10 Questions Before Purchasing an XPS 15

Hi guys! I've been an avid Sony / Vaio user for years -- had my most recent one for 4 years now. Alas, there's no Vaio to upgrade to because they no longer make quad core laptops! I feel that there are no truly perfect laptops anymore. I've just finished trying the Razer Blade for a month, but the screen was horribly yellow in comparison to my (96% Adobe RGB) Vaio Z ( http://imgur.com/a/Rc7J9). It was incredibly disappointing.

Anyway, I have a couple of questions before I buy an XPS 15:

1. Do we know when the Microsoft store will start carrying the new refresh (based on past trends)? Is it cheaper to buy from Dell directly or from Microsoft?
   
   
2. I mainly want to order from Microsoft because of their warranty. According to the Dell rep I spoke to, it seems the Dell accidental damage warranty restricts you to one claim a year (and they don't stack). I of course do not plan on breaking my computer, but I don't like that it has to break within a specific timeframe. Sometimes I'll break a laptop twice in a year, other times I'll go years without putting a scratch on it. It also sucks that you could break something relatively "small" like your mouse, and not the screen, and that would use up one of your claims (at least according to the phone rep). Was he just completely misinformed about the warranty service or is all of that really true?
   
   
3. I wear a metal watch. For my Vaio Z, the laptop is so small that my wrists never touch the palmrests -- they rest outside the laptop. For the XPS it seems I have to lie my wrists on the palmrest. How easily does that carbon fiber scratch or wear, especially with a metal watch on it? How easily does the rest of the laptop scratch? Also, do you guys find it uncomfortable to lie your wrists on the palmrest, or am I just too used to my Vaios? To me that feels like it would be difficult.
   
   
4. Are there any protective skins that fully cover the laptop? Five years ago I would have used a Clear-Coat (a transparent film that covered everything), but they don't make laptop covers anymore. Dbrand does not seem to have palmrest covers. I want my laptop's body to stay in mint condition like all my Vaios. For my first Vaio (also carbon fiber), the palmrests completely wore over time without a skin to cover them. The keys also became shiny over time. Does this also happen with the XPS 15?
   
   
5. To save money, do people generally purchase the lowest possible configured model and then buy a new SSD and additional RAM? As in, should I buy the top spec XPS or do people buy the additional RAM and the SSD separately to save money?
   
   
6. I do Photoshop, Premiere video editing, and occasional After Effects VFX. Otherwise I am working in Firefox, OneNote, Office, Skype, WinSCP, Trillian, Celtx, VLC, and text editing software. However, I'm thinking about getting the 1080 screen because of those pesky Windows scaling issues (they prevented me from keeping laptops I tried a year or two ago -- the scaling issues just bugged me beyond belief). For what I do, how crazy am I to want the 1080 over the QHD? It seems the 1080 screen covers most of the sRGB spectrum too...
   
   
7. I keep seeing conflicting numbers about battery life. If I'm doing a ton of Firefox (30+ tabs), light Photoshop work, and Skype, how many hours do you think that would allow for on the FHD and QHD? My Vaio Z gets like 5 hours and then 8-10 hours with the extended battery.
   
   
8. Do you think the graphics card is great for 4K video editing, or would it be better to wait for a better one in the next refresh? I remember reading somewhere that Dell went with a lower-powered graphics card in comparison to the Razer. I also have seen a lot of people bring up that an eGPU would not be able to reach full speed because of some limitation on the XPS 15, which to me seems to imply people will think the internal graphics card won't stand in a few years. Is this true? I don't play video games, I just do video and photo editing, so would the graphics card be good for that?
   
   
9. Have any of you come from a smaller monster like the Vaio Z, and if so was it hard to adjust to a much larger laptop like the XPS 15?
   
   
10. How will an XPS 15 take a fall? Vaios are built bendable and flexable to absorb drops and hits. I've knocked my Vaio Z off tables on to tile floors several times and there has been absolutely no damage. The XPS 15 looks to be extremely solid, glassy, and heavy... would it completely crash on to a tile floor and shatter all over the place? I feel like it would break the floor too since it looks so solid, haha.
    

Thank you so much for any insight you can provide!

 

Lol you're mental! I reckon you should get a Macbook

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

 

Wow you spent a ton of time typing this up, sorry I'm not going to spend near as much time answering it. See reply in red below.

 

Someone needs to read the XPS section

 

It will break.

This is a delicate laptop

 

I am literally on my laptop 12+ hours a day all year for work, so that's why I had to ask such overly detailed questions, haha. I will be LIVING on this thing.

Thank you for the answers so far!

I rarely drop my laptop (if ever), I was just putting that extreme in the post to gauge how a Dell would take a fall from someone who might drop it often (I don't even have tile floors). To gauge its build quality.

As for the palm rest covers, I only found decorative ones with patterns. I have yet to find any clear ones. Did I miss one?

I hate Apple, I'm a Microsoft fanboy for life! Haha. Although I do appreciate Apple's attention to detail.

 

The thing is palmrest covers will not stay stuck, the I7 labels off in a week so I doubt they will fare better. End of the day it is carbon fibre and up to the pounding. Mines out 16-18 hours a day, metal watch buckle no doubt catches it sometimes but seems to sit on the strap rather than the buckle so you may find the same. After clean the palmrest looks good as new.

 

I use my computer for over 10 hours a day as well so I can understand your concerns. I wish I can answer all your questions, but I cant. However, I can say that although the build quality is great, it would probably shatter or get some sort of damage if it falls on the floor from a decent height. I can imagine the palm rests would get scratched up if you're not careful with your metal watch. I dont wear one so I dont really know, but the palm rests have this "soft touch" feel to them. I found carbon fiber look palm rest covers on amazon. Battery life is great, but it could be because I dont have the 4k touchscreen model and I have the 13inch without dedicated graphics. I keep it plugged in 98% of the time anyway. I keep an extra charger at work and one at home, just so I dont need to move chargers around haha. I'm that lazy. When I'm unplugged, i try not to do anything cpu intensive to maximize my time unplugged, with power saver on, and with brightness turned down a bit. I know the laptop is capable of handling it but it's just the way I am. I dont edit photos or videos professionally so I'm not qualified to answer your editing questions, but I never had a problem editing and encoding 3-10min 1080p videos that I share with family for fun, while plugged in. It would probably be more cost effective to buy the additional RAM and larger SSD yourself - it usually is... you should compare prices for RAM upgrades on the dell website vs. buying a lower-spec model and adding a RAM stick off amazon. Keep in mind that you can only upgrade the RAM on the 15 inch. On my 13 inch, I upgraded the SSD as soon as I took delivery... I didnt even use the original 128GB SSD or whatever it came with initially. The 15inch model that you seek has a larger, higher definition display, possibly touchscreen, and with dedicated graphics, all of which demand more energy from your battery... but the 15 inch also comes with a bigger battery. Not sure if it's large enough to offset the energy requirements of the upgraded hardware... but it's just something to keep in mind.

 

Hi SurferJon,
Have you considered the new Vaio Z canvas? It has a quad core processor and built especially for artists.
Also, would you be interested in selling your old SVZ model?
Cheers.

 

My XPS 13 my watch is around 1-2 inches from the edge of the laptop. So its never an issue. It shouldn't be one on the 15 either.