Why did you buy XPS 15-L521?

There are so many Ivy Bridge laptops in the market. Why did you purchase the new XPS15?

My journey:

Sold my 2011 MacBook Pro15 right before they announced the new 2012 versions to get top dollar. Windows 7 is truly the best OS out IMO. I found out the hard way.

Bought

Samsung Series 7 Ivy Bridge 15' - Worst viewing angles I have ever seen on a laptop. Returned.

Sony Vaio S 15' 2011 - very flimsy, tinniest speakers ever. Almost inaudible unless you are in complete silence. Really bad trackpad. Returned.

Sony Vaio S 15' 2012 - Better build, still way too much flex in the lid though. Speakers, while clearer are still too tiny however. Orangate problem very present. Amazing Trackpad. 14hr battery life with Sheet Battery. Underpowered, slow RAM and poor video card. Returned

Samsung Series 7 17.3' - Damn near perfect. Best speakers I've ever heard on a laptop, thanks to JBL speakers/subwoofer. Very solid build. Best screen on a laptop yet, matte too. Damn near impossible to open up, the bottom is plastic so opening it up voids warranty, mine cracked in a few places with little to no pressure applied. Bought new bottom piece and Sold it.

FYI: ALL LAPTOPS MENTIONED HAD THROTTLING

Now I bought an XPS 15 and it is hands down the best of the bunch. Amazing sound, not as loud as the 17' Sammy but just as clear and pretty loud also. Glossy display keeps me from saying it's better than the Samsung. Best track pad of the whole lot, truly the closes to a Mac. Feels very sturdy and premium. Best software of the lot too

I also considered some Acer and Asus laptops, but the probability of them supplying native Windows 8 drivers in a few month are low.

 

I also want to add that i think the system is priced right, if you get the top model

16gb RAM and 512GB rMBP is 3349 (with 3 year warranty (no choice to get less))
16gb RAM and 512GB Dell XPS 2500 (with 2 year warranty)
12Gb RAM and 512GB Sony Vaio S 3000 (2 year warranty)
Samsung can't be configured, but if you buy the cheapest 512 SSD, m4 Crucial, buy an 8GB stick, you max out at 12GB and (1 year warranty) roughly (1400 + 400 + 50 = 1850)

 

Seems you did have quite a journey! i havent got one but glad you found something you like. Im eyeing up the new xps 13 ultrabook personally. I did have a xps 17 but sold it to build my desktop which is why i now need something small and portable.

 

It doesn't void warranty. I asked Samsung's customer support about it. However it's scary that you cracked it when you tried to open it, it must be really crappy plastic.

I personally settled for a Lenovo Y580. The price was very good for what you get (~CDN$1300 for a 1080p display, blu-ray reader, backlit keyboard, GTX660M & i7-3610qm), it doesn't seem to suffer from throttling (nothing major at last) and the cooling system looks decent.
It has two or three drawbacks : a glossy display (I can live with it), the hard drive heats up (but if you plan on replacing it with an SSD like me it doesn't matter), and it's a bit bullky compared with Samsung's series 7 and Dell's XPS.

 

Their CS must not be in sync, they told me it did lol

Yes the plastic is very cheap. In the samsung forum quite a few have slightly cracked the bottom while opening it too.

I looked at the Lenovo but the battery life throws me off and the fact that Lenovo makes some $400 laptops that look and feel the same as the Y580

 

It's very possible that Samsung gave you a different answer, they're not very knowledgeable about their own products I think it'd be more logical that it doesn't break the warranty but you can never know for sure.

Yep the Lenovo Y580 doesn't have the same battery life and feels more like a notebook oriented at the average consumer I'll give you that. I initially wanted the XPS 15 or the Series 7 17" because I wanted a computer with a premium feel that worked as it should right out of the box but I finally decided to go for function rather than form after realizing that my perfect notebook didn't exist. The price wasn't really the determining factor.

I was very tempted by the envy 15 with ivy bridge & 7750M but it was harder to get and quality issues seem very frequent judging from the dedicated thread, despite supposedly being a premium notebook... I was also unsure about the display (some aren't bothered and say it's the best they've seen on a notebook, while some say the color issues are unbearable... I wasn't willing to risk it). Other than that it seems to have a good cooling system and it's also easy to upgrade.