XPS 13 (2015) i7 5600 vs 5500

Hi.

The new XPS 13 is now available in my country and i thought i was set on getting the i7 version.

To my suprise the 256GB i7 comes 5600u.

While the 512Gb version comes with the i7 5500u.

I dont get the logic. Btw the 512gb version is just 75 euro more.

Is 5600u that much faster and I dont get the logic of putting the faster cpu in the cheaper system. On the other hand for just 75 more i get 512gb.

What to do? Is the 5600u worth skipping the deal on 512gb?

 

The difference between the 5500u and 5600u will not be noticed in real world use at all. You'd be much better off grabbing the 512gb version if you ask me.

 

I think the 5600 will come with a newer better GPU

 

same gpu and clocked the same

 

There's really no point in buying the "i7". It's still a dual core, barely 5% over the i5.

 

Guys another question. They are selling a slim power adapter in the accesoories section. Doesnt it come already with one?

 

The i7 come with the high res screen. So thats why i would not take the i5.

 

On the UK site there is no option for the FHD screen that I could find, everything is QHD unfortunately

 

From what I recall, the 512 SSD is PCIe.

"Dell told us that the 512GB unit is a PCIe/SATA Express device, while the smaller ones are regular SATA."
Hands on: Dell XPS 13 packs a 13-inch screen into an 11-inch laptop | Ars Technica

Improved read/write speeds may help with graphics performance,m Can anyone confirm?

 

They're all M.2 ssd's if you check on youtube there is already some guy with a replacement ssd vid of a m.2 pcie 128gb drive.

However they're all liteon drives which seem to have pretty poor write speeds (bar the 512 which looks fine): ZETA

 

According to Intel, the core i7-5600u have vPro and VT-d, if you need these two features.

 

I went with 5600u i7/256gb instead of the 512gb i7 5500u. Weird that the US doesnt have the 5600u option.

 

Yep, hardly any options - according to another thread here, the 1080p screen might be here in a couple of months. I'd be happy to save a bit of money and get an i5 instead of an i7 (since the ULV versions are very close in performance despite the difference in cost) and I would much prefer the 1080p screen since the higher res one costs more, causes scaling issues and decreases the batterylfe. My current ultrabook has just died completely otherwise I'd wait and see if there was any sign of more configurations here, not sure what to do now.

John

 

Another weird thing was the fact that the i7 5600u/256gb/ comes with an intel 7265 intel wifi card, while the more expensive i7 5500u/512gb comes with dells own 1560 wireless card. That wad another reason for me to go with the 256gb version. Slightly better cpu, better wifi card and I saved some money.

 

Blue13x, is that VIP Dell discount you got available to other mortals or is it some special thing you got thanks to work or otherwise?

 

Its supposed to be for businesses...but I signed up and got two codes. I got an older code which u can stack. Voila....300+ euros went of.

 

You can get multiple codes when you sign up as student and as employee of a certain company. Unfortunately I only have the new codes.. Can someone help me with an older code?

 

Do these codes void the warranty or something related (because I am not a business)? And ca I use them in the UK?

 

No, they don't
In the UK you can register for the vip club at Dell VIP - Discounts for members | Dell UK as a student or employee.

 

:thumbsup:Thanks

 

If you're registering as an employee I assume you have to work for a company that is part of the Dell VIP program? My company used to be part of the Dell EPP but not any more.

John

 

The 5500u does lack vPro but it does have VT-d according to the Intel site:

ARK | Compare Intel® Products

John

 

It makes sense, most of the features on the i7 5600 over the 5500 are for business use (vPro, SIPP) so an Intel card is likely to appeal to businesses as well as it's more standard across laptops which will make standardising a build easier.

John

 

Can you share the older code - or is it a personal one?

 

Its a one time use code.

 

I'm not sure what it is. I'm pretty sure that it's a m.2 ssd. Could the 512gb version be the one with samsung ssd?

 

How do you know they are all liteon ssd? Did you ask the tech team? I'm about to get 512gb unit, I would hate to see a liteon device.

 

According to PC World:
"One final spec to mention in the XPS 13 vs. MacBook Air battle is the SSD. The XPS 13 uses an M.2 SSD, but it conforms to the SATA portion of M.2 and thus isn't a true PCIe drive. I saw sequential reads and writes in the 450MB/s range. That's decent, but PCIe-based storage devices like in the MacBook Air can reach close to 800MB/s."

 

Hi thanks for the post. Yes, that is in line with the report from Engaget. However, they all use a low end unit instead of the one with 512 GB SSD. That one should come with a better SSD but not sure what's in it. The dell sales team told me that 512 gb unit comes with a msata, which is ******** I think.... mSATA is even worse than m.2 with sata stock... mSATA is bigger also...

 

Thought I'd revive this.

So, just so I'm sure here. IS it the supplied SSDs (i.e. Lite-on Zeta) that conforms to the SATA portion of M.2 which means it isn't a true PCIe drive, or is it the M.2 configuration that prevents any SSD from acting as a true PCIe device I.e. with future releases of SSDs, if they are M.2 can they be reaching 800MB/s speeds or is it simply all M.2 devices cannot reach those speeds? I 'm curious to know whether I would be able to upgrade the XPS 13 SSD in future with one that can reach PCIe based storage devices of 800MB/s.

Thanks very much!