Dell XPS 15 Opinions

spartacus93

Hi all

I am looking to buy a new laptop in the next week or two. I would consider myself a heavy user. At the moment I am strongly considering buying a Dell XPS 15. It comes in at €1067 ex vat, and the spec is below. I'm happy to spend that amount, would like to get something reasonably future proofed.

English Genuine Windows®7 Home Premium (64 BIT)
2nd generation Intel® Core™ i7-2630QM processor 2.00 GHz with Turbo Boost 2.0 up to 2.90 GHz
15.6” Multi-Touch HD WLED TL (1366x768) 720p with 2.0 Mega Pixel Integrated Camera
6144MB 1333MHz Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM [1x4096 + 1x2048]
8x DVD+/-RW, & Blu-ray Disc™ combo drive (reads Blu-ray Disc™ & writes to CD/DVD
640GB (7,200rpm) Serial ATA Hard Drive
9-cell 90Whr Lithium Ion battery
2GB NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 540M Graphics Card
Silver Anodized Aluminum Cover

Dell want +€66 to upgrade to 8 gigs of RAM, and +€40 to go to a 750 gig hard drive, I'm not paying that, but will probably upgrade them components myself shortly.

The main software used on it will be, the entire Adobe graphics and web suites. No video editing. Some Matlab, Visual Basic, and maybe some light AutoCad / Solidworks. No gaming.

Currently have a 15" and I'm happy with that size, weight isn't a big issue, neither is battery life. The longer the better, but I only get 30 minutes out of the laptop I have now!

Just wondering is there any other machines I should be considering, or any issues with the machine above. I used to follow the latest trends religiously, but I am a bit behind when it comes to the latest and greatest laptop components, so any advice or potential problems would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers lads.

Brian

cookie1977

I bought a top spec m14x there a week ago and am loving it.

http://www.dell.com/ie/p/alienware-m14x/pd?oc=n00w1404&model_id=alienware-m14x


My spec cost 1800 incl VAT and Delivery. It's so nice. I got a 2820qm i7 processor with 6gb ram at 1600mhz, 750gb sata 7200rpm hard drive, 3gb nvidia optimus gt555m graphics card and 1600x900 screen res. on a 14inch screen. It's just so powerful and fast. You could trim down the graphics card to the 1.5gb one as there's not a lot of difference. You could also pair back the processor and still get a decent price.

Otherwise your machine looks great.

Tazzle

spartacus93 wrote: »

Hi all

I am looking to buy a new laptop in the next week or two. I would consider myself a heavy user. At the moment I am strongly considering buying a Dell XPS 15. It comes in at €1067 ex vat, and the spec is below. I'm happy to spend that amount, would like to get something reasonably future proofed.

English Genuine Windows®7 Home Premium (64 BIT)
2nd generation Intel® Core™ i7-2630QM processor 2.00 GHz with Turbo Boost 2.0 up to 2.90 GHz
15.6” Multi-Touch HD WLED TL (1366x768) 720p with 2.0 Mega Pixel Integrated Camera
6144MB 1333MHz Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM [1x4096 + 1x2048]
8x DVD+/-RW, & Blu-ray Disc™ combo drive (reads Blu-ray Disc™ & writes to CD/DVD
640GB (7,200rpm) Serial ATA Hard Drive
9-cell 90Whr Lithium Ion battery
2GB NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 540M Graphics Card
Silver Anodized Aluminum Cover

Dell want +€66 to upgrade to 8 gigs of RAM, and +€40 to go to a 750 gig hard drive, I'm not paying that, but will probably upgrade them components myself shortly.

The main software used on it will be, the entire Adobe graphics and web suites. No video editing. Some Matlab, Visual Basic, and maybe some light AutoCad / Solidworks. No gaming.

Currently have a 15" and I'm happy with that size, weight isn't a big issue, neither is battery life. The longer the better, but I only get 30 minutes out of the laptop I have now!

Just wondering is there any other machines I should be considering, or any issues with the machine above. I used to follow the latest trends religiously, but I am a bit behind when it comes to the latest and greatest laptop components, so any advice or potential problems would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers lads.

Brian

If you upgrade only one thing make sure it's the screen. The basic option 720p screen is absolutely awful. Really really bad. I cannot over emphasis how truly terrible it is. For more advice see here -> http://forum.notebookreview.com/dell-xps-studio-xps/

Hal Emmerich

cookie1977 wrote: »

I bought a top spec m14x there a week ago and am loving it.

http://www.dell.com/ie/p/alienware-m14x/pd?oc=n00w1404&model_id=alienware-m14x


My spec cost 1800 incl VAT and Delivery. It's so nice. I got a 2820qm i7 processor with 6gb ram at 1600mhz, 750gb sata 7200rpm hard drive, 3gb nvidia optimus gt555m graphics card and 1600x900 screen res. on a 14inch screen. It's just so powerful and fast. You could trim down the graphics card to the 1.5gb one as there's not a lot of difference. You could also pair back the processor and still get a decent price.

Otherwise your machine looks great.

What do you be at to need that spec? Would this have worked?

Processor Intel® Core™ i7-2630QM Quad Core (2GHz, Intel Sandy Bridge Architecture, 6 MB L3 cache, Features Intel Turbo Boost up to 2.9GHz)

Screen 15.6" (ASUS Color-Shine, 1920x1080 FULL HD)

Operating System Windows 7 Home Premium Edition 64-bit

RAM 8GB (DDR3 1066MHZ)

Hard Drive 750GB

Optical Drive Blu-Ray (Blu-Ray HD Play back + DVD-RW & CD-RW)

Graphics Dedicated (NVIDIA GeForce GT 550M with 2GB Dedicated Memory)

Integrated Webcam Integrated Webcam with Microphone

Card Reader 2-in-1 card reader ( SD, MMC )

USB Ports 3x USB 2.0 ports, 1x USB 3.0 Port

€800 less....

Your processor is ranked 10, Asus is 15 on here.
On graphics yours is 62, Asus is 78, here.

cookie1977

Oh I know it's probably over kill. but I've never had a top of the range lappy and always wanted an alienware. They're tamer now since dell bought them then when I used to wish i owned one but it's still some machine.

Last device I owned was powered by an Intel T8300 running at 2.4ghz. This new device takes 40 seconds flat to install iTunes from scratch. And converting video takes 1/3 of the time. For me anyway well worth the extra dosh and I still feel I got a bargain. Seems dell have 400 euro off them at present too.

Hal Emmerich

cookie1977 wrote: »

Oh I know it's probably over kill. but I've never had a top of the range lappy and always wanted an alienware. They're tamer now since dell bought them then when I used to wish i owned one but it's still some machine.

Last device I owned was powered by an Intel T8300 running at 2.4ghz. This new device takes 40 seconds flat to install iTunes from scratch. And converting video takes 1/3 of the time. For me anyway well worth the extra dosh and I still feel I got a bargain. Seems dell have 400 euro off them at present too.

AAh, I get ya, finally being able to get something that you've wanted/saved for, best not to have liquids around it or you'll end up with a horror story after waiting so long to get one.

Just looking at OPs post again the Asus has the spec that Dell are looking for more money to match and has a better graphics Card aswell.

Saveonlaptops don't list rpm of Harddrive though but an e-mail/phone call would sort that.

This page OP for similar lappys from saveonlaptops.

Edit: The Asus has a Full HD screen, on a 15inch I don't know whether that is a good or bad thing when a main use is CAD/Solid-works.

May want to check that out or maybe someone here may know.....

cookie1977

Bingo and it's guarded with my life!

Re OP I'd agree with Hal. Save on laptops are a great company. And the asus would more than meet your needs. If you do decide to go with the dell then get the lowest option on ram and buy your own. Dell always charge a premium for ram. Re the hard drive on the asus. I'd be shocked if it's not 7200 but as hal says an email will confirm

beno619

spartacus93 wrote: »

Hi all

I am looking to buy a new laptop in the next week or two. I would consider myself a heavy user. At the moment I am strongly considering buying a Dell XPS 15. It comes in at €1067 ex vat, and the spec is below. I'm happy to spend that amount, would like to get something reasonably future proofed.

English Genuine Windows®7 Home Premium (64 BIT)
2nd generation Intel® Core™ i7-2630QM processor 2.00 GHz with Turbo Boost 2.0 up to 2.90 GHz
15.6” Multi-Touch HD WLED TL (1366x768) 720p with 2.0 Mega Pixel Integrated Camera
6144MB 1333MHz Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM [1x4096 + 1x2048]
8x DVD+/-RW, & Blu-ray Disc™ combo drive (reads Blu-ray Disc™ & writes to CD/DVD
640GB (7,200rpm) Serial ATA Hard Drive
9-cell 90Whr Lithium Ion battery
2GB NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 540M Graphics Card
Silver Anodized Aluminum Cover

Dell want +€66 to upgrade to 8 gigs of RAM, and +€40 to go to a 750 gig hard drive, I'm not paying that, but will probably upgrade them components myself shortly.

The main software used on it will be, the entire Adobe graphics and web suites. No video editing. Some Matlab, Visual Basic, and maybe some light AutoCad / Solidworks. No gaming.

Currently have a 15" and I'm happy with that size, weight isn't a big issue, neither is battery life. The longer the better, but I only get 30 minutes out of the laptop I have now!

Just wondering is there any other machines I should be considering, or any issues with the machine above. I used to follow the latest trends religiously, but I am a bit behind when it comes to the latest and greatest laptop components, so any advice or potential problems would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers lads.

Brian

Had this laptop for the past 2 weeks and im loving it
my build :
English Genuine Windows®7 Home Premium (64 BIT)
2nd generation Intel® Core™ i7-2630QM processor 2.00 GHz with Turbo Boost 2.0 up to 2.90 GHz
15.6” Multi-Touch HD WLED TL (1366x768) 720p with 2.0 Mega Pixel Integrated Camera
4 gb RAM
DVD RW drive
500GB (7,200rpm) Serial ATA Hard Drive
9-cell 90Whr Lithium Ion battery
Intel Advenced N 6230 wifi module.
2GB NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 540M Graphics Card
Silver Anodized Aluminum Cover.

A lot has been said about the screen, but unless you have been using a 1080p screen with fantastic colours then you shouldn't be too disappointed, I was using a desktop monitor with 1600 x 900 resolution and a matte display, so the resolution is a bit of the step back but im getting better colours due to the glossy display.
But if you can afford the 1080p go for it as its apparently one of the best money can buy.

Since your into CAD there is a max of 8GB of RAM supported which might be restricting in the future.
It would also be cheaper to buy 2 your build with 2 or 3 GB of RAM because its cheaper to buy good quality RAM than it is to upgrade the cheap stuff dell give you.
The hard drive isnt located in the usual bay but under the palm rest which makes upgrading a little more difficult, it can still be done you just have to be a little braver opening up your lappy. so id get as big a hard drive as possible.

graphics card is great.
Sound is outstanding.
Backlit keyboard is the shizz.
would have preferred a slot loading disk drive.
looks alot sexier and thinner in person.

Havnt really tried to stretch the battery but you can get 7-8 hours web browsing
4 watching films
and iv heard 2 gaming ( I only game plugged in )

Got mine for 620 from the dell uk outlet

and its Boss.. its not perfect but very close.

machalla

This might be a cheaper option and is in stock

http://www.saveonlaptops.co.uk/Acer_Aspire_5750G_1091445.html

No bluray, similar graphics card (1Gb instead of 2Gb though).

I have a suspicion the hard disk is 5400rpm also. It may be worth a look if you fancy saving a bit of money. I am trying to decide between the asus mentioned and the Acer. If the Asus was in stock before September I think I'd go with it..