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Dell XPS 13 Review

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Re: Dell XPS 13 Review

#211

Post by mingmecca »

wldlyinaccurate wrote: post #209

I own a 2014 XPS 13 and I absolutely love it, but my next machine will be a Macbook. The reason is pretty simple: resale value. Upgrading to the latest and greatest Macbook is absurdly cheap since you can sell your old model for close to the original price. Whereas I'll be lucky to get half of what I paid for my XPS 13.

Upgrading to the latest and greatest Macbook is absurdly cheap since you can sell your old model for close to the original price

Oh how I wish that were true. I have a 2012 15" Macbook Retina (8gb/256gb) that I bought for $2200. The typical price on eBay is around $1200. So, I can get about half, which is your lament about the XPS 13.

Re: Dell XPS 13 Review

#212

Post by q3k »

bwilliams wrote: post #98
chiph wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The MBP is not all that "pro" any more. Soldered components, the bare minimum of USB ports, no RJ-45 ethernet jack. I'd be more than willing to add thickness & weight to one in return for those features, and better thermal management.

I don't think those features are what make it "pro". I prefer it being thinner and lighter with soldered components rather than heavier without. RJ-45's are terrible on laptops, they're ugly, bulky, and hardly used. I'd much rather just use USB -> RJ45.

Well, that's just like, your opinion, man.

I've used the Ethernet controller on my laptop many more times than I've used USB 3.0. Heck, I used a USB/Serial adapter more times than I used USB 3.0.

Not every professional is a web developer.

Re: Dell XPS 13 Review

#213

Post by keeperofdakeys »

cies wrote: post #89
MetaCosm wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was excited until I read 8GB max... that can't be right can it? What modern developer machine would have an 8GB cap?

It's a bit of a bummer. But I can live with it. For me it's all compared to other ultrabooks, like the MacBookAir which also does 8G max. I hope I'll never need to carry a classic-full-size laptop anymore, ever.

The original samsung series 9 is a sandybridge "ultrabook" from 2011 that can take 16GB of ram. While technically before ultrabooks were first released, it has a similar profile to the air. It was also released before 8GB dimm modules were available, but while never being "supported", they work just fine.

I haven't seen an ultrabook I'd prefer over it, especially when I rule out ones that use a tapered design.

Re: Dell XPS 13 Review

#214

Post by keeperofdakeys »

commandar wrote: post #16
jbk wrote: post #13

It seems great, but I really need a 16GB RAM option. (At least they have the 512GB SSD) With a couple of VMs, and a webbrowser, 8 GB can get tiny, and those machines don't evolve, so I'd like to plan for a couple of years...

I don't think anyone's making machines in this class with that much RAM. They practically have to be built with on-board RAM to get this thin and there's just not enough demand to justify the logistics of building 16GB motherboards for them.

The first samsung series 9 (2011) was an ultrabook-class machine that can take 16GB worth of RAM. Though, 8GB dimm modules weren't available when it was first produced.

Re: Dell XPS 13 Review

#215

Post by nonuby »

mingmecca wrote: post #211
wldlyinaccurate wrote: post #209

I own a 2014 XPS 13 and I absolutely love it, but my next machine will be a Macbook. The reason is pretty simple: resale value. Upgrading to the latest and greatest Macbook is absurdly cheap since you can sell your old model for close to the original price. Whereas I'll be lucky to get half of what I paid for my XPS 13.

Upgrading to the latest and greatest Macbook is absurdly cheap since you can sell your old model for close to the original price Oh how I wish that were true. I have a 2012 15" Macbook Retina (8gb/256gb) that I bought for $2200. The typical price on eBay is around $1200. So, I can get about half, which is your lament about the XPS 13.

For a three year old, out of warranty, used, old laptop thats pretty impressive

Re: Dell XPS 13 Review

#216

Post by tallanvor »

jbk wrote: post #13

It seems great, but I really need a 16GB RAM option. (At least they have the 512GB SSD) With a couple of VMs, and a webbrowser, 8 GB can get tiny, and those machines don't evolve, so I'd like to plan for a couple of years...

Depending on what you're doing, you don't need any VMs for 8GB to feel small...

When I have a couple of Visual Studio instances running, an instance or two of WinDbg, Firefox, IE, and RDC Manager with several connections open, I can start getting low memory warnings!

Re: Dell XPS 13 Review

#217

Post by rikkus »

estebank wrote: post #155
currysausage wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The 3rd Gen ThinkPad X1 Carbon has 4GB (soldered) by default, and the biggest configuration that I can find has 8GB. What are they thinking?

Know that the most it can go to is 12GB. If you want more memory you have to go to the T4XXp series, and probably buy the RAM yourself as the premium charged is considerable: 16GB on NewEgg is $120, while the premium payed for 16GB out of the box is $340. The T440s also maxes out at 12GB.

I did this. I had an X1 Carbon, but couldn't find a way to upgrade the SSD (it's some weird size and connector) and 8GB wasn't enough, so I sold it and bought a T430s.

Re: Dell XPS 13 Review

#218

Post by dagw »

ekianjo wrote: post #173
MetaCosm wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was excited until I read 8GB max... that can't be right can it? What modern developer machine would have an 8GB cap?

I'm curious, but why do you need more than 8Gb for ? I can think of a few potential uses of more RAM (large video files edition, R on very, very big data sets) but 8Gb seems reasonable for most tasks. Are you really in a situation where you need 16Gb every single day ?

Are you really in a situation where you need 16Gb every single day?

Maybe not every single day, but easily 3 days a week. Personally I could never consider owning a primary work machine with less than 32 GB of RAM, as that is just about enough (with some swap) to do something reasonable with a moderately sized data set in reasonable time, without having to try to get too clever. That being said, I currently have an MBA with 4 GB of RAM as a secondary computer to complement my workstation at work, and that's fine for most of my day to day programming tasks.

Re: Dell XPS 13 Review

#219

Post by wldlyinaccurate »

mingmecca wrote: post #211
wldlyinaccurate wrote: post #209

I own a 2014 XPS 13 and I absolutely love it, but my next machine will be a Macbook. The reason is pretty simple: resale value. Upgrading to the latest and greatest Macbook is absurdly cheap since you can sell your old model for close to the original price. Whereas I'll be lucky to get half of what I paid for my XPS 13.

Upgrading to the latest and greatest Macbook is absurdly cheap since you can sell your old model for close to the original price Oh how I wish that were true. I have a 2012 15" Macbook Retina (8gb/256gb) that I bought for $2200. The typical price on eBay is around $1200. So, I can get about half, which is your lament about the XPS 13.

Yeah, I think the high resale value only applies to previous-generation machines. Basically, for a couple hundred dollars each year (plus the hassle of using eBay) you can upgrade to a brand-new machine.

Re: Dell XPS 13 Review

#220

Post by gambiting »

ekianjo wrote: post #173
MetaCosm wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was excited until I read 8GB max... that can't be right can it? What modern developer machine would have an 8GB cap?

I'm curious, but why do you need more than 8Gb for ? I can think of a few potential uses of more RAM (large video files edition, R on very, very big data sets) but 8Gb seems reasonable for most tasks. Are you really in a situation where you need 16Gb every single day ?

I work in games industry(as a programmer) and my machine has 64GB of ram. I hit swap pretty much every day, and our IT is currently in process of upgrading all machines to 128GB. In my own time I develop games in Unity and I used to run out of ram on an 8GB machine - upgrade to 16GB was an absolute necessity. I would not even consider buying a laptop with 8GB nowadays.
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