xps 15 9560... Bad idea?

I'm laptop shopping and am not as savvy as the average poster here. I asked questions on another thread
http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...o-figure-out-the-laptop-choices.809845/page-2
and am being steered away from the xps models as a disaster waiting to happen. Are they really that bad? Having looked at what I can in local stores (Best Buy and Costco mainly) , I'm comparing the Dell xps 15, the Lenovo Flex 5 and the HP Spectre. So far I like the xps best but haven't actually found a 15 in a store.

 

The 9560 has improved a lot in quality and has a lot of good features. These are too thin so not made for gaming as they get hot and slow down.

Get a dedicated gaming laptop if you want to game

 

Thanks, I'm not a gamer and these would probably be more laptop than I need but I can afford it and figure it will be more future proof.

 

I guess the million dollar question is; what do you want to use it for?

 

It's not heavy duty use... I have a contractor's license and a real estate license and end up online with a lot of tabs open in Firefox along with documents, image viewer, Norton AV running, etc. I just don't want any lag at all when I'm using it. I also want the 15" screen and smaller/lighter if feasible. I don't need the latest and greatest. I do want it to look decent when I pull it out in front of clients...
Are the xps issues mainly related to overheating when gaming?

 

Also, is there a big difference between the SATA ssd and the M.2 type? Should I steer clear of one or the other? Some (all?) of the xps that I looked at have the M.2

 

In a word... Yes! It's a gorgeous looking super thin laptop that struggles to keep cool under extreme loads. It doesn't sound like you would be stressing this machine at all however, so I'd be surprised if you had any issues.

 

Buy one, end of the day you have a returns period.

Buy the best spec you can get, larger battery, M.2 SSD and if you think the 4k screen looks good pick it (it is)

And yes the main issue people have is those that want to game on it and didn't buy an alienware

 

I have complained A LOT about Dell and XPS in the past but have to admit that current 9560 is not bad at all, especially considering the price. Not perfect, but really good.

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So the M.2 ssd is better? I hate to sound dumb but I'd heard so much about the 4k displays that I tried one out (on a Yoga). It makes everything so tiny? Crisp, yes but what's the point when it's all so small? Maybe my eyes are too old for 4k?

 

the 9560 by default used 250% scaling to get around that, you can go larger if you want.

 

m.2 NVMe SSDs are faster. Even among them there are differences, for example Dell happens to install either Samsung or Toshiba for the same price even though Samsung is much faster. In practice, most users will notice that SATA SSD is much faster than HDD, but few will notice that NVMe are faster than SATA.

On 4K, you must adjust font scaling. Then you should be able to get same-sized letters as on FHD, but crisper, and you should be able to read a bit smaller fonts too. Yes eyes matter here, if your eyes are older you will likely see the benefit of 4K only with glasses and you may have a better way of spending that money. Generally 4K is much more valuable on an external 30" display than on a 15" laptop panel.

 

Thanks, this has been very helpful! The Dell outlet store has 9560 models that come up regularly. So my decisions will come down to:
i5 vs i7
2k vs 4k display
touch vs non-touch
8gb vs 12/16gb ram

For what I do, I might not notice the difference between i5/i7 but I see that the newer processor is 35w vs 45w so will that mean better batt life? The ones I've looked at have 97wh batts so it's probably a moot point. Don't batts that big add a lot of weight? I don't find weight and size specs on the outlet store.

Finally, I have to admit that so far typing on this Yoga, I really miss the dedicated number pad. I'll probably get used to it but I guess there's no way to get that in a smaller form laptop like the xps, is there?

 

I'm not a power user either, but I do not want the random freezing being reported by several users. Has this been sorted out yet? Could it be related to having a single or two SSD modules? Should I go for the 256GB SSD instead of the 512GB? I can live with the smaller capacity - I carry around an external HDD anyway.

Bottom line - should I ditch the idea of getting a 9560 until things get better? I love the idea of small, light and powerful, but I really don't want the thing freezing on me.

 

Freezing is rare, only had it early on and that was fixed with manufacturer specific nvme drivers.

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