaneously which causes cursors to move around.
Aside from a small issue I had with a loose bezel, the rest of the machine is very nice. It is a good sized (14”), very sturdy design. The screen is pretty good too. Maybe if the keyboard and trackpad firmware gets fixed, then it could be a usable machine.
I haven't used the XPS 13 so I can't compare them but while the keyboard the PBP is cheap it isn't bad. The touchpad on the other hand makes me want to stab someone every time it misses a two finger right click.
I've been eyeing the 2018 Matebook X Pro as a replacement work laptop, everything I've heard about it has been overwhelmingly positive.
I’m glad your keyboard is working out better for you. Mine is just so inconsistent, but part of that is the touchpad too. Maybe I would have a different opinion if I just disabled the touchpad completely (and if my tab-key would stop sticking).
But I do think it highlights one of the issues you’ll have with any low-cost machine — quality control. There just isn’t enough of a margin to assure a standard level of quality. Now, this is admittedly a pre-production batch, so perhaps some of these issues with quality will be worked out, but given the cost, I’m not too confident.
Ignoring the trackpad, the keyboard will sometimes refuse to register keypresses or will repeat keys. This is particularly problematic when you type fast (like a password). On mine, the tab key also gets stuck rather often. The trackpad doesn’t have much control for fine movements, which makes resizing windows... interesting. And the trackpad frequently activates spontaneously which causes cursors to move around.
Aside from a small issue I had with a loose bezel, the rest of the machine is very nice. It is a good sized (14”), very sturdy design. The screen is pretty good too. Maybe if the keyboard and trackpad firmware gets fixed, then it could be a usable machine.