How long will a high end laptop last me?

[ryanthomp]

I am planning on buying the high end version of the Dell XPS 15 with Kaby Lake core i7, GTX 1050, and 16 GB of RAM. I am wondering if that'll be good enough to last me about 6-8 years. I understand that if I want high performance throughout the years I would need to upgrade. However, if I just want to do daily work would it be enough while not being slow? Or do you guys have some other advice for me?

[D2ultima]

Just because the laptop says it's high end doesn't mean it is. It likely won't last you 6 to 8 years, and the more you use it/stress it the shorter it will last.

 

Your best bet is buying a business-class notebook like the Lenovo Thinkpads or the Dell Latitudes/Precision Ms or the HP Elitebooks/Probooks/Zbooks (whatever they are, they're something-books).

[tikker]

8 minutes ago, ryanthomp said:

I am planning on buying the high end version of the Dell XPS 15 with Kaby Lake core i7, GTX 1050, and 16 GB of RAM. I am wondering if that'll be good enough to last me about 6-8 years. I understand that if I want high performance throughout the years I would need to upgrade. However, if I just want to do daily work would it be enough while not being slow? Or do you guys have some other advice for me?

It  depends a bit on what your "daily work" is exactly, but if it are not super heavy tasks then it'll probably last you some time; 8 years is quite a lot to ask though.

You might want to look at other laptops as well, since if you're just doing light everyday tasks the XPS15 may be a overkill/overpriced for what you need.

[ryanthomp]

42 minutes ago, tikker said:

It  depends a bit on what your "daily work" is exactly, but if it are not super heavy tasks then it'll probably last you some time; 8 years is quite a lot to ask though.

You might want to look at other laptops as well, since if you're just doing light everyday tasks the XPS15 may be a overkill/overpriced for what you need.

I am planning on doing some pretty heavy work on it, and a side laptop if I need something else. 

45 minutes ago, D2ultima said:

Just because the laptop says it's high end doesn't mean it is. It likely won't last you 6 to 8 years, and the more you use it/stress it the shorter it will last.

 

Your best bet is buying a business-class notebook like the Lenovo Thinkpads or the Dell Latitudes/Precision Ms or the HP Elitebooks/Probooks/Zbooks (whatever they are, they're something-books).

Actually it is with my research anyway. I've also looked into the Precision 5510, which is basically the same as the XPS 15 with more customizations. 

[D2ultima]

2 minutes ago, ryanthomp said:

Actually it is with my research anyway. I've also looked into the Precision 5510, which is basically the same as the XPS 15 with more customizations. 

They look almost the same but they are indeed slightly different. However have you seen the internals? I still suggest a solid Thinkpad instead.

[tikker]

3 minutes ago, ryanthomp said:

I am planning on doing some pretty heavy work on it, and a side laptop if I need something else. 

Actually it is with my research anyway. I've also looked into the Precision 5510, which is basically the same as the XPS 15 with more customizations. 

Well I have the XPS 13 with i5 for my work and it's a very nice laptop. I could definitely recommend it. My personal guess ("pretty heavy work" is still ambiguous) is you'd probably be fine for a decent amount of time, but 8 years is a lot to ask even from the most high end stuff I think.

Thinkpads may be worthwhile looking into as well like @D2ultima said. I have no personal experience with them, but I recall people in engineering/applied physics often using them.