Lenovo Y50 vs. Dell XPS

http://www.amazon.com/Lenovo-15-6-Inch-Laptop-59425943-Black/dp/B00K6ZIMFY/

vs

http://computers.woot.com/offers/dell-xps-15-6-qhd-intel-i7-touch-laptop-15

Both power houses. Dell has a large SSD. Lenovo comes with a portable DVD.

Dell is a refurb w/ 1 year warranty. Lenovo has 1 year but I can get depot service for 3 years for $100.

I've been a Thinkpad user since my first TP (which had a 486. ) My current one has a bad problem with a loose charging connector for which it went to the depot twice w/out getting fixed. I've only strayed from the fold a couple times (Sony and HP) but feel like straying again.

I'm thinking of pulling the trigger on the Dell. Any here with experience with either that care to chime in?

Thanks!

Edit: neither appears to have wired Ethernet which I need. I guess I'd have to add a USB/Ethernet dongle.

HankB said:

http://www.amazon.com/Lenovo-15-6-Inch-Laptop-59425943-Black/dp/B00K6ZIMFY/

vs

http://computers.woot.com/offers/dell-xps-15-6-qhd-intel-i7-touch-laptop-15

Both power houses. Dell has a large SSD. Lenovo comes with a portable DVD.

Dell is a refurb w/ 1 year warranty. Lenovo has 1 year but I can get depot service for 3 years for $100.

I've been a Thinkpad user since my first TP (which had a 486. ) My current one has a bad problem with a loose charging connector for which it went to the depot twice w/out getting fixed. I've only strayed from the fold a couple times (Sony and HP) but feel like straying again.

I'm thinking of pulling the trigger on the Dell. Any here with experience with either that care to chime in?

Thanks!

Edit: neither appears to have wired Ethernet which I need. I guess I'd have to add a USB/Ethernet dongle.

Click to expand...

From the Pictures and specs on this link: Newegg Lenovo Link -- the Lenovo does have a gigabit LAN.

Personally, I would pick the Lenovo over the Dell. Mainly because I have buyers remorse from the Dell XPS 16 I own (cooling system cant keep up with the GPU during gaming). If gaming isn't your thing, the extra space on the SSD in the dell would probably be very nice to have.

-TC

I would make sure the Y50 does not have the newer trackpad if you are not willing to change. I have a t440s and the new style trackpad takes a little to get used to. I have also been a TP user for years that is why I opted for the t440s. I upgraded the SSD to a 500gb 840 myself - not hard if you have the right tools. Mine is touch with the good IPS AOU panel and it is truly awesome. I also do not game just biz apps and the occasional movie on a airplane ride. I have never had good luck with Dell - I would never lay down good money for a Dell but that is me and I have had people say the same things about the newer Lenovo's. YMMV....

Lenovo for sure if you play games (heating issues associated with most brands), alongside the general higher quality.

If you're going Dell, go with the new aluminum bodied Inspiron.

Thanks all for the thoughtful replies.

fomunda said:

I would make sure the Y50 does not have the newer trackpad if you are not willing to change.

Click to expand...

What can you tell me about the trackpad? My current Lenovo is a T500 and I'm happy with that trackpad. I also like that it has buttons which I see are left off many of the newer ones. I see that the trackpad itself is a button or two, but probably not three. (I'm using this with Linux and X windows so the middle mouse button is useful for pasting the selected text.)

ATMINSIDE said:

If you're going Dell, go with the new aluminum bodied Inspiron.

Click to expand...

One of the things I'm looking for is the UHD/QHD/4K screen (or whatever Dell calls it.) I looked for an Inspiron with screen resolution beyond FHD and could not find one, but that may just be the fault of my search skills. Do you know if Dell uses their higher resolution screen in that line?

I'm also looking for something with a brute of a processor. I'm really getting spoiled by the snappiness I get on my tower and would like to translate that to my laptop experience. I also want to future proof this purchase as much as possible. My most recent laptop is a Thinkpad T500 purchased in '08. With a Core 2 Duo at 2.53 GHz it was close to the top of the heap back then. I've since upgraded it with 8GB RAM and an SSD to extend it's life, but it now ranks near the bottom of the pack in terms of processor horsepower. Typical usage does not include gaming. I will use it for developing S/W so processor speed, disk speed and copious amounts of RAM are useful. Further, I'm a dyed in the wool penguinista and since much of the development S/W I use is only hosted on Windows I prefer to run that in a VM. That puts even more demands on RAM and a bit more on the processor.

I was ready to pull the trigger on the Dell but missed the mark. When Woot says "ends on Jan 1" Apparently they mean midnight, Jan 1. (Happy New Year!) I can wait until they list it again - they've listed it before - or look for another source. I found some on ebay. Or the new version on Amazon. I'm baffled by the price difference between the half GB SSD and GB HDD: http://www.amazon.com/Dell-XPS15-6845sLV-15-6-Inch-Touchscreen-Processor/dp/B00JXLGECA/. I could buy a TB SSD for less than the difference. Or I could take another look at the Lenovo. On the plus side, it has ethernet built in but lacks DisplayPort. I suppose HDMI would be good for an external monitor. Or perhaps USB 3 would fill the bill there.

Thanks again.

I didn't realize you were looking for a 4K screen (although I'm not sure why you'd look for that in a 15" anyway).

The Inspiron is available with an i7, should be all the "snap" you need.

HDMI or DisplayPort will both be fine for an external monitor.

ATMINSIDE said:

I didn't realize you were looking for a 4K screen (although I'm not sure why you'd look for that in a 15" anyway).

Click to expand...

Your comment caused me to do some research on this subject. My initial thought was "more pixels are better" but that may not really be true. In the case of the Lenovo the QHD screen seems to be widely considered to be better looking than the FHD screen. However there still seem to be a lot of problems with both Windows and Linux not scaling well for small QHD screens. I think QHD might make a bigger difference with a larger display. (Maybe some day a 27" or perhaps a 32" QHD screen. But I would not want a 27" laptop. )

I guess what I should be looking for is he best 1080 display.

Here's what I'd look at for your usage:
http://www.dell.com/us/p/configurat...5646052,226291~0~16387360,55846~0~5930680&p=1

The more expensive one has a dedicated GPU, but I'm not sure you need it honestly.
The Intel graphics in the other laptop on that link will be more than enough to feel "snappy".
All I'd do to that is swap to an SSD, which can obviously be done since it's a SATA HDD (that means we know it isn't soldered in).

That brings up another thing I like about Dell, you can easily find the service manual for those laptops online.

If you go with the Lenovo Y50 FHD, just replace the screen for $80 with a quality IPS like the B156HAN01.1 and voila. If you go for the 4K model then that is not an issue as that screen is an IPS.

One of the better displays for lappies would be found on the MSI GS60. In fact the display on the Y50 is **** poor and really NEEDS to be changed out, but for a laptop that can be found for $970, it is regarded as the go-to laptop for the price mark(i7, gtx860m, 1tb + 8Gb SSHD, etc). The issue is just the screen, which is easy enough to replace.

http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/lenovo/y-series/y50/#tab-customize

Why do I mention Lenovo so much here? It stays much cooler than MSI lappies. As far as Dell, you won't get as much as you would with Lenovo, including dual fans.

Go for Dell XPS15 as it has gorilla glass for screen protection and is about 1 whole pound lighter.

Markwinstanley said:

Go for Dell XPS15 as it has gorilla glass for screen protection and is about 1 whole pound lighter.

Click to expand...

Are you trying to stab your screen

sobe said:

Are you trying to stab your screen

Click to expand...

No i am not goona do as you said.I have bad luck with my previous lappy that's why i am suggesting. It was not me but my freak gamer nephew who break it. I can't help it.

The Dell XPS is back on Woot. I didn't think it would return this quickly!

But I'm really thinking that a 1080 IPS display is going to be good.

sobe said:

If you go with the Lenovo Y50 FHD, just replace the screen for $80 with a quality IPS like the B156HAN01.1 and voila.

Click to expand...

I looked into this. (Youtube FTW )I had no idea replacing the screen would be so easy (and reasonable) Right now Lenovo has the 59421845 on sale right now for about $980. It's got 8GB RAM and a TB SSHD. It would be more than usable as it stands and I could upgrade RAM, disk and display at my leisure.

Just go with what you feel most comfortable

As for Y50 compatible screens,
http://forum.notebookreview.com/ideapad-essential/755626-y50-replacement-displays-compendium.html

Plenty of discussion on various displays that works for it, including pictures throughout the thread


I am actually contemplating a Y50 myself for the price with a screen swap after I get it, that price is just real good for everything. Just not sure if I need "that much" laptop, lol.

sobe said:

Just go with what you feel most comfortable

As for Y50 compatible screens,
http://forum.notebookreview.com/ideapad-essential/755626-y50-replacement-displays-compendium.html

Plenty of discussion on various displays that works for it, including pictures throughout the thread


I am actually contemplating a Y50 myself for the price with a screen swap after I get it, that price is just real good for everything. Just not sure if I need "that much" laptop, lol.

Click to expand...

Need: - want?

Mine is definitely a want. My hope is that the extra headspace in terms of performance will keep it useful for years to come. When I bought my T500 over 6 years ago I sprung for the next to highest speed processor. It still meets my needs, albeit with an upgrade to an SSD and full boat at 8GB RAM. My hope is that this one will last me as long. As an aside, Lenovo is clearing out a bunch T540p laptops. At $1300 it's a little more expensive but actually has a faster processor with the i7-4800MQ. Unfortunately the screen is probably no better than the one on the Y50 and there seems to be less info on replacing it.

So I pulled the trigger on the Y50. Should arrive about the middle of the month.

Aside from the normal screen complaints, let us know how it is.

sobe said:

Aside from the normal screen complaints, let us know how it is.

Click to expand...

It's here!

I'm taking a deep breath, leaning back and typing this on my 5+ year old Thinkpad while I do my first system restore. Setup insisted I log in with my Live account and when I got in, it became obvious it had linked the login on my PC with my Live login. That was Not OK(tm). In breaking that link I wound up with new passwords on both. Lastpass holds the password for my Live account but I depended on an old and failing memory for the PC login.

Sadly, this was after I watched it spend about half an hour installing 52 updates. I gt to go through all of that again, along with reinstalling Important Stuff like Chrome, CPU-Z and Crystal Disk mark.

<sigh>

Other than that, my first impression is it was cold! I shot the screen with my IR thermometer and got 26° F. And it's big. The screen size is nominally the same as my T500 but with bezels about 1" wide, it is about an inch and a half longer. Front to back it is about the same. At least that gives me a full numeric keyboard. The keyboard seems decent so far. I haven't really done much with it yet. Track pad feels OK too.

It has one stick of RAM (8GB) so I think I can just match it to boost it to 16GB. I have the SSD (512GB Crucial M550 mSATA. Gosh, that thing is tiny!) I'm going to hold off installing it for a while. I want to run this as delivered long enough to be confident that everything is OK.

Now I need to find a host name for it. I've been going with trees, but almost anything would be better than "Lenovo-PC"

I've just been using norse mythology for all my stuff. For example, Odin for my primary desktop, Loki for my phone, Bifrost for the router, etc.

sobe said:

I've just been using norse mythology ...

Click to expand...

Crossing Norse mythology with trees gets me Yggdrasil. Yggdrasil it is!