Talk me out of the 15" Dell XPS

[gooseta]

Most people base their opinions on a company's prior products, yes.

The best way to learn about what your experience will be like three years from now is to look at what people who have owned that company's products for three years are experiencing now.

If Dell (or you) wish to argue that their current products will be vastly better/more reliable, etc. after three years of ownership, they are free to do so, but the burden is high, since it's purely speculative, and contrary to the real-world experience of people who put their hard-earned cash down.

If the company didn't build a great product with an excellent reputation before, they've got a lot of work to do to convince me they're now making something amazing.

Apple has many faults, but a three year old MBP is still an excellent machine with substantial retained value, and a high expectation that it will give good service for many years to some.

A 2013 Dell... not so much.

Have you ever asked yourself why nobody in their right mind buys a two-year-old high-spec Dell laptop at less than half the price of a new one to use for school?

Why aren't YOU looking at a year-old or two-year-old high-spec Dell? They're cheap as hell pre-owned. Probably under $500 for a machine that sold 18 months ago for $1500+. Absolutely KILLER price/performance. You can for sure get Broadwell, and even an early Skylake if you're willing to go up to $600. You'll get 90% of the specs of the current model for 1/3 the cost.

But you don't want one, because you KNOW that it's probably not worth it, even at 30% of what someone paid for it last year.

Because this is the first dell with somewhat decent build without being bulky.

 

[Deanster]

Because this is the first dell with somewhat decent build without being bulky.

If you're willing to spend $1600 on their first attempt at a 'somewhat decent build without being bulky', I'll again say that I hope very much you get the experience you're hoping for.

It's a lot of money to bet on a new direction for a company, at least for me.

I'd want to feel mighty confident before making a bet like that, but you may have different needs or a differing situation, and can afford to take the risk and not worry about resale value.

 

[gooseta]

If you're willing to spend $1600 on their first attempt at a 'somewhat decent build without being bulky', I'll again say that I hope very much you get the experience you're hoping for.

It's a lot of money to bet on a new direction for a company, at least for me.

I'd want to feel mighty confident before making a bet like that, but you may have different needs or a differing situation, and can afford to take the risk and not worry about resale value.

I'm buying a Surface book

 

[Deanster]

I'm buying a Surface book

LOLOL! and you've been bitching about Apple's performance and pricing for a dozen posts. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

Paying Surface Book prices for a 15W processor while complaining about Apple's specs and pricing is HILARIOUS.

YOU JUST MADE MY DAY!!!! LOLOLOLOL!

On the plus side, you do have the option for a dGPU, which IMHO is the one place Apple truly fell short on the 13" models. Even a mid-range dGPU would be good.

I'm super-eager to see how the 16-hour Surface Book battery life claim works out in real-world usage. If peoples experience actually looks anything like that, it'll be a huge win for Surface Book.

 

[gooseta]

LOLOL! and you've been bitching about Apple's performance and pricing for a dozen posts. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

Paying $3300 for a 15W processor and integrated graphics while complaining about Apple's specs and pricing is HILARIOUS.

YOU JUST MADE MY DAY!!!! LOLOLOLOL!

Integrated graphics? Have you taken a fall today mate? And who said I'm paying $3300? You're dumber than I thought.

(proceeded to edit his post due to being an idiot)

 

[macjunk(ie)]

.... They simply last longer and hold their value considerably longer than PC. People are still paying £5-600 for my notebook on Amazon second hand, can the same be said for Windows machines that old?

I wish you well but I wish you had either the 2007 MBP or the 2011 MBP. You would have understood that Apple and reliability are not synonymous. You can search in this very forum where plenty of people have visited the store multiple number of times to get issues fixed. And I am not talking display issues. Apple has agreed to fix the dGPU related issues only after there was a lawsuit. Dell might have done the same as well. So there is no difference in that regard between Dell and Apple.

Both of them are "mean spirited" except with one, it costs less to experience the mean spirit.

Easy "Dude, you're getting a DELL"!

Seriously though:
Yes the specs on paper are better but here are issues I run into with non-Mac PCs and Windows overall:

1. Apple wins in track pad by years ahead of competition
2. Scrolling is jittery on Win vs. OS X
3. OS X advantages as a Unix based OS (too long to list but can be Googled)
4. Aluminum body
5. Superior customer service by far over Dell and others.
6. Battery quality chosen for Mac lasts longer than those put on DELL PCs (others too)
7. Resale value

Yeah...Apple's trackpad is the best. Is it that good that one is willing to be extorted by Apple? That is the question. No question about how good their trackpads are.

Regarding customer service, I find Dell's service a lot more superior than Apple's. They come home and fix your laptop. How cool is that? No need to go to a store and wait for hours.

Agree with the rest of the points. Again, how much extra are you willing to pay for these?

My trust in Apple is shaken here. I am worried that I should not be inviting in their ecosystem cause you never know how much they are willing to twist their reality distortion field. Tomorrow, their brand new e-ink keyboard might hike the price of the MBP by another grand.

 

[Stingray454]

I honestly think that the XPS 13 Developer edition looks really nice - comes with Ubuntu, which is a really nice OS. Had good support for UI scaling on 4k and touch, and is more similar to OS X than windows for sure. Might need some work to set up though if you look at this video, maybe a standard with linux dual-boot is better:

 

[RobinInOR]

That's what my husband just got and he loves it. A few glitches, its doesn't come back from sleeping when the cover is closed, only if you sleep it via the menu. But the display is grand and the keyboard is nice enough. Was interesting to see the system setting Windows look exactly like the Mac OS ones. Only thing I don't like about it is that it is so light it makes it hard to open it-you have to hold both edges to pry it apart and it's very awkward. He also has some problems with the trackpad registering touches from his palms. Will be fun to compare it to my new 13" MacBook Pro when it comes.

 

[MH01]

Windows 10, MS spying.
That's enough for me to not get any new computer with Windows 10. If you can get it with another OS, then go for it. Unless you prefer macOS that is, in which case, bite the bullet and get a mbp.

If you are connected to the internet......consider yourself tracked. Nothing special about a Mac that prevents this, it's what you do when connected. Apple has one of the most impressive collections of personal data.....do you trust every employee that works for apple or thier providers ? Apple uses a lot of services that they don't own....google Akamai....

 

[aevan]

Besides the ports, I needed 32GiB of RAM in 2014, and 2TB of storage is not enough anymore.

Also 4 cores is not enough, but I'm not going to carry a 5Kg laptop.

32Gb? More than 4 cores? 2Tb SSD is not enough? On a laptop?

That means you're either someone who does really intensive CG rendering projects with large amounts of assets - and just has to do it on the go (in which case, you need a workstation laptop, and Apple never made those), or you're just randomly throwing spec requirements, thinking that more RAM makes you a pro-user.

Either way, you're honestly calling people who can make do with 16Gb RAM and a 4-core i7.... lite users? No, really, I want you to say it. Please.

 

[cube]

32Gb? More than 4 cores? 2Tb SSD is not enough? On a laptop?

That means you're either someone who does really intensive CG rendering projects with large amounts of assets - and just has to do it on the go (in which case, you need a workstation laptop, and Apple never made those), or you're just randomly throwing spec requirements, thinking that more RAM makes you a pro-user.

Either way, you're honestly calling people who can make do with 16Gb RAM and a 4-core i7.... lite users? No, really, I want you to say it. Please.

You don't know what I do.

MBP users who are happy with their laptops are light users.

 

[Greene]

Dell is a great hardware company, with excellent service / value, and Windows 10 is a solid OS. It's a good choice.

 

[tevion]

I love Dell........... Monitors. I have 2x 27" 1440p displays from them, one IPS and the other a 144hz G-Sync. They're fantastic and their support is excellent.

Laptops, it's another story. I've tried several, even bought their XPS 15 when they moved to a full unibody design - my god what a bad move that was... I noticed (As did every other user) the poor Wifi reception, it massively impacted multiplayer gaming.

Unlike my work Dell laptop (Just a generic worky type one), my shiny new Dell XPS 15 was slow as a dog when I was online outside. After several support calls (and I do mean, several) eventually they offered me a solution, they'd send me a USB Wifi Dongle.... No joke, they acknowledged they had an issue on their Dell XPS line but wanted to send me a Wifi Dongle to resolve the internal Wifi card issue, eventually they did resolve other peoples issue by replacing the internal part but by that point I had sent it back for a full refund.

Also thin, light and stylish "Gaming" laptops - throttling is a major and I do mean MAJOR problem with at least 90% of them. It's getting better but still very much an issue.

Windows 10 is fantastic... I don't know why people still talk about BSOD, I haven't seen one in years. My desktop is a Windows PC, iMac isn't an option as I run a top end i7 with a Nvidia GTX 1080 as I like to game / have a HTC Vive VR headset. But nobody really comes close to Apple when it comes to Notebooks - Maybe Microsoft with the Surface Pro 4 (Wife has one) and Surface Book - but for me macOS is a far better OS for a notebook.

The new MacBook Pro though.... Price (CRAZY), Keyboard (Ew) and Ports (Great idea when industry has followed suit)... I'm sticking with the Early 2015 13 MacBook Pro (2.9ghz / 16GB RAM and 256GB HDD)... Which I got for a crazy £600 on eBay, in mint condition with warranty till 2018... Yes, very lucky.

 

[aevan]

You don't know what I do.

MBP users who are happy with their laptops are light users.

Well, I asked you what you do and you didn't explain. You don't have to tell me, but until you do, I consider your needs made up. And even if you do somehow need this much horsepower in a laptop (why not a desktop, if you really need more than 4 cores and 2Tb?), your case would be a very specific one, not one you can draw general conclusions for the vast majority of users. And certainly can't call them lite users.

Btw, I am happy with my MBP and I'm no light user. I know great artists, animators, programmers, 3D modelers, designers that use MBPs. Some of them are greatest creators in the world.... and you just called them lite users.

I will presume you're 12 years old and move on.

 

[cube]

Well, I asked you what you do and you didn't explain. You don't have to tell me, but until you do, I consider your needs made up. And even if you do somehow need this much horsepower in a laptop (why not a desktop, if you really need more than 4 cores and 2Tb?), your case would be a very specific one, not one you can draw general conclusions for the vast majority of users. And certainly can't call them lite users.

Btw, I am happy with my MBP and I'm no light user. I know great artists, animators, programmers, 3D modelers, designers that use MBPs. Some of them are greatest creators in the world.... and you just called them lite users.

I will presume you're 12 years old and move on.

I did not say these users were not professional or lesser. I said they are light users, in terms of the power they require from their laptops.

Nobody is ashamed if they can work without a supercomputer.

 

[aevan]

I did not say these users were not professional or lesser. I said they are light users, in terms of the power they require from their laptops.

Well, that's a matter of terminology. What do you call people who run office apps on 4 and 8Gb RAM laptops? "Invisible"?

 

[cube]

Well, that's a matter of terminology. What do you call people who run office apps on 4 and 8Gb RAM laptops? "Invisible"?

They are just lighter users.

But it does not mean they are casual users.

 

[macjunk(ie)]

The best solution (or at least the solution for me going forward when the time comes to replace my MBP)
- buy a thin and light laptop such as a Dell XPS 13 - load Ubuntu on it
- build a monster desktop for home use - load ubuntu and Windows on it

These two combined will give me a lot more horsepower than buying a top end MBP with some spare change leftover to buy software. Of course I will have to adapt to new patterns but I think that this is a more sustainable pattern than plonking cash for an overpriced MBP

 

[Trusteft]

If you are connected to the internet......consider yourself tracked. Nothing special about a Mac that prevents this, it's what you do when connected. Apple has one of the most impressive collections of personal data.....do you trust every employee that works for apple or thier providers ? Apple uses a lot of services that they don't own....google Akamai....

Stop defending MS and its spying on its customers. K bye bye

 

[Phightinphils]

In my opinion, go with the MacBook Pro. Seems like macOS and $$$ are the key contributors to your debate here and with getting the MBP up front, you can run Windows on it at the same time as macOS. So, technically speaking, you spend more on the MacBook and Win10 license, but you have one machine with it ALL. I had the original 15" rMBP, sold it, bought the 12" rMB, bought a new Lenovo X1 Carbon(best pc laptop ever) but kept my 12".

Now I'm realizing the point I just made to you above as well and am considering selling both and grabbing a new 15" rMBP and running parallels.

 

[PhoneI]

I'm buying a Surface book

I have a Surface Book. Not a big fan and would never choose to use it over my MacBook.

 

[AdonisSMU]

In my opinion, go with the MacBook Pro. Seems like macOS and $$$ are the key contributors to your debate here and with getting the MBP up front, you can run Windows on it at the same time as macOS. So, technically speaking, you spend more on the MacBook and Win10 license, but you have one machine with it ALL. I had the original 15" rMBP, sold it, bought the 12" rMB, bought a new Lenovo X1 Carbon(best pc laptop ever) but kept my 12".

Now I'm realizing the point I just made to you above as well and am considering selling both and grabbing a new 15" rMBP and running parallels.

I'm so glad I don't have to run Windows on my personal laptop. I may get a windows device to run separately for testing but I'd like to try to avoid that.

 

[Altis]

Stop defending MS and its spying on its customers. K bye bye

It sucks a lot, but basically every site you stay logged into tracks you all over in your browsing (Facebook, Google, etc). It doesn't seem like most people care, or even know, which is a sad state of affairs.

This is as true for MacOS as it is for Windows.

 

[huckg]

It sucks a lot, but basically every site you stay logged into tracks you all over in your browsing (Facebook, Google, etc). It doesn't seem like most people care, or even know, which is a sad state of affairs.

This is as true for MacOS as it is for Windows.

Sad indeed and worth good money to many organizations. Storing your activity like URLs, search terms, and messages is a mere text field in a database. Costs nothing to store and lasts forever.

It's not like they're spying on you per se, you're the one broadcasting things whenever your browser tab reloads. Bill Gates isn't reading your e-mails from spyware installed.

Ironically, stuff transmitted in actual html is probably much harder to track if it'll be stored in a database as html and very expensive and hard to query.

 

[gooseta]

I have a Surface Book. Not a big fan and would never choose to use it over my MacBook.

Why own one then