NP5160 vs new XPS 15

Anyone take a look at the new XPS 15 and think that they definitely have a winner here?

If I didn't talk myself into an all out gaming laptop at the 15 inch size, I'd have to say that the new XPS 15 is very attractive. They went for battery life over pure performance but the price is right, with a bit of negotiating you can get it with more stuff than the NP5160 and have a backlit keyboard too...

I wonder what screen they put on it.

 

Yeah, I got an email from Dell yesterday about it. I was happy to see the Sandy Bridge, but was disappointed about the rest. I had originally planned to get another XPS before I knew about Sager, but the pricing is just out of whack.

Stock, it's got the sandy bridge processor (but only comes stock with the dual core 2620, not the quad 2630... you have to bump to the 2720 to get quad), 6GB RAM, 640gb hdd, dvd drive, 720p screen, 540m, and stock wifi w/o BT. The price is $1199.

The np5160 is $939 with the *exact same specs*. Try fiddling around with the configs on the np5160 vs the xps 15. It gets even worse as you start adding upgrades, the XPS 15 can easily cost $1600 while the np5160 will only go to maybe $1100 or $1200 at the same level of upgrades.

Oh, and did I mention that you only get a 1 year basic warranty? Most Sager resellers offer 3 yr labor/ 1 year parts. Dell doesn't even come close. For $140 you can have full 3 yr/3yr through most sager reps, but through dell you're looking at well over $200 for that.

If you really really want that backlit keyboard, then go for it. I don't know exactly what other stuff you added that the np5160 can't have, as it seems to me that all the other hardware choices are exactly the same (although Dell has fewer options)

EDIT: What a coincidence, the two XPS m1530 owners debating this.

 

If you noticed, I have a very similarly specced machine to yours no order

I was originally going to go for the NP5160 + a desktop rig, for about the same price. The problem was my wife wouldn't let me put a desktop in the apartment

I think the new XPS comes out a bit lighter, and you can get 3/3 from them for free if you have EPP. If you start with the high end config of the XPS (more default discount) then haggle from there I really doubt it will end up costing you any more than the NP5160 and it will have the metal finish that looks pretty nice...

That said, moot point for me but the config below was $1465 on the site, so you can probably get it down to $1200 pretty easily with coupons + EPP (for cheap warranty upgrade)... Don't forget you can't compare it directly because you have to get the OS on the Dell (I am using my own copy of Win 7 on my Clevo).

Considering I got one of the good 8600m cards, I had a pretty good experience with XPS last time around. Just pointing it out for people that the race got closer last night . I personally think the build quality on my 1530 was really good, and its still going strong especially after repasting the thing 2 weeks ago, temperatures are back down a lot (didn't actually test it but before it was hot enough to cook eggs while gaming under the left palm rest, now it barely gets to body temperature...) It runs SC2 at medium 1900x1200 and Dragon Age Origins at high except for a few areas where there are a lot of people on the screen at once, Redcliff and Denerim for example... If the hard drive didn't click all the time I wouldn't even have to upgrade so soon!

I really don't like how they force you to have a bunch of bloatware though.

COLORS Elemental Silver Aluminum
PROCESSOR 2nd generation Intel® Core™ i7-2720QM processor 2.20 GHz with Turbo Boost 2.0 up to 3.30 GHz
OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64bit, English

OFFICE SOFTWARE Microsoft® Office Starter: reduced-functionality Word & Excel w/ ads. No PowerPoint or Outlook
VIDEO CARD NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 540M 2GB graphics with Optimus
MEMORY 8GB Shared Dual Channel DDR3 Memory
HARD DRIVE 640GB 7200 RPM SATA Hard Drive
SERVICE PLAN 1 Year Basic Service Plan
SECURITY SOFTWARE McAfee Security Center with VirusScan, Firewall, Spyware Removal, 30-Day Trial
Software & Services
DISPLAY 15.6 FHD B+RGLED TL (1920x1080) and Skype-Certified 2.0MP HD Webcam
INTERNAL OPTICAL DRIVE Tray Load Blu-ray Disc BD-Combo (Reads BD and Writes to DVD/CD)
WIRELESS + BLUETOOTH Intel© Centrino© Advanced-N 6230 & Bluetooth 3.0
BATTERY OPTIONS 56 WHr 6-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery edit
KEYBOARD Backlit Keyboard - English
MOBILE BROADBAND No Mobile Broad Band Selected
SOUND OPTIONS JBL 2.1 Speakers with Waves Maxx Audio 3
Personalize
DATASAFE ONLINE BACKUP DataSafe 2.0 Online Backup 2GB for 1 year

 

Ah, I forgot about that. I bought mine with EPP as well and got the 3yr/3yr on site warranty for free plus a 20% discount. So that could level the field.

I agree with you though, I loved my m1530. I never had any real problems with it and the warranty service was great. I've had more problems with my work issued Lenova W510 in 6 months than I did with my m1530 in 3 years. They do have some pretty great build quality. That stainless steel palm rest was fantastic and very little of it was plastic.


I do find it kind of hilarious that we're going from basically identical m1530's (I think the only difference is that I upgraded my HDD to 500GB) and are getting basically the same Sager but from different places. Most of my upgrades are going to be done at home though. I'm adding in my own RAM, SSD, 95% screen and such.

 

I was all about getting the new xps 17 w/ 3D.. Until I found out about sager that is.. It has a very appealing look to it, and I've had a good experience with Dell so far. Plus, it'd end up costing like half as much lol. I just wasn't satisfied with the gpu option (555m)..

I'm pretty excited about my Sager though figure since most of the money was a gift, I might as well use it and get a config that makes me happy

 

If the Dell XPS 15 had the 555m in it instead of the 540m I'd probably be going Dell myself though I really, REALLY wanted a matte screen so my laptop can actually be used almost everywhere instead of just in a dark room.

 

I actually upgraded my m1530 HD to get the 7200 rpm, which I don't think was available at 500gb when I got it...

That said, I do hope my new machine comes soon! Also hope the viewing angles are good, I really hate the viewing angles on my wife's Asus UL30a.

 

What differences does 2GB of Graphics on the XPS 15 make compared to the 1GB on the NP 5160?

 

Probably none, I doubt it can use all of it and Dell/HP recently like to boost the ram then up charge a bunch even if it doesn't help because bigger numbers sound better to their sales departments.

 

Hmm...well if they used the superior GDDR5 RAM i might just consider jumping ship...Now I just gotta learn how to haggle.

I'm also waiting on the new Lenovos.

 

Don't know... and don't know if the card supports it, but if I appear too much of a Dell fanboy Mythlogic might decide not to give me free stuff if I ask!