Lenovo W520 Vs Dell XPS 17

I am an Oracle developer. Own my company. Inclining towards ThinkPad W520 4276-37U with 1080P screen for $1,458.18 at B&H. But I have a friend who works in dell who can get a discount of $150 to 200$ on XPS 17.

Being using T61 for the past 4+ years. Both the T61 I had, ended up with blue screen twice. Bit concerned about this. Is W520 better built than T61? Can I avoid blue screen if I buy W520?

What do you all think about Dell XPS17. I personally like W520, but want your opinion on Dell as I may get a better price

Thank you all and god bless

 

The W520 is certainly more durable than the XPS, mainly because it's a business-class notebook.

Not to say the XPS doesn't have acceptable build quality, it just doesn't compare to a Thinkpad T/W series.

You might want to check out Dell's Precision line or Latitude line if you want a better Thinkpad alternative.

 

i wouldn't get the Dell XPS 17 if i am you, the quality of the XPS laptops are fluctuating all over the place in the recent years. If you need a 17 inch ish machine get a Dell Precision M6600. Since you have used Thinkpads and are okay with it, then stick with Thinkpads.

 

Thanks. I think 17" will be too heavy to carry around. I would like to stick to 15". Can Spend up to 2000$, but need something that is reliable, fast and light. I use it 10 hrs a day and live on it!

Your suggestions are appreciated

 

If you need a 17", then the MacBook Pro should be in the list of candidates with the Dell Precision M6600 and probably the HP EliteBook 8760w.

At the 15" level the list should include the Lenovo ThinkPad W520, Dell Precision M4600, and HP EliteBook 8560w.

 

XPS doesn't even come close, since its a consumer laptop and based on my past experinece, crap (overheating, BSODs, mediocre build quality to name few things).

Most of the Thinkpad series (especially T,W), Dell Precision and HP Elitebooks are in their own league tbh, but can also be priced a bit higher if you select fancy displays. Also, RGB LED displays Dell offers on Precision and Alienware series are really great quality.

 

W520, hands down for build quality.

 

My best friend has the XPS 17, and I think the Lenovo has the clear advantage is most areas. Better build, keyboard, the trackpoint, the thinklight is way better than a backlight keyboard, the battery life is a good bit better, and weight is much less though thats probably because the XPS is 17, not 15. However, the XPS has much better speakers, you might prefer the 17 form factor, a 2nd HDD bay, and better GPUs for gaming.

 

I would avoid the XPS line entirely. Their track record for melting/throttling GPU's makes it an automatic no-no for business use. Plus it feels like a huge hunk of cheapo plastic, for a "high" end prosumer laptop, it really feels cheap.

If you are using the laptop in a professional work environment, don't consider anything less than a business oriented laptop. Precision M4600, Elitebook 8560W and W520 should be the 3 you choose from.

If you don't need the discreet graphics (which W, Precision and Elitebooks all have) then you can consider their mainstream 15.6" laptops (Dell Latitude E6520 or the T520) and save alot of money. Mobile workstations are more expensive because of the high end Quadro cards and the extra cooling they need. Also the Intel graphics will be alot friendlier on battery.

 

95% of BSODS are caused by driver issues - not the hardware or build.

You can avoid Bug checks (BSODs) by making sure your drivers are up to date, and also if you get lots of BSODs, you can use the osronline tool to troubleshoot them - this will tell you which driver is causing the problem.

Instant Online Crash Analysis

But having said that - I owned an XPS M1730 a while ago, and the build quality compared to my T420....just doesn't. The thinkpad is far superior in many ways.

 

thank you all. I am going to wait to buy W520. For my personal use I bought a Toshiba at Costco.