Surface Pro 4 i5 or Inspiron i7/960m?

[CaptainMoose]

I currently have a Surface Pro 4 with the i5, 4GB RAM, and 128 SSD. I also have the keyboard and pen to go with it. Ebay tells me I can get around $550 for it. I have someone offering to sell me his almost new Inspiron with a 6700HQ, 960m, 8GB SSD, and 1tb HDD for $640 (may be able to get it for less)

 

Should I do it? I'd like to have a laptop that can actually handle more than a few chrome tabs and Word. I figure I can play CSGO on the road if necessary or some other light games. 

 

I'm also an engineering student so I could actually run solidworks, but I'd lose the ability to sketch on the tablet surface.

 

What do you think?

[Scruffy90]

The inspiron is a better gaming machine. If you dont mind the thickness and losing the pennable touch screen, i say go for it (if you can get it at a lower price)

[The Sloth]

different class of device, dell Inspiron is gaming/ productivity, the surface pro 4 is more of a portable device with a very low power cpu, cs go will struggle at 30 to 35 fps with settings turned up in 1080p. 

[CaptainMoose]

 

different class of device, dell Inspiron is gaming/ productivity, the surface pro 4 is more of a portable device with a very low power cpu, cs go will struggle at 30 to 35 fps with settings turned up in 1080p. 

That's what I was thinking when it came to getting the dell since it has a better CPU. My mom was the main factor in getting the surface since I had a limited knowledge of laptops/tablets.

[79wjd]

If you use the stylus a lot, keep the surface, otherwise jump to the inspiron (assuming you don't mind dealing with the hassle of selling and what not). The inspiron will also get worse battery life, but as a laptop it's much better -- I can't stand using my SP3 as a laptop.

[randomhkkid]

@CaptainMoose The SP4 has been amazing for me as an engineering student. Nothing beats it for annotating notes or technical drawings. Buy the surface if you intend/want to use a pen, if not get a normal laptop.

[CaptainMoose]

1 minute ago, randomhkkid said:

@CaptainMoose The SP4 has been amazing for me as an engineering student. Nothing beats it for annotating notes or technical drawings. Buy the surface if you intend/want to use a pen, if not get a normal laptop.

That's what I thought, but my i5 and 4gb of RAM doesn't really feel adequate to me and upgrading it would be more expensive than switching. I don't hardly use the pen anyway.

[The Sloth]

10 minutes ago, CaptainMoose said:

That's what I thought, but my i5 and 4gb of RAM doesn't really feel adequate to me and upgrading it would be more expensive than switching. I don't hardly use the pen anyway.

 

in modern engineering you will be using cad, the dell will be better for that. a touchscreen on a laptop seems lackluster to me personally.