Hp Specter vs Razer Blade Stealth vs XPS 13 13 inch or Hp Specter 15 vs XPS15 vs Yoga 720 15 inch?

[asaucyboi]

Hey, I am new to the forum. I am interested in buying a new laptop. I am an enthusiast graphic designer and I do a lot of photo editing, programming, and some light gaming. I'd like something that is very portable (less than 5lbs). I'd also like something that has more than 7 hours of battery life under media consumption. The games I play include Emulators (some graphically intensive like Breath Of The Wild), Overwatch, and Fortnite. I am feeling fine with lowering the settings. Intel UHD graphics 620 might be good enough for OW and Fortnite on a lower setting (average of 40fps is fine with me)but probably not Breath Of The Wild. I will resort to the mentioned 15-inch laptops if I have to but I'd rather a 13 or 14 inch. The HP Specter x360 13, Razer Blade Stealth, and XPS 13 are all possible laptops. The HP Specter x360 15, XPS 15, and Yoga 720 for the 15 inch. The Specter 15 is being refreshed in March 2018 (with the new Intel/AMD chips), so I could wait for that. I will use an eGPU when I get back money if I go for a 13 inch. If there is a laptop that isn't mentioned, please inform me. In summary, these are the specs I'd like:

- 4k display (good color gamut)
- Windows OS
- Nvidia mx150 or higher (I'll settle for Intel UHD 620 if I have to)
- One Thunderbolt 3 with 4 lanes of PCIe (Preferably 2)
- 1 TB of SSD (I am willing to upgrade it myself; if possible, can you find one in my budget)
- Maximum $2200 USD

 

[avtella]

I'd go with the XPS I know quit a few people who own and love them, Dell has great support should anything go wrong and they don't void warranty for self upgrades. They replaced my $700 refurb 7567 with a i7, GTX 1050Ti and 1TB HDD for a maxed out 4K 7577 with a GTX 1060, 512GB nVME drive and a 1TB HDD ($1,200-1,400) when I complained about uneven core temps twice, then they even sent in the HDD from the old laptop separately. Lenovo is alright but they have whitelists to prevent WIFi card upgrades. HP/Acer I would avoid like a plague from the numerous people I've seen who own those. Asus is also pretty decent and Gigabyte Aero 15 is really nice too but not sure how their after sales support is. Razer support I have heard is iffy, but no personal experience.

FYI if you buy from Costco you get 4 year warranty on most electronics including laptops. If you buy directly from Dell look for online coupons or even call directly and they will almost certainly give you a discount.

The current XPS 15 with a GTX1050 & 4K display is within your price range/requirements but If you can wait a little longer a new XPS 15 2in1 with an I7 that has Radeon Graphics is coming, interesting collaboration between Intel-AMD. Supposedly the graphics performs near a 1050. https/www.notebookcheck.net/Early-benchmark-released-for-Intel-s-new-Core-i7-8705G-CPU-with-on-board-AMD-Radeon-Vega-graphics.279332.0.html

 

[asaucyboi]

I'd go with the XPS I know quit a few people who own and love them, Dell has great support should anything go wrong and they don't void warranty for self upgrades. They replaced my $700 refurb 7567 with a i7, GTX 1050Ti and 1TB HDD for a maxed out 4K 7577 with a GTX 1060, 512GB nVME drive and a 1TB HDD ($1,200-1,400) when I complained about uneven core temps twice, then they even sent in the HDD from the old laptop separately. Lenovo is alright but they have whitelists to prevent WIFi card upgrades. HP/Acer I would avoid like a plague from the numerous people I've seen who own those. Asus is also pretty decent and Gigabyte Aero 15 is really nice too but not sure how their after sales support is. Razer support I have heard is iffy, but no personal experience.

FYI if you buy from Costco you get 4 year warranty on most electronics including laptops. If you buy directly from Dell look for online coupons or even call directly and they will almost certainly give you a discount.

The current XPS 15 with a GTX1050 & 4K display is within your price range/requirements but If you can wait a little longer a new XPS 15 2in1 with an I7 that has Radeon Graphics is coming, interesting collaboration between Intel-AMD. Supposedly the graphics performs near a 1050. https/www.notebookcheck.net/Early-benchmark-released-for-Intel-s-new-Core-i7-8705G-CPU-with-on-board-AMD-Radeon-Vega-graphics.279332.0.html

As a graphic designer, do I need a 4k display? I was looking at the Gigabyte Aero 15 but I was just worried about 4k video. I heard the battery life on that is also pretty bad. Should I get this or the XPS 15? I also looked at the XPS 15 2-in-1 but I was worried about the keyboard. I heard it is like the new MacBooks which are trash in my opinion. If I need a 4k display, I'll buy the XPS 15 but if I don't, I will buy the Aero 15.

Thanks

 

[avtella]

4K will definitely hit the battery and you will barely notice the difference unless you are really trying to pay attention to the individual pixels, but different people may notice it more than others. Honestly on 15-17 in 1080P is just fine, but usually the 4K display versions usually have a better sRGB coverage usually above 90-95%. I don’t think 1080P versions use a high sRGB coverage screen. With 4K since you are spending so much they usually make sure the screens are excellent. sRGB coverage would be important for color accuracy if you are into art and photography.

Also check out the “Notebookcheck” website, they have detailed reviews that include heat map under load/idle, power draw, screen calibration, audio etc. Best review site I know.

XPS 15 UHD (4K)
https/www.notebookcheck.net/Dell-XPS-15-9560-i7-7700HQ-UHD-Laptop-Review.200648.0.html

Aero 15 (GTX 1060)
https/www.notebookcheck.net/Gigabyte-Aero-15-7700HQ-GTX-1060-FHD-Laptop-Review.215364.0.html

Aero 15 (GTX 1070)
https/www.notebookcheck.net/Gigabyte-Aero-15X-i7-7700HQ-GTX-1070-Max-Q-FHD-Laptop-Review.262370.0.html

Within that link in the first paragraph they have links to reviews of other versions of the XPS 15 as well. Also in each subsection like screens etc you can add additional laptops to compare with for those aspects.

 

[asaucyboi]

The Aero 15 is looking good. I'll get the gtx 1060 version because I don't need that much horsepower. I'll definitely start using that website. If it comes down to it, I'll get a monitor and use it with that when I have to. I don't really do any designs outside the house. I probably will just wait a bit for the specter to release, check the reviews and make my decision then.

 

[avtella]

I would implore you to avoid Acer/HP as one thing reviews can’t tell you is long term reliability and support issues. In the past 10+ Years never seen one of those laptops go without issues within a 1-2 year period. This is from the experience of friends and family.

 

[asaucyboi]

Okay. I found the Matebook X Pro today and I'm very conflicted between that and the aero 15. The Matebook X Pro allows me to take it out of my bag whenever I need but that will be much harder than the aero 15. I also forgot to mention that I do a bit of video editing (mainly memes and shitposts). Would the mx150 on the X Pro suffice or do I have to get the higher power Aero 15?

 

[avtella]

The Matebook is fine but I still worry about after sales support should anything go wrong, people always seem to forget that aspect, in addition its hard to say how the long term reliability is with Huawei as I haven't really seen them in use much.

 

[asaucyboi]

A friend of a friend is one of the higher-ups over there so it should be fine. I appreciate the concern though.

 

[avtella]

Great, I'm glad you found what your looking for