Thoughts on the XPS 9560?

[BlueGoldAce]

Thats exactly the thing: it outdoes the MBP in some aspects but then fails short in others. For instance, the XPS uses a screen that looks better spec-wise, but draws a lot of power, which makes is unpractical for mobile use. They use newer quad-core Kaby Lake CPUs, but don't allow you to upgrade the CPU to a higher-tier model (which means that my 2016 MBP with 6920HQ will most likely outperform the Dell in scientific applications). They give you Thunderbolt3, but cripple it (which again limits professional use). Dell has a faster GPU (nominally), mostly because of higher clocked VRAM, but its also hotter and less suitable for professional computation applications (its a gaming GPU on which Nvidia artificially cripples double-precision and half-precision performance). They still use slower WiFi. And the design of the cooling system: hello dust!

Again, its a great computer, and amazing value for money. But I just don't see it being in the same class as the MBP.

Again, I prefer the MBP.

But, sources?

What is there verdict on the battery life of the 9560? I owned a 9550 with the 4k screen, and the 6 hours or so of battery I got wasn't amazing...but not impractical for mobile use.

The processor differences between the two laptops will largely be unnoticeable.

The gimped thunderbolt will still be fast enough for the majority of people.

I don't know what you mean with the nvidia GPU. It's superior for adobe centric software.

The wifi may be slower, but really? How big of a difference does it make, for 95% of people?

I don't know about the cooking system. I have looked at the design, but the 9550 had no problems.

But you don't mention the cheaper price, 32gb ram (big deal for some, bigger than your above cons), upgradability, etc.

Again, i prefer the MBP and as such paid the extra money; but the xps 15 is very much in the same class, and a viable alternative.

** the amd gpu is used for gaming as well. It's not as simple as you put it. The amd Vega line will be a really great performer for gaming.

 

[Crowdx44]

But the current MBP 2016 is more portable than the XPS and also from my experience has a much better battery life than the XPS 9550 (have not seen any battery tests for the 9560 although folk are stating a 15% increase in battery life).
I want to like the new 9560 but it does seem like it has little to offer over the 9550.
Remember I have not bought either unit and I am a Windows 10 user who wants a Windows machine BUT I cannot find one with the same form factor, lightweight and battery life that the MBP has with a quad core cpu. Can anyone correct me on this (yes I know this is a Mac forum lol)

 

[BlueGoldAce]

But the current MBP 2016 is more portable than the XPS and also from my experience has a much better battery life than the XPS 9550 (have not seen any battery tests for the 9560 although folk are stating a 15% increase in battery life).
I want to like the new 9560 but it does seem like it has little to offer over the 9550.
Remember I have not bought either unit and I am a Windows 10 user who wants a Windows machine BUT I cannot find one with the same form factor, lightweight and battery life that the MBP has with a quad core cpu. Can anyone correct me on this (yes I know this is a Mac forum lol)

Does a razor branded laptop get close?

I doubt you find the same form factor, battery, and power that you do in the MBP15, without giving up something. But it's also a very expensive machine....so it should be top of the line in these areas.

 

[Crowdx44]

Does a razor branded laptop get close?

I doubt you find the same form factor, battery, and power that you do in the MBP15, without giving up something. But it's also a very expensive machine....so it should be top of the line in these areas.

It seems Razer only has 14" and then goes up to 17" and I have also read that their black anodized body gets chipped easily too. Also at 70wh it does not seem battery life would be amazing either on the 14" model.

 

[BlueGoldAce]

It seems Razer only has 14" and then goes up to 17" and I have also read that their black anodized body gets chipped easily too. Also at 70wh it does not seem battery life would be amazing either on the 14" model.

Honestly, your search would be over if the surface book was quad core. Do you really need the quad core? Maybe one of the ASUS high end zen books or something?

All the mentioned laptops, including MBP, have their pluses and minuses.

 

[Crowdx44]

Yes, for music production a quad is pretty much essential. I agree if I could go dual core there are a lot of nice lightweight options out there. The Yoga 910 is a very nice option with some nice specs.

 

[Sanpete]

We see the same thing here, with each new MacBook release. Its not different, and we can't quantify who's QC is better based on reddit/online forums.

The XPS 9650 is a great machine, and it outdoes (to one degree or another) the MBP in hardware, for less money (last time I checked, at least). But it is a Windows 10 laptop. If you are set on getting a windows 10 laptop, you are more likely to be comparing the xps 15 to the newer surface book, etc.

For now, I prefer macOS to windows 10 for LAPTOP use. That may change one day, as windows 10 is improving constantly. I already prefer Windows 10 on a desktop.

If you bought the MBP, why are you on here bashing the XPS 9560? You already spent the large sum of money (like I did). So move on and enjoy the machine. Same if you bought the XPS 9560.

If you are on the fence, go elsewhere, like reddit, Tom's Hardware, or somewhere less biased (if it exist). You aren't going to get good answers here.

*The exception good Ayeying, who posted a bit above me; but his post is the exception to the rule here.

The 9560 with 4K screen is the most direct Windows competition for the new 15" MBP, so it's natural and helpful to make comparisons. And it's natural that people here tend to have some bias. But if you read the posts at forums for Dell users, you'll see the comments here are probably less harsh than there, at least for now.

 

[Tycho24]

That's a great machine and Dell is great it's the whole Apple mystique and Apple Store experience you don't. Get with Dell. Far better performance for less than half the price. Just Remeber to get Dells Max Level Warranty.

Yeah, I always like my product recommendations to come with caveat/warnings that I need to buy the very highest level of an apparently multi-tiered warranty program. Lol.

/s

 

[leman]

What is there verdict on the battery life of the 9560? I owned a 9550 with the 4k screen, and the 6 hours or so of battery I got wasn't amazing...but not impractical for mobile use.

You are right, I shouldn't have been so categorical in my statements. I am not aware of any benchmarks of the new XPS 15" yet. I assume though that the display will be intentional to the last year model, and its known to draw a lot of power

How big of a difference does it make, for 95% of people?

This is all true, but again its the little things that make a difference between a premium product and a non-premium product. Again, I am not saying that going premium is worth the price.

I don't know about the cooking system. I have looked at the design, but the 9550 had no problems.

But you don't mention the cheaper price, 32gb ram (big deal for some, bigger than your above cons), upgradability, etc.

I am quite sure that I mentioned a number of times that the Dell is a better buy if one looks at it from the perspective of finances. Upgradeability and 32GB RAM are very situational, personally faster WiFi (I have gigabit internet) and fast storage is much more important to me.

** the amd gpu is used for gaming as well. It's not as simple as you put it. The amd Vega line will be a really great performer for gaming.

Of course it can be used for gaming. I was simply referring to the GPU's performance in scientific calculations. The 1050 GTX is more oriented towards gaming, with its faster VRAM and artificially limited FP16/FP64 performance. The Pro 460 is designed for stability — it has slower RAM and is generally cooler (pro GPUs are clocked lower than their gaming counterparts for this reason).

The point is: for professional user, there will be not much difference between the two GPUs (unless your software is locked into Nvidia's proprietary APIs in which case the 1050 GTX is def. a better choice), for heavy-duty computation the Pro 460 is a winner and for gaming, the 1050 is def. a better card. But than again, if gaming is a main concern, why would one get a Mac? There are much better options (note: I do game on the MBP in my spare time, and I am more then happy with the performance).

 

[Gaprofitt]

The 9560 with 4K screen is the most direct Windows competition for the new 15" MBP, so it's natural and helpful to make comparisons. And it's natural that people here tend to have some bias. But if you read the posts at forums for Dell users, you'll see the comments here are probably less harsh than there, at least for now.

I have both, so I can give you a rundown of my opinion..

The keyboard is subjective on both, one could love one and hate the other. I can type fine on both with no issues..

The screen, I like the Dell better, it's higher resolution, plenty bright and very accurate. Both are very good though..

I get much better battery life on the Dell 9560 with the 97 kwhr battery vs 78 of the Mac.

The touchpad I prefer on the Mac, while not bad on the PC.

I find the 9560 much better in performance, it just feels snappier..

The MacBook Pro is a little lighter, and a little thinner, however I like the carbon fiber on the keyboard area of the PC.

The Dell has a much better port config with TB/USB-C, two USB ports, SD cards, docking accessories, etc.

The video card Nvidia 1050 is much higher performing than the Mac 450/455/460, especially for games and Adobe apps.

On the PC I do miss iMessage, and the fingerprint sensor is nice, which isn't available yet on the Dell.

The SSD speeds are about 15% faster on the MacBook Pro..

I find the touchbar useless and don't miss it at all when on the PC..

Dollar for Dollar, the Mac is just not worth the premium price.. I paid $1950 out the door for a 1TB ssd, 16gb ram, kaby lake procs, better video card, battery, ports, etc. I actually like Windows 10 and could be happy with either OS..

 

[Sanpete]

You seem to have received your 9560 well ahead of everyone else!

I get much better battery life on the Dell 9560 with the 97 kwhr battery vs 78 of the Mac.

The XPS already had a bigger battery, but still got much worse battery life than the new MBP 15". The new XPS battery is only 13 WH bigger than before, probably worth an additional hour. Have you done any careful comparison?

The Dell has a much better port config with TB/USB-C, two USB ports, SD cards, docking accessories, etc.

I take it you mean it's more convenient. Some of the loudest complaints about the new XPS are that the ports are not powerful enough, particularly the TB3.

Dollar for Dollar, the Mac is just not worth the premium price.. I paid $1950 out the door for a 1TB ssd, 16gb ram, kaby lake procs, better video card, battery, ports, etc.

Some of those things matter more than others. Build quality and such also matter. I think people get what they pay for, but the XPS is certainly a bargain for its basic specs.

 

[Gaprofitt]

You seem to have received your 9560 well ahead of everyone else!



The XPS already had a bigger battery, but still got much worse battery life than the new MBP 15". The new XPS battery is only 13 WH bigger than before, probably worth an additional hour. Have you done any careful comparison?

I think the difference is the much larger battery and the Kaby Lake procs, accounting for easily 2-3 more hours than the Mac based on my testing..



I take it you mean it's more convenient. Some of the loudest complaints about the new XPS are that the ports are not powerful enough, particularly the TB3.

There is a firmware update/fix for this.



Some of those things matter more than others. Build quality and such also matter. I think people get what they pay for, but the XPS is certainly a bargain for its basic specs.

I think they are both quality built machines, people often overstate that on the Mac side, like Apple is the only one who can make a decent built machine..

 

[Sanpete]

Well, I've seen people who have owned both say the Surface is built on a par with the Mac, but not so many have said that of the Dells. The Surface is quite a bit more expensive, though.

 

[mcomp112]

To all those hyping the XPS 15 9560: go over to the Dell sub-reddit on Reddit. The release has been such a mess that a lot of customers weren't even sure which specs they were receiving on their laptops. Additionally, the usual Dell bugs have yet to go away and there are already several exchanges being initiated.

As someone who's owned an XPS 15, this is par for the course from Dell. Avoid Dell, save yourself the headache that is Dell customer service, and buy Apple instead. For all its problems, Apple is still far better when it comes to QC vs Dell.

PS: The 1050 graphics in the 9650 are not that much more powerful vs. the 960M in the 9550. Check out the benchmarks.

 

[Gaprofitt]

To all those hyping the XPS 15 9560: go over to the Dell sub-reddit on Reddit. The release has been such a mess that a lot of customers weren't even sure which specs they were receiving on their laptops. Additionally, the usual Dell bugs have yet to go away and there are already several exchanges being initiated.

As someone who's owned an XPS 15, this is par for the course from Dell. Avoid Dell, save yourself the headache that is Dell customer service, and buy Apple instead. For all its problems, Apple is still far better when it comes to QC vs Dell.

PS: The 1050 graphics in the 9650 are not that much more powerful vs. the 960M in the 9550. Check out the benchmarks.

Cmon dude.. It's a case and a motherboard.. quality control my a$$.. These are all made in China.. You want to think Apple has some white glove guy hand inspecting every unit. Apple has just as many failures as Dell.. The 10 series Nvidia cards offer at minimum a 30% boost in performance over the 9x.. How would someone order something and not know what they are receiving? It's clearly laid out what the laptop comes with, what are you talking about?

 

[Sanpete]

Apple has just as many failures as Dell.

The investigations of reliability I've seen show otherwise.

How would someone order something and not know what they are receiving? It's clearly laid out what the laptop comes with, what are you talking about?

?

 

[MrX8503]

Could you use the LG 5K monitor with this laptop? Part of the reason why Apple went with AMD was for the 5K support.

I would argue about the better build quality. The XPS easily matches the MacBook. A solid rubbery, non-plasticky casing, smooth hinge, no creaking, solid trackpad, tiny bezel and the XPS actually has a better keyboard than the 2016 MacBooks.

The keyboard is debatable, but the Macbook Pro is like a work of art. Even the inside is pretty incredible. I haven't held the XPS in my hand, but I've held the Surface Book and I don't think that matches the Macbook Pro in build quality.

 

[David58117]

Could you use the LG 5K monitor with this laptop? Part of the reason why Apple went with AMD was for the 5K support.



The keyboard is debatable, but the Macbook Pro is like a work of art. Even the inside is pretty incredible. I haven't held the XPS in my hand, but I've held the Surface Book and I don't think that matches the Macbook Pro in build quality.

As someone who has accidentally bumped both a MacBook Pro and Surface Book into walls (and done a bunch of googling on construction) - the magnesium of the SB is actually stronger than the Aluminum on the MacBook Pro. The SB is a very nice machine.

 

[radus]

If someone want to compare, here is the HWInfo of the thunderbolt 3 implementation of the mbpro late 2016 15":

 

[MrX8503]

As someone who has accidentally bumped both a MacBook Pro and Surface Book into walls (and done a bunch of googling on construction) - the magnesium of the SB is actually stronger than the Aluminum on the MacBook Pro. The SB is a very nice machine.

But the finishing on the Magnesium sucks IMO. It also seems to scratch easier.

Here's a good reddit on aluminum vs magnesium. https://www.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/1ung1q/why_apples_macbook_are_made_of_aluminium/

 

[agaskew]

I have both, so I can give you a rundown of my opinion..

The keyboard is subjective on both, one could love one and hate the other. I can type fine on both with no issues..

The screen, I like the Dell better, it's higher resolution, plenty bright and very accurate. Both are very good though..

I get much better battery life on the Dell 9560 with the 97 kwhr battery vs 78 of the Mac.

The touchpad I prefer on the Mac, while not bad on the PC.

I find the 9560 much better in performance, it just feels snappier..

The MacBook Pro is a little lighter, and a little thinner, however I like the carbon fiber on the keyboard area of the PC.

The Dell has a much better port config with TB/USB-C, two USB ports, SD cards, docking accessories, etc.

The video card Nvidia 1050 is much higher performing than the Mac 450/455/460, especially for games and Adobe apps.

On the PC I do miss iMessage, and the fingerprint sensor is nice, which isn't available yet on the Dell.

The SSD speeds are about 15% faster on the MacBook Pro..

I find the touchbar useless and don't miss it at all when on the PC..

Dollar for Dollar, the Mac is just not worth the premium price.. I paid $1950 out the door for a 1TB ssd, 16gb ram, kaby lake procs, better video card, battery, ports, etc. I actually like Windows 10 and could be happy with either OS..

Thanks for posting your findings based on ownership of both (i.e. not on benchmarks and hearsay).

 

[xPad]

Also, I know you are quite an Apple apologist normally, but was it really needed in this thread to tell us not to call Apple evil and say Mac is stupid?

Apparently it was.

 

[Queen6]

But the finishing on the Magnesium sucks IMO. It also seems to scratch easier.

Here's a good reddit on aluminum vs magnesium. https://www.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/1ung1q/why_apples_macbook_are_made_of_aluminium/

Owing both Surface Book & MBP the surface finish of both seems to be equally resilient to wear & tear, with both Microsoft & Apple finished to a high standard, Apple's space grey remains to be seen.

Q-6

 

[MrX8503]

Owing both Surface Book & MBP the surface finish of both seems to be equally resilient to wear & tear, with both Microsoft & Apple finished to a high standard, Apple's space grey remains to be seen.

Q-6

Space gray will definitely show silver when scratched. Personally I've never liked the finish on Surfaces. It's a big rough for my tastes

 

[Queen6]

Agree the Surface Book has more of a matt finsh, same extends to the keyboard, with less of a tendency to show fingerprints etc. equally silver MBP is hardly a magnet for the same, barring the keyboard.

Q-6