I really hope Google can make a chrome pixel like Linux laptop. I think it will be hugely popular among her own engineers. MacBookPro used to be perfectly fine for software development for years but after upgrading mine to one with retina display half a year ago, I no longer believe that's case. It's 2D rendering performance is sluggish, crashes couple of times every week (probably caused by some glitches during switching between integrated and discreet display). I don't mean to blame Apple, they no longer focus on PC and software development workstation laptops was never their business goal.
It is, in fact, possible to run Linux on the Chrome Pixel bare metal; Linus himself has one and likes it (and has posted about it quite a bit on Google+), mainly because of the screen. The main problem is that the SSD is sized to be a local cache for cloud data. The 32 GB SSD you get with the base model could wind up very cramped, these days; you do get a 64 GB SSD with the LTE model, but that's even pricier, and still a bit skimpy.
The 64GB Pixel is priced nearly the same as the 13 rMBP and other than the unique aspects of a touch screen and LTE, is almost half the performance of the Mac. And if something happens to your laptop, who do you really want to call for support, Apple or Google?
I'd love to see some serious competition to Apple, but it's not there yet.
Compare the specs between the two, half the RAM and a much lesser CPU. GPUs are the same, but the storage is halved too. No Thunderbolt or USB3 even. Battery life is significantly better for the MacBook. All for basically equivalent prices. It's a nice looking machine, an I'd actually prefer the Pixel screen ratio to the Mac's, but the performance to dollar ratio lies clearly in Apple's favor, and if you have any hardware hiccups, the value of Apple's support vs Google's notoriously absent support cannot be ignored either.
He's also stated a few times that the only thing he likes about it is the screen. Everything else is merely meh. Of course, he then went on to say the screen was so awesome that it easily made up for everything else.
Still, I'd kinda call that a glowing review by Linus, since he has a bit of a habit of hating stuff for the smallest of reasons. Even being "meh" without drawing his wrath is kinda an accomplishment.
I've been using a rMBP full time for work and haven't run into any of these issues. However... I am hooked up to an external display via DisplayPort about 95% of the time.
I also hooked it up with a Dell 30" display 90% of time using Apple's $100 dual-link DVI adapter. The adapter fails 3-4 times a day - display loses signal for a couple of second and then back to normal. It happens to another normal MBP with another Dell 30" display in our office as well. So the problem probably resides in the adapter not the display nor the laptop. That's probably the worst 100 dollars I was forced to pay in a couple of years.
Why did you opt for the DL-DVI adapter rather than a mini-DisplayPort to DisplayPort cable? I have my rMBP plugged into a Dell U3011 most of the time and this seems like the most straightforward way.
I use an rMBP full time at work as well with no trouble using an Apple thunderbolt display, a 27 inch dell display (via mini displayport), and a fourth 1200p display via HDMI. I'd definitely suggest going for displayport if possible over the finicky DL-DVI adaptors.
I had that problem a few years ago, and it turned out to be a precursor to the adapter failing altogether. I got it replaced under warranty and the new one has been working fine for years. So it might be worth trying to get yours replaced.
