Starting next month, the "developer edition" of Dell's long-running XPS series of thin and light laptops, the Alder Lake-based 2022 XPS 13, will be available with "Jammy Jellyfish" pre-installed, but existing owners can install it now and get full driver support.

The last version of the XPS was certified to run the previous Ubuntu LTS and this is all part of Dell's decade-old "Project Sputnik" programme.  It seems that only five models of XPS 13 seem to be the only certified devices, but more will follow. 

Certification means that big customers buying shedloads of units will know their laptops will work. The certification lends legitimacy to both companies, and the work that went into the drivers will help compatibility on other machines.

The keyboard has no physical top row, which includes the function keys and Esc/PrtScr/Home/Ins/Del. Instead there are illuminated hotspots in the fascia above the numbers row. When you hold down the Fn key, the illuminated spots shift sideways to reveal different symbols.The machine has just two USB-C ports, and all internal components apart from the SSD are soldered in place and can be neither replaced nor upgraded.