Solved! [2-in-1] Lenovo Yoga 720 VS Dell XPS 15 (9575)

[Nasric]

Aside from generalist use, I'll be using this 2-in-1 for programming and development work, digital drawing and painting, and some occasional work in 3D software suites like Maya or Zbrush. Maybe with some light gaming, but it's not really an important consideration.

Lenovo Yoga 720 [$1,127.99 (total)]:

• 
  ■ 15.6" UHD (3840 x 2160) IPS multi-touch anti-glare screen
  ■ i7-7700HQ Processor (2.80Ghz, up to 3.80GHz, 6MB Cache)
  ■ 16 GB DDR4 2133MHz
  ■ NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 2GB
  ■ 512GB SSD

Dell XPS 15 (9575) [$2,118.59 (total)]:

• 
  ■ 15.6" UHD (3840 x 2160) InfinityEdge Anti-Reflective Touch Display
  ■ i7-8705G Processor (8M Cache, up to 4.1 GHz)
  ■ 16GB DDR4-2400MHz
  ■ Radeon™ RX Vega M GL Graphics (4GB HMB2 Graphics Memory)
  ■ 256GB SSD

I'm fully aware that this isn't really an equal match-up. In basically almost every way aside from the SSD, the XPS 15 (9575) seems superior to the Yoga 720. I'm wondering whether it's superior enough to warrant paying the extra $1,000.

I've been reading a lot of horror stories about the Yoga 720 and a black bar issue. Beyond that, people are saying that Lenovo build quality usually isn't the best. Dell XPS has the latest gen Intel CPU, and the Vega GPU seems better than the 1050. The 4K screen is also supposedly one of the best in the market right now. And important to me, the Dell XPS 15 has tilt support for its stylus.

What do you all think?

 

[Solandri]

I'm considering those laptops too, along with the Lenovo Yoga 730 and HP Spectre x360 Vega M GL. The Surface Book 2 also shares many of the same features if you can tolerate its exorbitant price and lack of repairability.

The XPS seems to have the best feature set (you missed that it's screen is 100% Adobe RGB, not just 100% sRGB), but:

• 
  ■Only has USB-C ports. It lacks any USB-A ports, meaning you need to use a dongle to attach USB-A devices. This rules out 98% of USB mice available right now.
  ■Uses a Macbook-like ultra-thin keyboard with magnetic response to simulate a keypress. Some reviewers said they had no problem with it after getting used to it, and loved the reduction in thickness. Others hated it.

MobileTechReview has reviews of all of these except the Yoga 730. Might be worth watching the video reviews. I'd probably go for the XPS if it weren't for the lack of USB-A ports (I hate trackpads and use an external mouse). As it is, I'm leaning towards the HP Spectre. Configured with 1 TB SSD it comes out just under $2k.

 

[Nasric]

I've watched all of Lisa Gade's MobileTechReview videos on those choices, she's great! I did check out all of the ones you mentioned, and I do love the look of the Spectre most of all. They're definitely still in the running. I actually didn't realize about the lack of USB-A ports, so thanks for bringing that up!