hmmm decisions, we are getting ready to buy some stuff!

I have been floating around the dell website. I was all gung ho on the new xps 13 2 in 1, however, the new 13 7000 has caught my eye. It's MUCH less, and has most of what the xps has. what are your thoughts. I was planning on picking up 2 xps for my wife and I, a 27" all in one for my desk, and a 24" all in one for my sons desk.

the xps and 7000 seem closely matched.

 

So I can't comment on the new Inspiron 7390 or the new XPS 7390 directly as I've never used them.

I will say the insprion typically comes with a smaller battery than the XPS, which seems to be true at 45WHr vs 51WHr. I don't know what this really means in the real world run time wise though.

The XPS likely has a much better screen as well, being WLED. But then again it may need more power for the screen.

CPU wise, the XPS line-up uses Intel's new 10nm CPUs and the Inspiron has 14nm still. The i5-10210u in the Inspiron is clocked faster than the i5-1035g1 in the XPS, but the i5-1035g1 should be faster/more power efficient and cooler (able to maintain boost clocks better).

Size/weight wise there are also some differences:
XPS: Height: 7-13 mm (0.27"-0.51") x Width: 296 mm (11.67") x Depth: 207 mm (8.17"), Starting weight: 1.33 kg (2.9 lb)
Inspiron: Height : 0.31" (13.68mm) | 2. Width : 12.11" (307.7mm) | 3. Depth : 8.36" (212.45mm) | Weight : 3.19lbs (1.45kg)

I wouldn't hesitate to go either route. I think the new XPS looks great, and I'd like to pick one up eventually. Having said that, I don't have any issues with my wife's 7373 aside from the battery life not being fantastic (but it's only got an 38WHr battery).

 

My gut says go with the xps'es. But my mind says the new 7000 series is 85% of the xps for half the price.

 

Oh, btw, the 1/2 price comment was when it was on special. it's now hundreds less. the xps I was spec'ing was 2899 cdn, and the 7000 was 1499 but now it's up to 1999. still a great deal any way you slice it.

 

It's back down to 1499.00 I can add a 2tb drive later on and have a dandy travel machine.

 

Well, I love my Inspiron 7386 Its just about a year old and no real issue yet. It's only a 13" but the battery is golden especially since I don't use it much. Mine has a core 17, 16GB Ram I don't game on it. i still have my G752VY is if I want to game. I use them both for business.
I will have to say that I didn't buy on off the shelf, I ordered it from Dell with the hardware I wanted. It has been quite an adjustment working with a 13" after so many years using 17" notebooks

One thing I have noticed about Dell on SSD's get the smallest one and plan on upgrading to a quality SSD. I mistakenly upgraded in the order to a 512GB SSD from a 256GB cost me an extra $100 or so and I got an off-brand 512GB that was only running 2 lanes, of course, I upgraded myself to the Samsung 970 Evo running about 3 or 4 times faster
Also, pay attention to what the upgrade paths are for the units your buying some models can not be run in AHCI mode Yes you would think that would be a given in this day and age but there are some models that only run RAID mode. I was surprised on my 13" that the RAM is actually soldered to the motherboard no upgrade path. didn't bother me as 16 GB is more than enough for my uses. My point is to pay attention to what your purchasing from Dell all the said was I would get a 512 GB SSD. as always buyer beware Pay close attention to your purchases with any company now days
I would advise you to join the Dell support forums and check out both the XPS and Inspiron subforum before you buy

 

You should be able to switch to AHCI mode with no issues if doing a fresh install, without hassle at least in my experience with numerous XPS/Latitude/Precisions.

Only if trying to load in AHCI mode from a backup/image of the original drive that was previously in RAID mode would you usually face issues, in which case some changes need to be made in safe mode before it would allow you to boot successfully in AHCI, which I've done before as well.

How to switch an active install from RAID to AHCI without reinstalling Windows; the 2nd answer:
https://superuser.com/questions/1280141/switch-raid-to-ahci-without-reinstalling-windows-10

I convinced my boss recently who was coming from a 13" 2009 MacBook Pro, to get an XPS, he got the XPS 13 2in1 7390 for ~$1,800 for the 4K 1TB unit with Iris Graphics, he also gets free extended warranty (4 years total warranty), thanks to Costco membership plus having the Costco CiTi card. He's really loving it.

Also note that the XPS models with the i7-1065G7 (Ice Lake) come with Iris graphics and the one with i7-10710U (Comet Lake) only comes with the lesser UHD 620 graphics.

 

We (my wife and I) have discussed this alot over the past few weeks. Needs vs. Wants. Right now, as we are trying to move solely to a home based business setup, and keep costs down until we get up and running, I am keeping the systems we have now. Yeah, my good ole inspiron 5000 is not as fast as the xps or 7000 series, but it gets the job done for me now. that money can be better used to purchase inventory, wood, and other services we need to get up and running. Her little 3000 is still humming along nicely. We are going to revisit getting bigger more powerful systems in 6 months time, around june of 2020. She is setting out as a virtual assistant and has her office set up with a nice HP 25" display and comfortable desk. I am working on website development, photography and creating content for clients. I am also a carpenter and a mechanic, so in the back of my house in my garage I have a full wood working shop and a bicycle repair shop setup. Between all of it, plus 2 airBNB sites on our property, we should be alright and be free to travel when we want. By june we figure we will be bringing in enough income to purchase our new systems.

thanks for the information everyone. Have a great Christmas.