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Dell XPS 13 Laptop - i5 (7200u), 8+250 GB, Non-touch $750 (Micro Center Store Only)
$750.00
For those that missed out on the MS Store deal, this is similar spec. Differences are: previous gen uP, non-touch (which some may consider a benefit), larger SDD.
Only for those with Micro Center nearby (store pickup only).
http://www.microcenter
Only for those with Micro Center nearby (store pickup only).
http://www.microcenter
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Benchmarked: Dell XPS 13 with 8th Gen Core CPU is 60 Percent Faster Than Predecessor
[laptopmag.com]
Benchmarked: Dell XPS 13 with 8th Gen Core CPU is 60 Percent Faster Than Predecessor
[laptopmag.com]
8th gen battery life is a bit better though.
This is a classic sales pitch. The manufacturers will always try to upsell you into the latest and greatest. If you want the "best deal" buy a discounted 7th gen system.
If you want the next best deal, buy a Xiaomi mi notebook pro for $850 and get a new 8th gen cpu AND a dedicated GPU.
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8th gen battery life is a bit better though.
This is a classic sales pitch. The manufacturers will always try to upsell you into the latest and greatest. If you want the "best deal" buy a discounted 7th gen system.
If you want the next best deal, buy a Xiaomi mi notebook pro for $850 and get a new 8th gen cpu AND a dedicated GPU.
Dell XPS 13 (2017) Review [laptopmag.com]
Dell has upgraded its 13-inch flagship with Intel's new 8th Gen Core (aka Kaby Lake R), quad-core processor platform. Though the new, $1,299 model is otherwise no different from the 7th Gen-powered XPS 13 that Dell continues to sell, it offers much stronger performance and longer battery life while maintaining all the features that make this the best consumer laptop you can buy.
Performance
The XPS 13 is one of the first laptops with Intel's new 8th Gen Core processor platform (aka "Kaby Lake Refresh"). And, wow, what a difference these new chips make! In jumping from 7th to 8th Gen, Intel has doubled the number of processor cores on its mainstream U series processors from two to four, increased their turbo clock speeds, added some optimizations and actually made them more power-efficient.
Its Core i7-8550U CPU made our XPS 13 review unit significantly faster than an XPS 13 with the same specs other than a Core i7-7500U while adding over 2 hours to the battery life. It also doesn't hurt that Dell has added its own Dynamic Power Mode, which boosts performance even further by balancing system temperature with clock speeds.
The point is whether paying more for 8G is worth it for you. I do not do any processor intensive tasks on my laptop (I have my desktop for that), so I would see zero benefit of 8G compared to 7G. All I need for my tasks is a half-decent processor, 8GB RAM and sufficient SSD capacity, which this laptop fulfills.
But if I was doing processor intensive tasks on my laptop, I would be looking for a completely different config to this - not just upgrading from 7G to 8G. I would want more RAM, dedicated graphics and a larger display which puts me into a completely different price-range.
And I also do not like a touch-sensitive screen on my laptop. I have had two and (a) hardly ever used touch (b) hated the glare/reflections (much prefer matte) and (c) on the rare occasion I did use if (just for the sake of it) I ended up with fingerprints on my glossy screen!
So for average users that wants to browse web with multiple tabs/browsers, use Word/Excel, Lightroom, etc and wants a light, compact, good looking and well built laptop with super-long battery life, this is a great config. As for price, I don't think it is outstanding but is pretty good and comparable with the Front Page MS posting a week or so ago. There aren't many occasions where a i5/8GB/256GB XPS has been available for less than this price out-the-door.
The point is whether paying more for 8G is worth it for you. I do not do any processor intensive tasks on my laptop (I have my desktop for that), so I would see zero benefit of 8G compared to 7G. All I need for my tasks is a half-decent processor, 8GB RAM and sufficient SSD capacity, which this laptop fulfills.
But if I was doing processor intensive tasks on my laptop, I would be looking for a completely different config to this - not just upgrading from 7G to 8G. I would want more RAM, dedicated graphics and a larger display which puts me into a completely different price-range.
And I also do not like a touch-sensitive screen on my laptop. I have had two and (a) hardly ever used touch (b) hated the glare/reflections (much prefer matte) and (c) on the rare occasion I did use if (just for the sake of it) I ended up with fingerprints on my glossy screen!
So for average users that wants to browse web with multiple tabs/browsers, use Word/Excel, Lightroom, etc and wants a light, compact, good looking and well built laptop with super-long battery life, this is a great config. As for price, I don't think it is outstanding but is pretty good and comparable with the Front Page MS posting a week or so ago. There aren't many occasions where a i5/8GB/256GB XPS has been available for less than this price out-the-door.
For years, the CPUs in Ultrabooks have been dual core, with incremental improvements in speed and battery life. I have a Haswell based Intel Core i5-4200U 2.6 GHz XPS 13 8GB/256GB 1080p touch (which I never use for the same reasons), that is more than adequate for most things and up until this point, had no reason to even consider upgrading.
The 8th Gen however changes that equation substantially, particularly for multi-threaded applications and people need to be aware of it since it has been the most substantial upgrade that ultrabooks have seen in years.
Does that negate the value of this unit? No, but it does put downward price pressure on previous units like this and reopens the ultrabook market for folks like me, where the market has stagnated for years.
BTW, the best deals can still be found on the Dell outlet [dell.com] (particularly when stacking), since they still carry the full MFG warranty, can be easily returned and are often like new (be sure to verify condition, e.g. New, Certified Refurbished etc.).
http://www.dell.com/learn/us/en/2...gns/outlet
BTW, the best deals can still be found on the Dell outlet [dell.com]
That's all well and good, but I don't want to pay $100 extra for a 8G as I'll see no better performance. I understand more power users will.
I looked on Dell, but there is nothing close to $750 for a 8/256/i5. If you are aware of something then I'd appreciate a link. Thanks.
That's 10%. And that's exactly what you would expect from the frequency difference. Sure, if you run the right macro you can use all eight threads. Then you get your 60% boost. Processing enormous spreadsheets full of weird macros isn't a typical use-case either.
The real point is people shouldn't be paying this much for a 7th Generation i5, when recently you could get the 8th generation i5/i7 for same/only slightly more. Much better deals have been posted on this laptop recently (last 2 mo.) with better specifications.
That's 10%. And that's exactly what you would expect from the frequency difference. Sure, if you run the right macro you can use all eight threads. Then you get your 60% boost. Processing enormous spreadsheets full of weird macros isn't a typical use-case either.
The real point is people shouldn't be paying this much for a 7th Generation i5, when recently you could get the 8th generation i5/i7 for same/only slightly more. Much better deals have been posted on this laptop recently (last 2 mo.) with better specifications.
Perhaps the following might be more compelling from the same article based on applications that *can* leverage multiple threads:
You don't need to work with videos in order to benefit from having an 8th-Gen Core processor. When I ran a spreadsheet macro in Excel 2016 that matches 65,000 names with their email addresses, the old XPS 13 finished in 2 minutes and 30 seconds while the new one finished 120 percent faster with a time of 1:08.
A good Geekbench score is one thing, but great real-world performance is what really matters. To see how the 8th-Gen Core-powered XPS 13 handles video editing, I used Handbrake, a popular video transcoding app, to convert a 12-minute, 4K movie into 1080p resolution. The 7th-Generation-powered XPS completed this task in 31 minutes and 36 seconds while the new, XPS 13 and its Core i7-8550U processor powered through in just 19 minutes and 35 seconds, which is a 62-percent performance gain.
If you are doing occasional browsing, just about anything will work and like I mentioned, I have a 4th generation XPS 13, which still does what it needs to do. For me, the extra cores are a big win (e.g. rendering), while having longer battery life is nice, it is not a prioity. If you are primarily using the unit for single core based tasks, you are not likely to see much difference.
For the first time in a long time however, there are significant and verifiable performance/battery gains that should be considered, particularly when spending this much cash. Up to this point, until the 8th gen, the Ultrabooks were always a second class citizen.
It is always better to try and narrow down what you really want (e.g. Make, model, specs etc.), before even beginning to look to hopefully avoid buyer's remorse. I have always found my best deals that way.