XPS 9560 (7th gen i7) v Alienware i76820HK

All

I am on the fence as to whether I should get one of the two systems above. I don't care much about portability (i wont take the laptop out of the flat, its more about not having space for a desktop at home!), but i do care about:
1 - screen quality/ brightness
2 - possibility of playing games (though dont right now)
3 - EDITING PHOTOS AND 4K VIDEO (most important)

I understand the latest (7th gen) are tailored toward 4k consumption, but the processor on the alienware is clocked higher (up to 4.1ghz). The alienware would be bought on dell outlet whereas the XPS would be new.
The price would be similar but last gen alienware (R3).
Thoughts? Would the alienware do well with 4k viewing/ editing?
thanks

 

Well - the Alienware will be quieter, cooler and the GPU will be more powerful meaning gaming performance and editing speed will be affected. Though the XPS screen is probably among the best of the best so that's also a factor. The 7700HQ is slower CPU-wise when talking about raw performance but the new improvements may be worth a look, though most are efficiency-related.

 

The alienware will do everything, the 7th gen supports a hardware codec for 4k so you really need not worry as it is nothing special.

 

If you're looking for a fast machine that can run without throttling with stock cooling, avoid thin laptops like the XPS.
But laptops with decent panels for editing are really hard to find, I don't know what is available with Alienware. Mind XPS displays have good gamut but relatively slow response times, so are not most popular with gamers. It is surely easier to find a good external display for reasonable money, and a 27" 4K panel is much more useful than a 15" one.

 

Thanks all. Both laptops have 4k screens. So the alienware processor wouldn't struggle with 4k editing and viewing?

 

Basically a big outlay for me that I won't do again for 4 years plus!

 

A properly cooled 6820HK can easily handle 4K edits

 

Thanks. Note that the alienware would have 32gb ram rather than 16

 

Herc,

Hardware codecs can make a massive difference in performance but I'm not sure Kaby Lake is much of a leap for your use. This page and comments gives you some more color on the media improvements and you can decide:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/10610...six-notebook-skus-desktop-coming-in-january/3

Both laptops are nice but likely have some quirks you will need to sort out on your own. Note the 9550 launch in late 2015 was a disaster but most of the issues were sorted out with BIOS-driver updates (took Dell over a year). The 9560 looks like virtually the same laptop with a few new chips but given that it is so new, nobody knows if it was also released in beta form also or will run flawlessly or somewhere in between. There are plenty of user reports and updates on the Alienware R3 so you know what you are stepping into there.

Note I use my 9550 for real-time audio with huge virtual instruments (40GB) and after a lot of tweaking it runs fine. The 9550/9560 TB3 is only x2 so that was a negative surprise well marketed. Latency performance is decent but not great; my gut tells me the USB implementation is suboptimal but I just don't know what the issue is. Overall performance is not overwhelming so doing it again I think I would go for the Alienware R15.

Why not spend a few hours studying the following threads to get a feel for what is best for you. My sense is that the Alienware is better performing and the 9560 has a more fashionable and lighter weight design:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/forums/dell-xps-and-studio-xps.1049/

http://forum.notebookreview.com/forums/2015-alienware-13-15-17.1119/

 

Thanks for your reply. I have been researching for months. Can't afford the 7th gen alienware. Only dell outlet 6th gen. I am conscious of the codec built in. My camera shoots 4k video at H.265 which is a pain. Can view those videos currently (have an xps l702x currently). So want best possible option for 4k video manipulation.
Will have a peruse in those forum links too. My other concern was how new the 9560 is and potential bugs!

 

That should have read that i cannot view those 4K videos from my camera on my current xps L702x laptop.

 

I have a 6th gen alienware R4. The 6820HK processor is phenomenal. Currently running at 4.2GHz but it's definitely capable of 4.3 and 4.4 for sure

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If it is h265 go for a gen7 laptop.

And 90% of the bugs will be gone I hope.

 

Overall performance on the 7700HQ is lower though - and the XPS has less thermal headroom making it louder and hotter. XPS 15 9550 has throttle by defualt due to both VRM heat and core heat.

 

My current laptop fires up the fans fairly regularly and they are loud when they get going. Wouldnt even say the L702x is small - seems to have ample space to vent. So I wanted a quieter laptop too!

 

The Alienware is certainly going to be quieter - the fans are larger and spin at a lower RPM in order to move the same amount of air through a larger heatsink fin array.

 

I had an Alienware 15 R2 (i7 6700HQ, GTX 980m) and own currently a XPS 15 9550 (i7 6700HQ, 960m). The difference in fan noise is negligible, to my ears they are equally loud. Maybe there is a difference in loudness than you can measure, but I doubt you can perceive the difference. However, i would consider both notebooks quieter compared to an Alienware 17 R1, if that helps anyone. I can not say how they compare to the newer 15 Aliens or other 17 models. Maybe the Alienware 17 R3 (i7 6820HK) is quieter than the 15 that I had.
TL;DR: notebooks with strong CPUs/GPUs are going to be a source of noise

EDIT: for viewing 4k I would also suggest a 7th gen intel CPU, due to some hardware acceleration. I would like to highlight here, that 4k/UHD streaming from Netflix/Amazon on the PC will only be possible with 7th gen intel CPUs (if that is a concern for the potential buyer).

 

Each model is different, hell, even every revision is different. For example, my own GL502VT is much quieter than the refreshed GL502VM - why? Different BIOS - each machine is fine-tuned to work with the hardware inside - so yeah. You never know. Couple that with Pascal's generally higher heat density and you may find the XPS 15 9560 to be quite a bit louder than the 9550

 

That is very helpful and pertinent. Sort of seals my decision on getting the XPS 9560 (based on not being able to afford 7th gen Alienware 4k).

Will hold off for the version with a finger print sensor and potential early adoption bugs...but eager to put trigger and get something I can use!

 

Just make sure they have fixed the VRM overheating on the 9550 - else the CPU will constantly throttle down. People were modding in pads to help cool it.

 

I literally have no idea what that means. The only pads I am even mildly aware of are my wife's

 

In the XPS 15 9550, the VRMs also known as power delivery would overheat after a bit of use due to lack of proper cooling. Some users modded their machines and got wildly varying results. In some cases, it was fixed. In others, it got worse - though the general consensus was that heavy workloads over prolonged periods of time would result in CPU throttling due to power delivery overheating. It defeated the purpose of having a quad-core i7 when it ran at 800-1200MHz.

 

I see. Thank you!

 

Just check whether that has been fixed before buying.

 

surely this system is faster and 4k video editing capable:
http://www.dell.com/uk/p/alienware-...are-15-laptop#overrides=n00aw15r312:3~32G2400

Might just go with that rather than top whack XPS 9560. Thoughts?

 

Do it if you can afford it and don't mind it being heavier.

 

Currently they have £150 off but was hoping to use my corporate discount of 10% on top of it. Can't do it directly on their website so trying to do it over the phone! Doubt I will get it. Budget <£2k

 

done. called them up and applied the discount. £1934 with 32gb RAM.

 

The Alienware threads at NBR are very active so take a look there. Reportedly Alienware did some thermal improvements in December so you should benefit from those...

 

Yeah but as far as I'm aware it was only the 17 R4.

I opened up mine and did a repaste with liquid metal so I may do the same with this one when I get it if the temps are bad

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