Dell xps vs. the macbook

[Eggtastic]

Being this a mac forum I expect that most of you will obviously be in favor of the new macbook, or a mac in general. However I got to see the new Dell XPS (13" i think) out in the wild and was very impressed with the design, especially the minimal bezel.

Obviously the macbook will be more refined and the OS is great, but has anyone considered the dell xps? I know there is different models ranging from 13"-15" and some that offer touch screen, but was wondering if some of you considered one when also shopping for a macbook?

 

[Ovedius]

They can't really compete, though.

The XPS is a much more powerful computer, it has fans to cool itself so its more powerful CPU can put out maximum performance without throttling due to heat.
So if you need an i5 or i7 CPU, the XPS is a good choice, some would say the best.

The Macbook on the other hand doesn't have a fan and uses the low power m core CPU.
Which is great for low to medium intensity tasks.
For me the big selling point is that it's absolutely silent, not a single fan.
I despise fan noise, so having a decently powerful computer that never gives of any annoying fan noise is near to Nirvana.


EDIT, fixed typos and some phrasing.

 

[Ulenspiegel]

@Eggtastic
I guess I'll disappoint you as I would take the Dell XPS anytime over the MacBook for many reasons, but the main was covered by Ovedius in the first part of his post.

 

[SteveJUAE]

Being this a mac forum I expect that most of you will obviously be in favor of the new macbook, or a mac in general. However I got to see the new Dell XPS (13" i think) out in the wild and was very impressed with the design, especially the minimal bezel.

Obviously the macbook will be more refined and the OS is great, but has anyone considered the dell xps? I know there is different models ranging from 13"-15" and some that offer touch screen, but was wondering if some of you considered one when also shopping for a macbook?

The XPS is a great laptop as to is the Surface Pro 4 that also comes with a M3 option the Lenovo 900s and even the Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro S are great and given (Other than OS preference) these 2 in 1's can eliminate the need to have a rMB and an accompanying IPad that many seem to have.

The rMB is the smallest clamshell and certainly seemed to offer the better battery life initially but given current trends and reports that seems short lived the others certainly give more options and better value providing you like W10

The smart buy is not the rMB it's a one horse race in OS preference that's riding on the wave of the once build and reliability of previous MAC's, it's certainly no more refined than any of the new laptops/2 in 1's available that are nearing or over $1k that are feature rich with pen/touch/alloys/resolution/options

 

[funtoosh]

Being this a mac forum I expect that most of you will obviously be in favor of the new macbook, or a mac in general. However I got to see the new Dell XPS (13" i think) out in the wild and was very impressed with the design, especially the minimal bezel.

Obviously the macbook will be more refined and the OS is great, but has anyone considered the dell xps? I know there is different models ranging from 13"-15" and some that offer touch screen, but was wondering if some of you considered one when also shopping for a macbook?

I own a Dell XPS 12" Convertible, i have the I7 version with 256GB SSD, i bought it in Jan 2014, but i recently switched to 2016 MB and iMAC again (I've used MAC even in past, but i needed more portable laptop so i switched to Dell). XPS is good but still find my MB to be better in stability, security and portability. Now my wife is using my Dell XPS for basic internet browsing etc...

Following were the main problem with Dell or actually windows:

1) I work for multiple company and also have my own company so I've multiple email accounts with some of them having over 100K emails and the biggest problem with Windows is that outlook starts getting too laggy and slow even with i7 and SSD Drives though i don't face this problem on OSX, my MB as well as iMAC both are working very smoothly and are easily able to handle these large amount of emails. MAC's MAIL client is far more smooth and faster then MS Outlook, especially the search works really fast even with such large amount of emails.

2) Battery life - I never got more then 2-3 hrs on my XPS 12 though my MB easily gives more then 7-8 hours of battery life.

3) Portability - MB is much more lighter and slim and hence much more portable then XPS

4) OS Security - I even handle Abuse department for a big Datacentre, so i get all kinds of abuse complains where i've to even visit a lot of malware/virus infected websites to verify if the complain is right or wrong, even since we provide DDOS Protection and other security services we are even target of lots of hackers who tries to send us different malwares/trojans all the time even via email. With windows i was always concerned about security as i might get infected etc... (
yeah i use Kaspersky with windows) but with OSx i usually don;t need to worry about it much. I even use a AV with MAC for security reasons which i don't keep on all the time unless i've to visit some malware infected website to verify it.

 

[SteveJUAE]

I own a Dell XPS 12" Convertible, i have the I7 version with 256GB SSD, i bought it in Jan 2014, but i recently switched to 2016 MB and iMAC again (I've used MAC even in past, but i needed more portable laptop so i switched to Dell). XPS is good but still find my MB to be better in stability, security and portability. Now my wife is using my Dell XPS for basic internet browsing etc...

Following were the main problem with Dell or actually windows:

1) I work for multiple company and also have my own company so I've multiple email accounts with some of them having over 100K emails and the biggest problem with Windows is that outlook starts getting too laggy and slow even with i7 and SSD Drives though i don't face this problem on OSX, my MB as well as iMAC both are working very smoothly and are easily able to handle these large amount of emails. MAC's MAIL client is far more smooth and faster then MS Outlook, especially the search works really fast even with such large amount of emails.

2) Battery life - I never got more then 2-3 hrs on my XPS 12 though my MB easily gives more then 7-8 hours of battery life.

3) Portability - MB is much more lighter and slim and hence much more portable then XPS

4) OS Security - I even handle Abuse department for a big Datacentre, so i get all kinds of abuse complains where i've to even visit a lot of malware/virus infected websites to verify if the complain is right or wrong, even since we provide DDOS Protection and other security services we are even target of lots of hackers who tries to send us different malwares/trojans all the time even via email. With windows i was always concerned about security as i might get infected etc... (
yeah i use Kaspersky with windows) but with OSx i usually don;t need to worry about it much. I even use a AV with MAC for security reasons which i don't keep on all the time unless i've to visit some malware infected website to verify it.

I'm not sure what problems you were having with outlook but it's not the same experience I have with both company accounts and personal going back 15 years worth of data/emails including legacy lotus notes archives

Why you only got 2-3 hs on your Dell seems another personal problem and not typical IMO

I have 2 rMB (2015 models) and they have been fine but lacking and overpriced. For most the Galaxy Tab Pro S is not only lighter but appears to have better battery life with the extra functionality offered by touch etc. It's now my daily portable over the rMB's or SP4 as it's so flexible

 

[funtoosh]

I'm not sure what problems you were having with outlook but it's not the same experience I have with both company accounts and personal going back 15 years worth of data/emails including legacy lotus notes archives

Why you only got 2-3 hs on your Dell seems another personal problem and not typical IMO

I have 2 rMB (2015 models) and they have been fine but lacking and overpriced. For most the Galaxy Tab Pro S is not only lighter but appears to have better battery life with the extra functionality offered by touch etc. It's now my daily portable over the rMB's or SP4 as it's so flexible

I did a lot of research for the outlook problem that i've, it's mostly related to Exchange based mail services, we are using Exchange for our business emails and it's a known problem to make Outlook lag/slow with Exchange if there are lots of emails, though I face no such issues with OS X

Regarding batter from what i remember Dell itself claims battery life to be 4-5 hours for XPS 12 so 2-3 hours is standard depending upon what softwares are running etc... but with my 2016 MB i get 7-8 hours even if i run almost same softwares that I used to run on XPS 12

 

[SteveJUAE]

As I said before my company or I do not face these issues with exchange, good for you if you got around your problem

Same for me, my Tab Pro S lasts longer using the same software than my rMBs and its lighter and more flexible for me on dailies

 

[Eggtastic]

thanks for all the replies. It is an attractive laptop for sure and probably isn't in the same ball field to compare. I love using mac, but would consider trying this out. I am waiting to see what the MBP line brings and make a decision from there.

 

[ZipZap]

I saw the XPS 13.3 a Costco. Nice size and very light. Great looking display. Touch Screen!
Was significantly warmer that the rMB.

I7, 16GB, 512GB HD, $1350ish

Here's a review that says great battery life.

http://www.laptopmag.com/reviews/laptops/dell-xps-13

 

[timbals]

Have the XPS 13 9350 Developer Edition (ubuntu), and a 2016 Macbook (and a Surface Pro 3, rMBP 13, Samsung Ativ Book 9 Plus FWIW).

If it's as a work machine and you don't need xcode I would go with the Dell. If you do need xcode then I'd probably get a rMBP unless you are going to carry it around a lot in which case the 2016 Macbook is great. If it's a consumption device for the sofa, I'd go with the Surface Pro 3. If it was a mixture of work and consumption device I'd be looking at a Lenovo Yoga of some sort.

With that said, they are all just computers and can all be used interchangeably if you're willing to make compromises.

1 further thing, the size/weight difference is not that different between the XPS13 and the 12 inch macbook.