11th Gen vs 10th Gen. Intel Mobile Processors, and my laptop decision

[mt123]

Hello there,

 

This topic relates back to my previous posts about purchasing my first laptop. Since then, I've purchased a Dell XPS 17 with a 10th generation i9, 32 GB of ram, a 1 TB SSD, NVIDIA 2060 w/ Max Q, and the 1920 * 1200p display (basically 1080p with 16:10 screen ratio). Since I ordered this straight from Dell's website, I'll be receiving my new laptop in the near future, and after talking to a Dell Service Rep (who was pretty helpful in my experience), he said that I could receive a full refund (within 30-day limit) if I'm not satisfied with my purchase, and honestly, I've been having some second thoughts.

 

Some background on my decision process for laptops: I'll be going into college for Mechanical Engineering as a freshman and I'm in the market for a professional-looking laptop that has great processing power (Intel i7 or i9 or something similar), has at least 16 GB of ram, and has decent graphics to handle AAA titles at a smooth/ minimum 60 fps (I plan on playing games like Doom Eternal, Resident Evil Village, and Forza). A high refresh rate screen (100-120 Hz +) would also be nice, though I plan on getting a monitor for my dorm where I plan to do most of my gaming, which'll have a high refresh rate anyways.

 

Firstly, I'm bit concerned about 10th vs 11th generation Intel processors. I've seen on Dave2D's channel that these 11th generation processors are outperforming comparable Ryzen processors in outright performance, and knowing that the 10th generation Intel processors performed noticeably worse than the Ryzen processors, I feel like I may be missing out on a big upgrade in performance. 

 

Secondly, I'm starting to wonder if the 2060 in the Dell XPS 17 would be able to provide the performance I want when playing AAA titles, and I'm also curious how it would handle Minecraft with and without Ray Tracing. I'm a little worried that I'll be falling behind on laptops equipped with NVIDIA 30-series graphics (or Ryzen similar).

 

Third, I'm wondering if I should keep looking for other laptops besides the XPS 17. I should say that the reason I ended up purchasing the XPS 17 was because it had a powerful i9 processor, lots of ram, and - what I was under the impression as, and am still a little confused if it is - a good graphics card (again, we're talking about a 2060 with Max Q, and I honestly have no idea how good/ bad it is in today's age). But more importantly, I was really attracted to it's overall fit, finish, and design: I loved the 16:10 display with its ultra-thin bezels, I really liked its build quality, and when I tried out an XPS 13 in person, I was also in love with the keyboard, and could really see myself using this as my every-day work station.

 

If you folks have any recommendations for other options, here's my priorities: firstly, finding something that looks professional (or "Macbook-esque" or that just generally looks professional/ good looking, and not flashy/ "gamer-like"), and second is that it has enough CPU/ GPU power to handle AAA games. I could deal with 16 GB of ram, though I wouldn't want to go lower, and I wouldn't want to go below and i7/ Ryzen 7. A 4K display would be an added bonus if the laptop doesn't come in 1080p or 1440p, and if it has a high refresh rate, that would also be an added bonus. 

 

If you folks can help me out again, I'd be truly grateful (and hey, if this topic/ question can get on the LTT YouTube channel, that'd also be pretty cool )

[AMD A10-9600P]

When are you going into college? If you're not satisfied with your purchase then you could always return it and wait until Dell releases a 2021 model, as they've recently refreshed the Inspiron line.

 

Honestly though, I don't think you should be too worried, as the XPS 17 is a very solid laptop, especially with the 2060 and i9, and yes, although it is beaten by AMD in a number of areas, that does not mean it will be bad. For now, I'd personally first check rumours and news sites, then maybe return the XPS 17, whilst keeping an eye out for a 2021 model, as laptops with higher powered 11th gen chips are slowly rolling out. The higher powered 11th gen chips should hopefully stack up quite nicely against Ryzen. I have the i7-1165G7, and although beaten by Ryzen in multicore, in single core and iGPU tasks it holds its own well. I won't talk about the M1 MacBook though, as we know already that the numbers on that thing are insane. Like you, I will be going to uni for a relatively technical course, so couldn't go with the MacBook.

[AMD A10-9600P]

Edit = Just seen this, new XPS laptops out with RTX 30 series GPUs and Intel Tiger Lake H series CPUs, likely some time this summer.

 

Dell announces new XPS 15 and XPS 17 with Intel 11th-Gen chips and 3.5K OLED display | Windows Central

[mt123]

7 hours ago, AMD A10-9600P said:

Edit = Just seen this, new XPS laptops out with RTX 30 series GPUs and Intel Tiger Lake H series CPUs, likely some time this summer.

 

Dell announces new XPS 15 and XPS 17 with Intel 11th-Gen chips and 3.5K OLED display | Windows Central

 

7 hours ago, AMD A10-9600P said:

When are you going into college? If you're not satisfied with your purchase then you could always return it and wait until Dell releases a 2021 model, as they've recently refreshed the Inspiron line.

 

Honestly though, I don't think you should be too worried, as the XPS 17 is a very solid laptop, especially with the 2060 and i9, and yes, although it is beaten by AMD in a number of areas, that does not mean it will be bad. For now, I'd personally first check rumours and news sites, then maybe return the XPS 17, whilst keeping an eye out for a 2021 model, as laptops with higher powered 11th gen chips are slowly rolling out. The higher powered 11th gen chips should hopefully stack up quite nicely against Ryzen. I have the i7-1165G7, and although beaten by Ryzen in multicore, in single core and iGPU tasks it holds its own well. I won't talk about the M1 MacBook though, as we know already that the numbers on that thing are insane. Like you, I will be going to uni for a relatively technical course, so couldn't go with the MacBook.

Hey there, so I'm going to Penn State University Park for Mechanical Engineering, and they recommended at least an i5 (though they prefer an i7) and at least 8 GB of ram (though they prefer 16 GB). I wanted to get an XPS with 32 GB and an i9 to go overkill so that the laptop could last me throughout undergraduate, and maybe even past that. 

 

But hooooooollyyyyyyyyy mooooooolllyyyyyyyyyyy. If the 2021 XPS is going to get NVIDIA 30-series graphics, I'll be canceling my order/ sending my XPS 17 straight back and will be waiting for this new one to come out. Only thing, though, is that I'll be starting my college life over the summer during Penn State's Summer LEAP program, which starts June 30, so if I want the new laptop before the summer semester starts, I've got to watch out for when I can expect these puppies to ship out.

[AMD A10-9600P]

55 minutes ago, mt123 said:

 

Hey there, so I'm going to Penn State University Park for Mechanical Engineering, and they recommended at least an i5 (though they prefer an i7) and at least 8 GB of ram (though they prefer 16 GB). I wanted to get an XPS with 32 GB and an i9 to go overkill so that the laptop could last me throughout undergraduate, and maybe even past that. 

 

But hooooooollyyyyyyyyy mooooooolllyyyyyyyyyyy. If the 2021 XPS is going to get NVIDIA 30-series graphics, I'll be canceling my order/ sending my XPS 17 straight back and will be waiting for this new one to come out. Only thing, though, is that I'll be starting my college life over the summer during Penn State's Summer LEAP program, which starts June 30, so if I want the new laptop before the summer semester starts, I've got to watch out for when I can expect these puppies to ship out.

Interesting stuff, I'd love to do mechanical engineering but I've never properly got maths, so I've settled on product design and tech. That sounds like a sensible recommendation, when I was looking at unis here in England and in Scotland they wanted preferably i7s/Ryzen 7s with 16GB. It's definitely sensible to get something that you know will last.

 

Sounds like the sensible thing to do for the long run, yeah definitely keep a tab on these things, as you won't want to miss them. "Summer" is quite vague, so I'd imagine they'll be shipping the new models next month at the earliest, hopefully that's before you go and you can get your hands on one. Does the uni have any sort of laptop loan or computer labs you could use in the short term, or have you got a laptop already?

[mt123]

1 hour ago, AMD A10-9600P said:

Interesting stuff, I'd love to do mechanical engineering but I've never properly got maths, so I've settled on product design and tech. That sounds like a sensible recommendation, when I was looking at unis here in England and in Scotland they wanted preferably i7s/Ryzen 7s with 16GB. It's definitely sensible to get something that you know will last.

 

Sounds like the sensible thing to do for the long run, yeah definitely keep a tab on these things, as you won't want to miss them. "Summer" is quite vague, so I'd imagine they'll be shipping the new models next month at the earliest, hopefully that's before you go and you can get your hands on one. Does the uni have any sort of laptop loan or computer labs you could use in the short term, or have you got a laptop already?

I'm currently using an old Mac Desktop, and I honestly don't know what year it is (if I had to guess, maybe around 2014-15). All I know is that it isn't running the latest Mac OS. Knowing that every other member in my family has a computer to work on, I could probably take this with me to college (though, tbh, once I'm settled on a new Laptop, I'd probably sell this Mac if my parents let me take it with me), and Penn State UP does have a computer labs in their libraries, though I'm not sure about laptop loans and stuff like that. 

 

And plus, I don't imagine I'll be do high-intensive work over the summer semester because I'll only be taking an Engineering elective and some sort of English class, so I predict my best bet would be to wait for the next XPS 17 with the 30-series graphics - even if I might have to spend $3,000+ for a 3060 equipped one, which I'd plan to purchase anyways (though, I'm still not completely sure how the 2060 Max-Q in the current XPS 17 compares with the 3050 and 3060 that'll be in the new one, so I'll have to get more informed on that).