XPS 15 2in1, XPS15, or XPS 13 for School

[Sassquatch]

I've done a lot of work researching for a college laptop and I've narrowed my list down to three, all being xps models. Below is a link for my compare thing on dell's website. (There are a lot of different configs and I want to clearly show which three I decided could possibly be for me ram, storage, resolution). If I buy this month (July 2018) I can save 200 dollars on the 13 or the 2in1 which will make the prices more even.

 

https://www.dell.com/en-us/work/shop/compare?ocs=cax15w10p1c403,smx15w10p1c1608,cax13w10p1c609

 

I know that the 8550u is a solid performer for productivity in the 13, but I don't know as much about the 8705g in the 2in1 or the 8750h in the 15. I read a little about each of them in intel's website, but I cant tell if the integrated Vega graphics in the 2in1 are better than the 1050ti in the 15. I know that the 8750h is superior performance wise to the 8705g in CPU tasks, but again, I don't know which combo is better. It was hard for me to tell how the battery life is affected on each laptop saying that the 15 has the CPU and GPU, but has a larger battery than the 2in1 with the bundled graphics which I assume will consume less battery.

 

I know that the 13 is very portable, but I was unsure about the 15 inch models. I read online that they were heavier and less portable, but they didn't say if it was atrocious or still good but not at the 13 level. How portable are the 15 inch units?

 

When it comes to the 2in1, I'm unsure of the stability. I currently have an old hp envy 2in1 that wobbles horribly whenever it is bumped or the table its on moves at all. I know its not the best laptop ever, but I would like to know if the xps 15 2in1 is stable. The 2in1 feature is really cool and useful, but if it's annoying all of the time, then it might not be for me.

 

Most of my questions require testing, actually having all three laptops, or overall good knowledge of laptops/Ultrabook. None of which I can do/have. I would appreciate any help as I know I can't go wrong with any of the choices, but I obviously want to make the best choice.

 

Thank You!

 

I added a poll because polls are fun.

[K i a r a]

They all have there pros and cons, And it is a very hard pick.

 

But maybe you could ask yourself this.

• Do you like a 13 inch display? They are quite small...
• Do you have a need for a Touch screen display? Or even using it in Tablet mode.
• Do you need all the Power the 8750H CPU gives? 
• Do you need the 1050Ti?
• The XPS Line tends to run quite hot.. Even more so with the Hot 8th Gen Chip, Do you need the 8th Gen Chip?
• What are you doing for school?

Just some help, If it was my choice I would stay away from the 13inch screen, Its very very small display..

[genexis_x]

6 hours ago, K i a r a said:

They all have there pros and cons

^^this

[Pendragon]

Well. I have the XPS13 rose gold with a marble skin. And its pretty sexy in all white. Then throw in a MX Anywhere White version and its a pretty sick white setup.

 

Side note - I have the Aorus 1080 gaming box so I use that when I want to game on the XPS 13. 

 

I've only had it for 2 weeks, but I've already replaced 1 due to coil whine, so allot some time to go through Dell's inventory and find the magical unicorn with no issues. 

 

I'm gonna post a guide on how to optimize the 27w 8550u in the XPS 13. Currently struggling on how XTU and TS work on this thing. I need XTU to raise the turbo boost times but idk how long it can sustain for. Either way, it's a pretty sick machine.

[genexis_x]

1 hour ago, Pendragon said:

I'm gonna post a guide on how to optimize the 27w 8550u in the XPS 13

Looking forward to that. Did you apply LM?

[RimsOnAToaster]

13 hours ago, Pendragon said:

Well. I have the XPS13 rose gold with a marble skin. And its pretty sexy in all white. Then throw in a MX Anywhere White version and its a pretty sick white setup.

 

Side note - I have the Aorus 1080 gaming box so I use that when I want to game on the XPS 13. 

 

I've only had it for 2 weeks, but I've already replaced 1 due to coil whine, so allot some time to go through Dell's inventory and find the magical unicorn with no issues. 

 

I'm gonna post a guide on how to optimize the 27w 8550u in the XPS 13. Currently struggling on how XTU and TS work on this thing. I need XTU to raise the turbo boost times but idk how long it can sustain for. Either way, it's a pretty sick machine.

Yo, I've been using the 1070 version for about a year with a much worse laptop and I love it. I'm about to pick up a Lenovo T480 and an XPS 13 9370 for a comparison test. Anything I should be on the look out for?

[Pendragon]

9 hours ago, RimsOnAToaster said:

I'm about to pick up a Lenovo T480 and an XPS 13 9370 for a comparison test. Anything I should be on the look out for?

Yea. I'm not even sure if the T480 has a tb 3 4x PCIE lane. I know that the T480 comes in a version with a MX150 and in that one, the TB3 port is PCIE 2x. So yea, when I had my T480 it was a business laptop and a eGPU never came near it. Otherwise the T480 is just a solid thinkpad as usual. I'm not sure that many people tested eGPU with it. Back like a year ago, lenovo had some stupid a software that prevented eGPU linking up. Would NOT recommend for eGPU. 

 

XPS13 has some wack ass bios issue. The thing's fans wont turn on until it hits 99c. Like. WTF? The temps will settle down after a while but that is some REALLY weird ass shit. Like it's thermal solution is not even bad. Probably just replace it with some high quality Gelid instead of LM, but I will try both. 

 

21 hours ago, ZM Fong said:

Looking forward to that. Did you apply LM?

Not yet. Not sure I need to. I'm on stock right now, and the temps run fine when the fans turn on. Only issue is the fucking fans don't turn on until its TJMax. Bios issues. Sigh. Also i just had to RMA it again cause the fan got loose and started making the clattering noise. Dell QC. At least their support is amazing. Onsite. Gets a new 1 next day which makes up for it.