Macbook Pro 15" 2016 vs Surface Book i7 (the new one) vs Dell XPS 15

[SilveriX]

Hey everyone!

 

I've never posted anything on the forum before but I follow the posts every now and then. I'm a Computer Science grad student planning to buy a new laptop primarily for school (mostly coding stuff) but also for leisure. The thing I'm most concerned about is how future proof the laptop will be as I'm looking to keep this laptop for at least 4 years. I'm hoping you guys can help me make a well informed decision.

 

So these are some of the laptops I'm considering,

 

1. Microsoft Surface Book with Performance Base (the new one) with i7 6th gen, 256 GB SSD, and 8 GB ram.

2. Mac book Pro 15" (2016) with i7 6th gen, 256 GB SSD, and 16 GB ram.

3. Dell XPS 15" (2016) with i7 6th gen, 512 GB SSD, and 16 GB ram.

 

Some points to consider before making any suggestions,

 

1. Price is a factor, not the factor. Anything below $2400 is good. But still i would like to know what you guys think about the price to performance/features ratio of these laptops.

2. I'd like to say i have no preference between windows and OS X, but I probably lean more towards windows because of familiarity. I have worked on a Mac book pro before and it doesn't really make a huge difference to me. So if there are any professional developers on the forum I'd love to hear your opinion as to why either is better than the other. Please also include the language you primarily use for your work as well.

3. I know that 8 GB ram is enough for most programming stuff today, but I'm worried about how the laptop will scale a few years later. This is my primary concern for buying a Surface book. Otherwise the surface book is perfect for me as I have almost all my notes on my laptop and the tablet mode really helps in reading.

4. I don't intend to play any games on this laptop so I don't really care about the GPU (unless it matters in some way that i don't know of).

5. For any other laptop suggestions please consider 8+ hours of battery life, i7 6th gen, 8+ GB ram and 256+ GB SSD along with being light weight as primary factors.

6. The reason I've not included the new Razer Blade in the list is because of the comparatively lower battery life and also I don't want to be playing games.

 

Also, don't roast me for my bad English.

 

EDIT - 

 

Forgot to add a few important things.

 

1. Should i wait for the black Friday deals for any of these. I'm moves to the U.S. recently for grad school and not very familiar with the deals offered.

2. I really need a laptop fast so the reason to wait for a new Kaby lake refresh of anything must be very compelling.

3. I'm not looking to build a PC (though I would love to). 

3. 

[79wjd]

I'm also a CS student, and I use a Mac, but it really won't make much of a difference either way. 

 

3. I honestly wouldn't touch an 8gb high end laptop -- but then again, I'm almost constantly sitting at 15/16gb used thanks to running 30+ chrome tabs, an IDE and occasionally a VM. 

 

5. The Mac (10~ hours) and SB ( too lazy to check ) have much better battery life than the XPS (6~ hours). 

 

I've also used the SB a bit and I really find it awkward/annoying to use due to being top heavy, and as a result I would only recommend it if you plan on heavily using the stylus. 

 

The Lenovo....T460 (I think) is also a good option. Although I would personally get a Mac again, but I prefer OS X. 

[Pendragon]

11 minutes ago, SilveriX said:

2. I'd like to say i have no preference between windows and OS X, but I probably lean more towards windows because of familiarity. I have worked on a Mac book pro before and it doesn't really make a huge difference to me. So if there are any professional developers on the forum I'd love to hear your opinion as to why either is better than the other. Please also include the language you primarily use for your work as well.

Unless you're going to developing for MacOS or iOS you'll be fine. Run VMs. Better yet run Linux. 

 

A potato can write code and compile. There's a few options I'd say you should consider.

 

1. Wait for XPS15 refresh

2. T460s, E7470

3. X260

 

The Surface Book annoys me because of the hinge design and cause it really wobbly when you poke it normally.

Macbook Pro is fine, but extremely expensive, 0 value in getting it.

[Pendragon]

Just now, djdwosk97 said:

The Lenovo....T460 (I think) is also a good option. 

T460, T460s, T460p are all great. 

[Daveeede]

I have the exact XPS 15 you have listed as an option. I can attest for the excellent battery life. Mine does not have the 4k touchscreen but the 1080p screen is beautiful anyways. If you have any other questions about it I'd be glad to help out. I think it offers the best value of the 3 option you have mentioned.

[AresKrieger]

34 minutes ago, SilveriX said:

performance/features ratio of these laptops.

Well on that point you might as well throw out the mac unless the OS is a major boon to you

 

34 minutes ago, SilveriX said:

I don't intend to play any games on this laptop so I don't really care about the GPU

You can use it for hardware acceleration (video editing and such), but if that isn't going to be useful to you I agree that you don't need to care much

 

As for coding I primary in windows and use linux on occasion (C++  matlab and Verilog are what I primarily code in)

 

Out of those 3 I'd get the xps but that is due to two things, 1 dell has treated me well, 2 it has the best price to performance ratio and doesn't have any major drawbacks I can think of.

[79wjd]

1 minute ago, AresKrieger said:

Out of those 3 I'd get the xps but that is due to two things, 1 dell has treated me well, 2 it has the best price to performance ratio and doesn't have any major drawbacks I can think of.

Battery life. The 4k variant has mediocre battery life. 

[SilveriX]

4 minutes ago, Daveeede said:

I have the exact XPS 15 you have listed as an option. I can attest for the excellent battery life. Mine does not have the 4k touchscreen but the 1080p screen is beautiful anyways. If you have any other questions about it I'd be glad to help out. I think it offers the best value of the 3 option you have mentioned.

 

I'll be going for the 1080p screen if I decide to go with XPS. How much battery life you getting?

[AresKrieger]

Just now, djdwosk97 said:

Battery life. The 4k variant has mediocre battery life. 

Yeah the 4k one does have a worse battery life, however the 1080p one is fine and after your comment he has stated that will be the one he's going for (not that you or I knew this prior to commenting)

[Daveeede]

Just now, SilveriX said:

 

I'll be going for the 1080p screen if I decide to go with XPS. How much battery life you getting?

8+ hours easily while doing regular work/listening to music. Mine has the larger 84 Whr battery. It's this one: http://www.dell.com/ca/p/xps-15-9550-laptop/pd?oc=nxps15550_bt1_h1608e&model_id=xps-15-9550-laptop

[SilveriX]

2 minutes ago, AresKrieger said:

Yeah the 4k one does have a worse battery life, however the 1080p one is fine and after your comment he has stated that will be the one he's going for (not that you or I knew this prior to commenting)

I said I'll be going for the 1080p screen IF i decide to go with XPS, so not really decided yet.

[Pendragon]

4 minutes ago, SilveriX said:

How much battery life you getting?

7hr

[79wjd]

4 minutes ago, AresKrieger said:

Yeah the 4k one does have a worse battery life, however the 1080p one is fine and after your comment he has stated that will be the one he's going for (not that you or I knew this prior to commenting)

I will never understand how people deal with 1080p on a 15" screen, but whatever. >= QHD is so much better.

[Daveeede]

1 minute ago, djdwosk97 said:

I will never understand how people deal with 1080p on a 15" screen, but whatever. >= QHD is so much better.

Yet 90% of people are still buying 15" 1366x768 screens on laptops. Scaling is already terrible on W10 with 1080p. I imagine QHD is worse and 4k must be a nightmare.

[SilveriX]

7 minutes ago, Daveeede said:

8+ hours easily while doing regular work/listening to music. Mine has the larger 84 Whr battery. It's this one: http://www.dell.com/ca/p/xps-15-9550-laptop/pd?oc=nxps15550_bt1_h1608e&model_id=xps-15-9550-laptop

Can you share what kind of work it is that you do on your laptop?

[dizmo]

Welcome to the forum!

Your English is outstanding, I'd say just as good as most native speakers on here!

 

I'd have to say the Dell is probably the best choice? I'm not sure how the battery is, but it's excellent on the 13" models.

[AresKrieger]

Just now, djdwosk97 said:

I will never understand how people deal with 1080p on a 15" screen, but whatever. >= QHD is so much better.

And here I am with 1080p on a 32 inch screen  (granted it is far enough away)

 

Anyway @SilveriX if you go with the xps it should get over the 8hr mark but I'm having trouble getting a more precise number than that, but it is safe to say it is similar to the other options if it is the 1080p version 

 

(oh and yes I was aware you were still picking just odd wording on my part)

[Daveeede]

Just now, SilveriX said:

Can you share what kind of work it is that you do on your laptop?

Honestly the craziest thing I do is some 3d modelling in AutoCAD (small projects). Most of the time I'm working in excel, Matlab, SAP2000, etc. Pretty easy stuff to run. I only play games on my desktop, with the exception of Nancy Drew Mystery games which I play with my gf when we're bored at her house. 

[79wjd]

6 minutes ago, Daveeede said:

Yet 90% of people are still buying 15" 1366x768 screens on laptops. Scaling is already terrible on W10 with 1080p. I imagine QHD is worse and 4k must be a nightmare.

Yeah....I don't know how those people manage. I never had any issues with 1080p @ 15" in Windows, although more than that does have scaling issues. Then again, OS X handles scaling very well, I really couldn't deal with <QHD. As it is, I don't really have enough screen real estate. 

 

[SilveriX]

4 minutes ago, dizmo said:

Welcome to the forum!

Your English is outstanding, I'd say just as good as most native speakers on here!

 

I'd have to say the Dell is probably the best choice? I'm not sure how the battery is, but it's excellent on the 13" models.

Thanks. The response on this forum is amazing.

 

2 minutes ago, Daveeede said:

Honestly the craziest thing I do is some 3d modelling in AutoCAD (small projects). Most of the time I'm working in excel, Matlab, SAP2000, etc. Pretty easy stuff to run. I only play games on my desktop, with the exception of Nancy Drew Mystery games which I play with my gf when we're bored at her house. 

Thanks for sharing. From what you've shared, it seems like I will be using more or less the same amount of resources as you with the exception of long term projects maybe.

 

27 minutes ago, Pendragon said:

T460, T460s, T460p are all great. 

Correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think any of these are great in terms of battery life.

[Maximoose]

Surface book.

[SilveriX]

So far a lot people suggesting the XPS 15. To all these people, should I wait for a kaby lake refresh? Also, link me to any articles (or rumor articles) as to when its release is.

[AresKrieger]

11 minutes ago, SilveriX said:

So far a lot people suggesting the XPS 15. To all these people, should I wait for a kaby lake refresh? Also, link me to any articles (or rumor articles) as to when its release is.

Q4 2016 or Q1 2017, so December-February is the most likely but it could be a bit sooner or later, as for when products release with kaby in them idk, the main difference will be power usage and integrated graphics quality based on the info I've seen with small gains performance wise <=10%

[79wjd]

21 minutes ago, SilveriX said:

So far a lot people suggesting the XPS 15. To all these people, should I wait for a kaby lake refresh? Also, link me to any articles (or rumor articles) as to when its release is.

Not worth waiting for (assuming they just upgrade it to Kaby Lake/1050, if they do something else....well...it would depend on the something else).

[JettaGetUpandGo]

I have another notebook to throw into the mix, the Lenovo Yoga 910: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/lenovo-yoga-910-2-in-1-14-4k-ultra-hd-touch-screen-laptop-intel-core-i7-16gb-memory-512gb-ssd-silver/5579125.p?skuId=5579125

 

My 2011 13" MacBook Pro was due for replacement.  I waited for the new MacBook Pro announcement and was very disappointed with the lack of power and high price (typical Apple, but it seemed extreme this time).  The OLED bar seems gimmicky.  I like the physical buttons for volume and brightness.  For daily use I prefer the Mac OS due to how seamlessly it works with the iPhone.  I also have a PC for gaming and 2D Autocad (work).  Because of the price of the Apple products and the ability to use Autocad on a Windows notebook, going back to Windows made more sense.

 

The XPS 13 and 15 are both highly recommended on this forum.  I really thought the XPS 13 would be my next notebook after lookignat options online.  I stopped at Best Buy to check out the 15 (only XPS they had).  With the thin bezel around the screen it really felt like a 14" laptop and made me think the 13" might feel too small.  I went into it not caring about the touch screen (I've never had one).  After playing around with it for a few minutes I enjoyed it, but wasn't sold on it.  Also, the soft touch carbon fiber finish around the keyboard showed some wear and lots of oily fingerprints.

 

I wandered around the rest of the laptop section I stumbled across the Lenovo Yoga.  The 910 has only been out for a few weeks so there is little information on it.  The specs are very comparable to any of the others (4k display, i7-7500U, 512 GB SSD, 16 GB RAM).  It's all aluminum and built like a tank.  While the XPS felt solid, this felt even better.  The 14" screen has a very small bezel and is very close in size to my 13" MacBook Pro (but much thinner!).  The big selling point for me was in addition to the touch screen, the screen opens a full 360 degrees so it can be used like a tablet.  USB C for charging and it still has a single USB 2.0 port.  For less money than both the MacBook Pro and the XPS 13 this seemed like a very easy decision.  If you are ok with onboard graphics, this is a bargain compared to the Surface Book.  If you need a larger display the Yoga 710 has a 15.6" display (1080p), same processor/ssd/ram, and costs less.

 

I literally just ordered the 910 tonight and won't have it for a few days.  Out of all of the options in this range of specs and price it's almost silly not to consider it.